Any Other Name

Any Other Name

By Craig Johnson

This is one of the installments in the book series that inspired the Longmire TV show. It features Walt

Longmire as a beleaguered but talented Wyoming sheriff who tackles outsized crimes in small-town America -- in cowboy style. I saw this at my friend Chris Sickel's house during a February trip to Montana, and I thought it would be an apropos read. I was right.

In this particular Longmire adventure, Walt is lured outside of his jurisdiction to a neighboring county, where the wife of the sheriff there wants him to look into his death. It had been labeled a suicide, but she thinks its more. The book is heavy on foreshadowing, and we learn pretty early on that the wife isn't going to like what Walt finds out. It turns out that the reason for the sheriff's death hits closer to home than she imagined. Spoiler alert: her daughter was running a sex-trafficking ring out of the family basement. When the sheriff-father uncovered it, he was unable to either turn his daughter in or continue to look the other way. So he killed himself.

I can't say this was a great book. The plot was far-fetched to say the least, and there are lots of hard-boiled detective meets good ole Wyoming boy cliche and shtick. But it was entertaining. Might have to pick up another one next time I am out west.