With Christmas coming Monday, it seemed a good time to remind you of this very good seasonally appropriate read.
The Tuesday
before Christmas brings snow, relative quiet, and no real plans for Sheriff
Walt Longmire other than his annual rereading of A Christmas Carol. That is
until the quiet dark-haired woman toting a garment bag walked into his office.
Eventually it becomes clear that she wants to see the former Sheriff, Lucian
Connally. The woman claims to have something that she would like to return to
him.
Lucian is
living at the “Durant Home for Assisted Living” and could probably use a visit
from somebody besides Sheriff Walt Longmire and Dog. Not only is the home’s
television another victim of Lucian’s legendary temper having died by gunshot,
the man is not in the best of moods because it is Christmas and he has been
drinking quite a bit. He has no idea who the mystery woman is either until she
says “Steamboat.”
What follows
is an incredibly suspenseful flashback tale of a flight to save a child’s life
against the odds---medical and environmental. On Christmas Eve in 1988 an aging
WWII plane and a cast of locals including the recently retired Lucian and first
year Sheriff Walt Longmire pulled off a Christmas miracle. Though readers can
surmise from nearly the start that the dark-haired woman was that child, there
is plenty of suspense in how the flight happened and why she is back now.
While Spirit
of Steamboat: A Walt Longmire Story is a short book as it is a novella,
it is a powerful and deeply moving book. Craig Johnson brings alive the storm,
the people, and the history of a legendary aircraft in a way that few novelists
could do. The resulting 160-page book might simply be the best thing the man
has ever written.
You can, and should, also read Lesa Holstine's 2020 take on the book here.
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R.
Tipple ©2013, 2017, 2021, 2023
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