Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

Lesa's Book Critiques: The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

Review: The Brothers McKay: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

 

Pepper McKay is very dead. Hated by nearly everyone, Pepper McKay ran his life, his family and pretty much everything and everyone else, for miles around for many decades. While he had his business interests, his marriage a number of years ago gave him control over what is known as the “O-Kay Ranch.” Located at the mouth of Crazy Woman Canyon, the dude ranch, is in Absaroka County, Wyoming. That means his death has to be investigated by the local sheriff, Walt Longmire.

 

That means the good sheriff and his number, two, Victoria Moretti, need to get to the scene as fast as possible. It does not help that they are stuck in a barely moving traffic jam on the road in thanks to one of two lightning caused wildfires that started overnight. The fires are running wild, thanks to drought and dead trees and whatnot, and will go where they want and when they want.

 

Eventually, they get to the former working ranch that is now operated as a dude ranch. For decades it was operated by the Harris family. Then the granddaughter, BeeBee, turned it into a dude ranch, then married Pepper McKay, and then he went work taking control and running roughshod over everyone and everybody.

 

Pepper McKay, a hard drinker, and pretty much hard at everything, had gone fishing in Crazy Woman Creek that morning. He had lunch and other food with him, but hadn’t been seen since. One of the long-time ranch hands had gone looking for him and had finally found him floating face down in the water. The ranch hand had pulled the body up onto the bank and then called 911.

 

Walt Longmire had a long history with Pepper McKay going back some four decades. So, the fact that the man was drinking in his last hours is no surprise. Beyond that obvious fact, as Vic examines the body, she advises Longmore and the newly assigned to the area Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper, Shane Wilson, that the back of Pepper McKay’s head shows obvious signs of some sort of traumatic brain injury. She also notes the numerous contusions and abrasions, but those could have happened as the body moved downstream through the churning waters and hit rocks and such. She also notes that by how heavy he feels, his lungs are probably full of water.

 

It is clear to all three of them that an intoxicated Pepper McKay could easily have slipped and fallen, striking his head in the process, before drowning. It is also very possible to all that he might have been hit in the head with a rock and left to drown. So, the question is—accident or murder?

 

If it was a murder, it would also be a very complicated case with a laundry list of suspects. For decades Pepper McKay lived his life like a human wrecking ball—he smashed through obstacles and people with wild abandon. That means the suspect list, inside and outside the family, is a long one and complicated. Some neutral observers, if they knew what had happened decades ago, might put the good Sheriff on that suspect list too.

 

As Walt Longmire spins up outside resources to assist his investigation, another problem is dumped into his lap by the newly appointed Wyoming Attorney General, his own daughter. Maxim Sidorov wants to relocate to Durant. With no parole officer in the area, that would mean that Sheriff Longmire would have to be his parole officer despite the fact that the man tried to kill him awhile back. Maxim Sidorov lost an eye in that attempt. He also gained a lot of respect for him and is trying to help him find a great aunt, Ruth One Heart.

 

Maxim Sidorov is soon in town, living in the jail, and advising Walt on what has turned out to be the definite murder of Pepper McKay. He is instrumental to the investigation which also manages to bug the heck out of Longmire. He also briefly annoyed this reader who had an out loud “Duh” moment when Sidorov pointed things out.

 

The Brothers McKay: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson is a highly entertaining read that keeps the reader turning pages. Part murder mystery, part survivalist action read, it also sets up what will clearly be the focus of the next book in the series. Unless the author has juked and head faked this reader on this too.  

  

Recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4e6xQ3e

 

My digital ARC came by way of Viking Penguin, through NetGalley, and with no expectation of a positive review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Crossroads by C.J. Box

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Crossroads by C.J. Box

Publication Day Review: The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box

 

Marybeth Pickett always knew that being the wife of a Wyoming Game Warden meant the worse could happen at any time. She knows from the start of The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel that it has almost happened. At least her husband is still alive, if only by a thread. 

 

That November morning a Wyoming Game and Fisheries Department pickup was found smack in the middle of Antler Creek Road by a hunter. It was riddled with bullet holes. Her husband, Joe Pickett, was also hit and suffered severe trauma.

 

She soon makes her way to the isolated scene where the ambulance crew is prepping him for an emergency helicopter ride to Billings, Montana. Shot, including once in the head, he needs a trauma unit and far more medical care that the small community hospital in Saddlestring, Wyoming, can provide. First, he has to survive the half hour plus chopper flight to get to the trauma unit.

 

With a newly elected sheriff in town, and other local law enforcement challenges, their three daughters decide that they will figure out who ambushed their dad. Sitting in the hospital with their mom isn’t going to help. Sheridan, April, and Lucy are known in the community which means people will talk to them. They know how to investigate having grown up in a household where both parents have investigated a lot of cases over the years.  They know they can do this. To figure out who did it, they have to figure out why he was on the road and where he was headed. They are going to figure it out.

 

And Nate Romanowski might get involved as well.

 

The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel is the latest book in the long running series. It is also a mighty good read. In addition to the reminder of how Marybeth and Joe met and details of their marriage, readers are given a long glimpse into the lives of their adult daughters. Ladies that have seen a thing, or three, as they grew up and have the scars and internal resources to deal with any problem.

 

The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel is an intense and very good read. This one will keep you up late-night reading, if you are not carful. Strongly recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4qBcI8G 

My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review. 

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Return to Sender by Craig Johnson

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Return to Sender by Craig Johnson 

Review: Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

As a reader, I am very tired of the whole cult trope. You know the drill. Shady charismatic cult leader, a couple of enforcers, and a bunch of cult church members drugged out of their minds, following the leader who hears/sees God, scriptures in the sand, whatever, and bad things inevitably happen. Unfortunately, that is the majority of the story in Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson.

 

As the publisher, Viking, has a long history of ignoring my ARC requests on NetGalley, which then counts as a denial against me in their system, I knew it would happen again this time. So, as soon as it was listed in the Dallas Public Library System, I requested it, and was prepared to wait a very long time. This book, apparently, does not have the interest level as his previous books have had, as it came very quickly. While I was on the list for print and digital, the digital arrived first. It did so just three weeks after publication and less than two weeks after they actually had the copy in the system. That never happens.  

 

The latest in the series has Sheriff Walt Longmire far from home and in the area of what is known as the “Red Desert.” Located in the Southern central part of Wyoming, the region features a massive sand dune formation and a lot of strange happenings.

 

At the behest of Mike Thurman, a cousin of Walt Longmire’s late wife, he is there to find a missing woman. Blair McGowan has gone missing. She had been a multi-year contractor for the United States Postal Service and had a route that went over 307 miles. That distance made the very isolated carrier route the longest in the country. She just vanished one day and nobody knows where she is or what happened.

 

Her 68 International Travelall rolled out from the parking lot at the post office one morning and she was in it. Many hours later, it was parked back in the lot. While she was not seen exiting the car, she seemingly did her route, and then just walked away. She was known to be a bit stubborn and eccentric so it could have happened that way. But, Mike does not think so at all.

 

After a short period of time, her scummy boyfriend sold it at to a local used car dealership. That car is still there and available for sale. The boyfriend also quickly sold off the rest of her stuff. He’s clearly moved on and is in no way concerned or caring about what happened.

 

Walt Longmire knows the local law enforcement and can’t really find any fault with their investigation. They had next to nothing to go on and worked the deal as best as they could. They also don’t seem inclined to put any more work into the case. Which is why Mike reached out to Walt.

 

Mike wants Walt to go undercover as a postal contractor, take over her route, drive and deliver mail, ask questions, and see if he can figure out why she went missing and what happened.

 

He agrees, buys her car, and before long is out on the route delivering the mail. Of course, things get weird as this is the Red Desert, aka, the Bermuda Triangle with Sand. And, if you have read the book description, you know that part of the weird is the aforementioned cult trope. No spoilers here.

 

Despite the fact that it leans heavily on the cult trope, Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery is a good read. Predictable in many places, the book moves quickly and tells a good yarn. Which is about all you can ask for living in a time when cults are all the rage.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4lrXYpF

 

My reading copy came in eBook form from the Dallas Public Library System.

  

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

The Hard Word: MORE THAN A MAN AND HIS DOG THIS TIME: PETER BRANDVOLD'S THE MAN FROM DAKOTA

 The Hard Word: MORE THAN A MAN AND HIS DOG THIS TIME: PETER BRANDVOLD'S THE MAN FROM DAKOTA

The Hard Word: ."..I WANT THE READER TO FEEL AS IF THEY'RE THERE.": AN INTERVIEW WITH RETURN TO SENDER'S CRAIG JOHNSON

 The Hard Word: ."..I WANT THE READER TO FEEL AS IF THEY'RE THERE.": AN INTERVIEW WITH RETURN TO SENDER'S CRAIG JOHNSON

The Hard Word: DEATH IN THE DESERT: CRAIG JOHNSON'S RETURN TO SENDER

 The Hard Word: DEATH IN THE DESERT: CRAIG JOHNSON'S RETURN TO SENDER

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Battle Mountain by C.J. Box

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Battle Mountain by C.J. Box

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – FIRST FROST BY CRAIG JOHNSON

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – FIRST FROST BY CRAIG JOHNSON

Review: First Frost: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

First Frost: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson picks up a few weeks after The Longmire Defense. It is a novel of two storylines. One storyline is set in the here and now as powerful and well-connected forces use a court hearing to go after Sheriff Walt Longmire for his actions at the end of the last book.

 

The other storyline is set in late May, 1964. Henry and Walt are embarking on a road trip as they head east from California to report for military service. Both have graduated from college and that meant their college deferment is over. The Vietnam War is well underway and Henry is to report to Fort Polk in Louisiana. Walt Longmire is to report to Parris Island in South Carolina. They have about a week to get where they need to be in order to comply with their orders. They are talking Walt’s old farm truck and will go east, through Oklahoma, so that Henry Standing bear can visit relatives, before hitting Fort Polk and then Parris Island.

 

At least that was the plan.

 

After a slow start out of California due to some questions from the local police after they save some folks off of a sinking boat, they get on I-40 heading east. It is after many hours of travel, dep in the night,, somewhere in Arizona (they think), when everything goes sideways, literally, and they wind up in a ditch. The result is a right front wheel bent horribly off at an angle indicating major damage. The only answer at their isolated location is to walk for help.

 

After some walking, they find the small barely existing town of Bone Valley. There are hardly any people and most of the structures are boarded up and locked in one way or another. It is clear from the start of their arrival that it is a strange place and haunted by something horrible that happened many years earlier. What happened is something the few local left don’t want to talk about or deal with as they are desperate to keep the secrets buried and avoid all outsiders. The arrival of Walt and Henry, who can’t easily be sent on their way as soon as possible, are a problem for that goal.

 

In the here and now, the good Sheriff is involved in a court hearing where he has to testify regarding his actions at the end of the last book. I can’t go into more detail without creating spoilers and I never do that. I can say that if you have not read The Longmire Defense, it would be best to do so before reading this book, as the events in the climax of that book are the main issue in this storyline.

 

The two storylines, decades apart run independently as this book moves forward and steadily entertains the reader. As always in this series, the past is major part of the here and now. First Frost: A Longmire Mystery is a read that once again touches on friendship, faith, morality, and legacy. As has been pointed out in this series before, regardless of the intent, noble or otherwise, our actions can, and often do, have a lasting impact far beyond what is seen at the time.

 

First Frost: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson is another really good read in this long running series. One that should be read in order, as always.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4aDdWHJ

 

 

My digital ARC was provided by the publisher, Penguin Group/Viking through NetGalley.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THREE-INCH TEETH BY C.J. BOX

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THREE-INCH TEETH BY C.J. BOX

Review: Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box

It is a beautiful Wyoming mid-October day as Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box by begins. It had been beautiful, until it was marred by tragedy. Clay Hutmacher JR., who had planned to ask Sheridan Pickett to marry him that night, was violently killed by a grizzly bear. It came after him in the river he was fishing in and attacked him without provocation. Not only was the attack savage, there are not supposed to be grizzly bears in this part of Wyoming. It will take 24 hours before his dad finds what is left of his body in the waters and bank of the Twelve Sleep River as it cuts through the Double Diamond Ranch.

 

In response to a devastated phone call from the dad, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett comes to Clay Hutmacher out at the ranch and sees the same horrible scene. No father should ever have found his son the way he did. It is also clear to Joe that a grizzly is responsible. Even though there are not supposed to be any grizzlies in the Bighorn Mountains of North Central Wyoming.

 

Joe Pickett starts calling in folks and activating resources. That includes “The Predator Attack Team.” Even though Joe is an auxiliary member, he is onsite, so he will be fully involved. This is a designated team of game wardens that have specialized training to deal with large carnivore attacks. Their mission will be to hunt down the bear and kill it.

 

First it has to be found. That proves to me far harder than it would be in a normal situation.

 

What follows is a complicated and fast-moving tale as a succession of what seems to be random bear attacks occur locally as well as across the region. Is it really a grizzly bear? Or, is it something else and far worse? Could it be both?

 

That is up to readers to discover in Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box. Not only is the latest installment of the series a good one, politics are minimized in this read. Unlike the last novel, Storm Watch, the read here returns to the roots that made this series so good from the first book. The focus in Three-Inch Teeth: A Joe Pickett Novel is on apex predators and staying alive in a read that only partially ties everything up. It is a good one and well worth your time.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3HXGe3M 

My reading copy came from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons (Penguin Putnam Group), through NetGalley with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2024

FFB Review: Spirit Of Steamboat: A Walt Longmire Story by Craig Johnson

 

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

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE BY CRAIG JOHNSON

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE BY CRAIG JOHNSON

Review: The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson

The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson finds Sheriff Longmire thinking about the past and a future beyond being the good Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. The next election is coming in a few months and Longmire might be done as Sheriff. Between the politics, the strain and stress of running for office yet again, and recent events, he could be working his way around to calling it quits.

He’s out at the family cabin in the Bighorn National Forest as the book begins and Cady, his daughter, inadvertently stirs up the past by cleaning the place. She came across an old picture of her great grandfather, Lloyd Longmire. Cady and his granddaughter are out at his place cleaning and keeping an eye on him as he recovers from recent events. She has questions about her great grandfather and Walt would just as soon not talk about him.

He might have been family in name, but he was a man that Walt had a rocky relationship with despite, or maybe because, of the family tie. He was a hard man with strong expectations and constantly passed judgement of others. That included his grandson, of whom he apparently did not think much of at all. The picture shows Lloyd Longmire and a group of others outside the Bank of Durant many years ago. That picture has started a line of questioning that Walt Longmire could do without as he lies in a hammock holding a book and his sleeping granddaughter.

Then Undersheriff Victoria Moretti shows up and drags him with her to go looking for a missing woman. The woman from Minnesota, who was following the navigation map on her phone and thus followed bad directions, got her car stuck on a relatively nearby Forest Service Road. She walked a bit, finally got cell service, called for help, and then instead of staying put and waiting for that help, left the area. Now she is missing and Undersheriff Moretti wants Longmire to come do a ride along with her to go check out a possible route the missing woman might have taken.

Recent events in Montana have a taken a toll and though he is physically healed, mentally and spiritually he isn’t, and he really doesn’t want to do it. But, with Cady pushing him as well, he goes with Moretti. and it isn’t long before the problem of the missing woman lost in the mountains.

Longmire finds Trisha Knox.

He also finds a rifle, a specially customized rifle, that could be tied into a killing from long ago.

The killing of Bill Sutherland, known as “Big Bill,” happened back in 1948 and was declared a hunting accident. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. But, Lloyd Longmire as well as Walt’s dad were involved. Finding the gun brings ghosts and more to life in a complicated tale of oil money, mercenaries, and politics in The Longmire Defense.

Much is going on in the read that spends most of the time looking at events in the past with a somewhat morose Walt Longmire more contemplative than usual. In the here and now, Walt is facing the possibility of big change in a couple of areas as well so that means he has a lot on his mind. Introspection is good and all that, but it does get to be a bit much here at times as it grinds the read to a near halt. This reader also gets the impression that the series might be ending fairly soon. One hopes not.

Despite everything, The Longmire Defense is a good read. The story keeps the reader engaged, even when it moves forward at a glacial pace, and we learn more about the Longmire family and their legacy. All in all, a good read.

 

My reading copy came in eBook form from the Dallas Public Library System by way of the Libby/OverDrive App.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

 

Review: Storm Watch: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box

While I reviewed this book late last month, it came out this past Tuesday, so I am running my review again. 

 

The worsening weather this day in late March for Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett means that he is on the clock. A major snowstorm is coming down from the Bighorn Mountains. He is on foot and on the hunt for an injured elk after a collision between the elk and a car earlier that morning. The elk had left the scene on three good legs according to a state trooper, so now Game Warden Pickett has to find that elk and end its suffering before the storm hits.

 

Snow is heavy on the ground as it is thanks to a winter of relentless and constant storms. More snow and high winds are going to make a bad situation way worse. Time is of the essence. He calls and gets permission from the foreman of the Double Diamond Ranch known to all as “The Double D” to cross their land in pursuit of the badly injured elk. With one eye on the darkening sky rolling down from the mountains, he sets out following the trail.

 

After being on the trail of the elk for a few minutes, he finds a vehicle hidden in the trees off of an old small two track road. He investigates and nobody is in the SUV. Thanks to the fact that it is unlocked, he also finds that the interior is fairly warm. Among other things inside is a topographical map with four locations marked by x’s in a black marker. The person or persons from the car are not lost. They meant to be here in this isolated spot though they may not have counted on the powerful storm closing in on the area by the minute.

 

As Pickett begins to look around the immediate area, he realizes he is hearing a mechanical scream coming from somewhere nearby, He gets up on a ridge and starts looking for the missing person or persons as well as the source for the noise. As the snow begins to build in intensity, he can see tracks from the SUV to a nearby small metal building of some type. The longer he looks at the structure, he realizes that a dark form is hanging out of the steel louvers on one side of the building

 

The dark form is a person and not moving.  

 

What follows is a complicated read that touches on espionage, the growing Sovereign Citizen movement, domestic terrorism, and a host of other issues driving our nation’s politics at this time. The MAGA crowd comes in for their fair share of criticism as do other groups on the far right.  Various characters depict those positions and their behavior and statements may offend readers who believe in their cause.

 

While there is a mystery here as to what is going on, this is a politics heavy thriller more than anything. It shows the ongoing shift of the last few books from the solidly good mysteries that began the series to more of thrillers populated with cardboard cutouts as secondary characters.

 

It is my hope that Mr. Box returns to his roots that made this series so good in future installments in this series.

 

My reading copy came by way of the publisher through NetGalley.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – STORM WATCH BY C.J. BOX

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – STORM WATCH BY C.J. BOX