Wed 9 Sep 2020
A Mystery Review by LJ Roberts: CRAIG JOHNSON – Next to Last Stand.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
CRAIG JOHNSON – Next to Last Stand. Walt Longmire #16. Viking, hardcover, 2020. Setting: Contemporary Wyoming/Montana.
First Sentence: Years ago, on one particularly beautiful, high plains afternoon when I was a deputy with the Absaroka County Sheriff’s Department, I propped my young daughter, Cady, on my hip and introduced her to Charlie Lee Stillwater.
Walt receives a call from Carol Williams, the caretaker and administrator of the Veteran’s Home of Wyoming, once Fort McKinney. Charlie Lee Stillwater, the fifth of the group call the Wavers, old Veterans in souped-up electric wheelchairs, has died. Going through his effects, Carol and Walt find a box containing two items of particular note: one million dollars in cash, and a painted canvas which was clearly part of a larger painting. Walt investigates the source of both, and whether the painting, thought to have been long destroyed, was stolen.
The best characters are ones who grow and change over the course of a series. So too has Johnson done with Longmire. This book is more the Walt we love; the events of the prior two books have understandably changed him as he questions his future.
Dog is here! Those who are series readers have come to love Dog. Henry is also here. A joke that runs between him and Walt in this story makes one smile. Vic, Walt’s second and girlfriend, is a character who, for some of us, has become tiring. It is nice to see Lonnie Littlebird, Chief of the Cheyenne Nation and Tribal Elder— “Um humm, yes it is so.” But it’s the “Wavers” who are the stars: four elderly veterans in souped-up wheelchairs who wave to passing traffic in front of the Veterans’ Home of Wyoming.
Walt in evening dress and chasing bad guys through a museum is new, but so are the bad guys. No cowboy hats and boots here— “Do you ever get the feeling that there are people out there who are living lives that we know absolutely nothing about?”
The plot is interesting and filled with historical information. Unfortunately, it was almost too much information and it slows down the first half of the book. Fortunately, once past that, the pace picks up noticeably. One does wonder where the series is going. Were some of Walt’s comments foreshadowing or merely a frustrating tease?
The Epilogue is wonderful and worth the price of the book in itself, except for the last sentence, which is annoying, insulting to his readers, and caused me to reduce my rating.
Next to Last Stand is something of a return to that which fans most love about Johnson’s books. It is interesting, exciting, and filled with excellent characters. However, this is a book one might want to wait to read until the next book is released.
Rating: Good.
September 9th, 2020 at 8:04 pm
Not a comment on Johnson, but just an observation, increasingly it feels as it there are fewer and fewer entry points in many series being written in the genre today. Continuity has become as big a bugabear as it is in comic books, and outsiders feel it is almost overwhelming to find a place to jump in when a series does attract them after it has been around a while.
Just a general observation regarding many mystery series today. I don’t really remember this problem if you started reading Perry Mason or Nero Wolfe or Spenser or Lew Archer.
September 9th, 2020 at 8:11 pm
A very astute observation, David. I’ve read only one of the series, somewhere around number 5. Taking another look at LJ’s review, I really do get the impression that meeting all these people for the first time, without a proper introduction, could be rather intimidating. LJ, would this be a good book for first-timers to begin with?
September 9th, 2020 at 8:28 pm
There were always books in a series that weren’t great entry points; I wouldn’t suggest you read THE GREEN RIPPER as your first Travis McGee or FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE your first Bond, or for that matter SMILEY’S PEOPLE your first George Smiley novel. On the other hand most series you could negotiate pretty easily from any point or at least multiple entry points.
Today there is a more soap opera element in many series and it feels more difficult to drop in and catch up in a few chapters.
September 9th, 2020 at 9:18 pm
Hi David/Steve; This isn’t a bad place for a newcomer to start. Johnson is pretty good about enabling readers to step mid-way into the series. That said, I also don’t feel this is his best book, although I liked it better than the previous two. Obviously, all this is “purely my opinion,” but I felt his best books were:
#4 – Another Man’s Moccsins
#5 – A Dark Horse
#7 – Hell is Empty
#8 – As the Crow Flies
#8.2/9.1 – the novellas Messenger and my favorite The Spirit of Steamboat
#10 – Any Other Name
Not that the other books are bad. I loved the beginning books but felt he’d not quite come into his own. The books since #10, just haven’t had the same strength to me, and I wondered whether he was too diverted by doing the television series — again my opinion.
Hope this helps.
LJ
September 9th, 2020 at 9:29 pm
Indeed it does, LJ. Thanks! Your list of your favorites in the series will prove especially helpful, I’m sure, and not only to me.
September 10th, 2020 at 9:20 am
I quite enjoy the Johnson books I have read.
Thanks L.J. Roberts from J. L. Roberts