As the Crow Flies

A Walt Longmire Mystery, Book 8

By: Craig Johnson

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Craig Johnson has won multiple awards and earned starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews for his New York Times best-selling Walt Longmire mysteries. Embarking on his eighth adventure in As the Crow Flies, Sheriff Longmire is searching the Cheyenne Reservation for a site to host his daughter’s wedding, when he sees a woman fall to her death. Teaming up with beautiful tribal chief Lolo Long, Walt sets out to investigate the suspicious death.

©2012 Craig Johnson (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Loved it. Craig Johnson is a classic story teller.

George Guidall brings Walt Longmire and the other characters of Craig Johnson ' s to stunning life. Johnson weaves an intricate story mixing Native American culture and Religion with European - American seamlessly.

A great series

I have enjoyed every book in this series and this one is no exception. Craig Johnson writes an outstanding story, fast paced at times but he manages to create believable and like-able characters.
George Guidall is of course always an outstanding narrator but I think the Walt Longmire series suit his style perfectly.

Another Great Longmire Story

On my second time through listening it's still just as good and exciting as the first. I highly recommend the whole series.

Lots of fun

A great book in the series--sheer enjoyment. Read them in order if you can. They get better better.

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Great story. nNot all of the usual guys, but you dont miss them. I highly reccomend.

not bad

The series is growing on me, but there have been better books in the series. Guidall is the perfect narrator for this. Worth a credit.

Another excellent work as rated by a retired policeman

I shed a lot of blood and tears to understand the business the lead character is in.

Spoilers below:

When Walt’s daughter Katie talks about “there’s always a case” and lists off the milestones in life that were missed because of “the job” it took a Chip outta me.

I heard that too many times. I had to take a few days off listening to the book because it hit me so squarely. This is how I know Craig got the character right. He calls out parts of the lived experience as a cop that cut to the quick. This is why I enjoy this book. Not because of what the story does to the characters, but what the story teaches me about myself.

Returning home…

I put aside Johnson’s novels for a time in my search for various writing styles. Some of the novels were of the paper sort. Some were Kindle. Some were recorded. It turns out that the narrator does make a difference. There are none like Guidall, and I can’t even read a Johnson book as well as George (name dropper that I am) can narrate. Further, there is nothing like the voice, thoughts, and conversations of a single character to make a story perfectly told. Craig Johnson is a master, and this is one of his best.

Fast pace

Always a wonderful story, a great book series, my kind of humor and the characters have stories

Low voltage cousin to Burke?

The setting and central character of C. Johnson's Longmire series invite comparison with James Lee Burke's recent books set in Montana. Both authors evoke landscape and local culture with deft brush strokes which contribute not only vivid visual images but also a sometimes haunting sense of milieu which actively drives the story. Both law officers are Vietnam era vets who have evolved into men who possess tremendous charisma rooted in a wisdom and gentleness born of tragedy, loss and recovery. Both are surrounded by an engaging cast of characters who become more interesting and "real" with each book. Both mine rich veins of mysticism at times in ways which challenge our comfortable assumptions about the limits of reality.

That said, there is something much more comfortable, approachable and less visceral (not to mention bloody) in Sheriff Longmire and his adventures. If you seek antagonists who are personifications of evil, you will be disappointed here. Johnson's plots rise most often from the everyday and the prosaic while Burke's almost celebrate the existence of a kind of intrusive malevolence beyond understanding. As a result, instead of the high voltage exhilaration derived from defeating Dave Robicheaux's typically diabolical adversaries, Walt Longmire leaves us with satisfaction at a job well done and a nagging awareness of how most evil springs from roots which are very familiar to all of us.

I love both series, but I was less taken by "Crow" than by the previous Longmire novels. The victim never quite mattered enough for me, and it seemed that the investigation took a back seat to the introduction and development of a new character (a very promising one). These books are always driven by character, but the balance seemed a trifle off this time to the point that the climax of the investigation left me wanting more. Still well worth the credit, however, and I have already downloaded the next book in the series.