Death Without Company: A Walt Longmire Mystery

On the face of it, the book didn't seem like my kind of mystery. Sherrif in Wyoming? Sounded a bit like a Tony Hillerman book. Tony Hillerman's books are good, don't get me wrong, but this book is really special. The characters are human and very real, not stereotypes, the plot unfolds naturally, the dialog is right on. Nice, dry humor (just my style). And there is a real, plausible mystery at the heart of the story. George Guidall, the narrator, reads everything with just the right touch of irony. I can't recommend this book enough.

Craig Johnson is now my favorite author. This is the second of his books I've read and it even exceeds his first, Cold Dish. Johnson is an immensely talented writer. Aside from the good mysteries, he has created unforgettable characters and sense of place. He combines a fantastic wit with just enough warmth to make you care about the characters and the story. I'm not a writer, so I can't do it justice...

Finally, George Guidall does a _superb_ job of narrating this story. By God I think he was born for such a time as this. Don't think I've read a more perfect author and narrator combination (and i have read many, MANY audio books.)

Walt Longmire is my hero! I love all of Johnson's characters as they are real people with real problems doing the best they can. Walt is real, but he's got style! The storyline keeps you on the edge of your seat, but comfortably on the edge. You will enjoy the ride. Guidall is the only man for the job with these characters. The other two Craig Johnson/Walt Longmire books available are awesome as well. Listen & Enjoy!

Craig Johnson's Wyoming tale is brought to life by one terrific reader; I've been parceling this series out, trying to make it last through the holiday season since it's treat to find a series so enjoyable. I've wanted to do "book returns" on some of my audible.com purchases, but not this one! You will not be disappointed.

I really enjoy this series. A simple whodunnit with George Guidell's narration are what make this series so enjoyable. Mr. Guidell makes it easy to differentiate between all of the characters by his talent for voices, both male and female. He makes this book...

“A life without friends means a death without company.” Basque proverb

Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire is back in action in this satisfying sequel to The Cold Dish. The tone of the book is similar to its predecessor, but the story is entirely different. This time Walt and company are attempting to discover the cause of death and later the causer of death of an elderly woman living in a nursing home.

The book opens and closes with a burial. Johnson did something similar in his first book, and in the second one he brackets the book with burials. At the beginning of the book he is in a cemetery talking to the man in charge of preparing graves. The reader learns a great deal about the history of burials, and I was beginning to think it wasn't going anywhere when Walt said, "Do you ever stop talking?" to the garrulous old man. This brings us back to the familiar, soft spoken man we knew in the first book. I really like Walt. It's no wonder there are bumper stickers for "Walt Longmire for Sheriff" in Absaroka County, Wyoming.

Johnson’s Walt Longmire books make me laugh and cry and think. He has a delightful way of phrasing sentences to create images in the mind of the reader. The occasional flashes of Native American (or as Walt would say, Indian) spirituality enhance the story.

I loved this book. I hope Johnson keeps creating memorable characters, and I hope George Guidall keeps narrating them.

I read his first book Cold Dish which features the same charaters. it was wonderful

this book is just as good. I recomend this book to everyone A+ which I do not give to many books

Craig Johnson writes really well, his characters are multifaceted, and his plots are unpredictable. This is an excellent series. His plotting and settings remind me a bit of Jamie Harrison and her Jules Clement mysteries.

As a young adult, I spent years in Kemmerer WY-at 7000 feet with 2 grocery tires and 13 bars,They had KMER-am just 1 AM radio statin that played rock music for an hour on sunday afternoon, followed by an hour of classical music-then back to country and western for the balance of the week.I actually took my collection Rock and Roll albums over to the station so they would have something new to play The boss wouldn't even consider Strawberry Alarm Clock or the Greatful Dead,, but did ok Neil Diamond and The Beach Boys. It was crazy man!!!
I couldn't wait to get out of the place and back to the California Beaches. I went over to Wyoming for true love and guess what-it didn't work out-he was a roustabout on the oil fields from 5am Monday to 5PM Friday, usually got home b y sunday morning after drinking his way from La Barge, slept all day saturday while I madly washed his clothes to get them ready then we'd go out dancing and kicking up our heels in the bars...I wouldn't go dancing in a bar I was working at (thats all there was for me to do) For a california girl it was a crazy cultural change.. That was over 40 years ago and I never had a desire to go back until listening to the Craig Johnson "Walt Longmire" series. A touch of longing for my youth here.

I just finished the second of the series and have to say that George Guidall gives a real WY voice to the book. That excellent narration along with great twisted plots and Craig Johnsons excellent writing give a beautiful voice to what is a desolate part of our country.

It's easy to compare these to the Tony Hillerman books-but they are much more up to date-after all, Hillermans books are 20 something years old now.

Walt Longmire is a great character and the series is totally about him-I understand A&E had 4 Longmire hour long productions based on the books this year...I missed the first series but look forward to the 2013 season-though the grizzly bearded and mustached Longmire in the books appears pretty clean faced in the prints from the series-there is a reason high country men grow beards and long hair-it keeps them warm. Believe me, as a woman I wished I could grow a beard some days when it didn't reach -20 degrees for weeks.

I have enjoyed hearing the language of the high country-it's different from other parts of the county. Roustabouts talk differently' cattlemen and sheep men talk differently too. Indians speak their own language and when they speak west western english it's unlike any other form of english you've ever heard. Language differences from So Calif to Wyoming were really hard for me to learn--yeah I was a beach bunny with little experience except tending bar...so thats what I did It was a great job for a 20 something back in 1967. I lived cheap in a room over a bar and saved my money so I could move someplace warm-like back to Venice California, where I was by 1973. 6 years in Wyoming is 6 years could as hell 3/4 of the year. But still, I have fondly paged thru photographs, the elementary school my eldest son walked to where he got chased home by a snow plow (we were from So california-he'd never seen a snow plow before.)

This is an excellent well written series. I find some similarity to the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series by Robert Crais in theme and the way the partners play off each other. Elvis Cole has quiet man Joe Pike and Walt Longmire has Cheyane res native Henry Bear....much of the give and take between the 2 sets of partners sounds the same though the clothes they wear wouldn't make the cut.

Try something different-A "Walt Longmire" will pull you in. The are stand alone novels but Ii'm reading them in order...sort of like I did with Tony Hillerman."

Not a lot of Political correctness in these books-they are written pretty true to the feelings-though the natives have a vocal voice I didn't experience In the 1960s...still the books face rural problems like cooking meth andy trouble with drinking on the rez.

A thinking woman/mans hay burner type book. Worth the credit. Betcha ya can't just read one of 'em.

This is the first author I have ever read that follows one story with another so closely within the fictional time period.
Most authors are either vague about the time of the event in the story, or they space the stories months or years apart.
This story is only about two to three weeks after the first book.
The story is very good, although it appears a pattern is emerging, the twist and turns are still pretty fresh.
The story covers half a century, so there is lots of depth.
Enjoy!