NEXT TO LAST STAND (2020)

Next to Last Stand: Walt Longmire Book 16
by Craig Johnson
Narrated by George Guidall
My Rating: 4 out 5 Stars

A couple of years ago while attending a book festival, a friend insisted we had to hear Craig Johnson speak. It turned out to be the highlight of an amazing weekend. Still it was a couple more years before I got around to listening to Next to Last Stand. What was I waiting for?

Don't worry if this is your introduction to the Walt Longmire series. Johnson fills in any information a reader needs to know without boring regular readers; but if you want to read more, I would recommend going back to the beginning and reading the titles in order to really enjoy how Walt's life changes over time.

This story centers around the Veterans Home of Wyoming where a group of old men in wheel chairs,  referred to as 'wavers', sit by the road and acknowledge anyone who drives by. One of their group and a friend of the Walt's, Charlie Lee Stillwater, has passed away and although it seems a natural death, Sheriff Walt Longmire is concerned. Why did Charlie Lee have tons of 100 bills, a million dollars a stack, hidden in his room? Then there's the fragment of a painting that when analyzed confirms it is part of a study for Custer's Last Fight by Cassily Adams. Anheuser-Busch produced a lithographic print of the painting and in 1896 gave prints to their distributors, bars, and taverns so it became widely known. The original painting that was assumed destroyed by fire in 1946.

More important than the painting itself is its contribution to the myths surrounding Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

A number of years ago, we had the opportunity to visit Cody, Wyoming and the museum that authenticates the painting fragment in the book. It made the book a little more personal so I am looking forward to listening to Kindness Goes Unpunished book 3, which is set in my hometown of Philadelphia.

One of my favorite narrators, George Guidall becomes Walt Longmire. I was not surprised to learn that he has been recording the series since book one. With Guidall you always know who is speaking and he delivers all the humor in Johnson's writing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Published: September 22,2020 by Simon & Schuster Audio
Unabridged Audiobook: 7 hrs and 56 mins.
Author: Craig Johnson

Narrator: George Guidall
ASIN: B08CH1588N

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for fiction, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix SNCF du Polar. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 25. (from the author's web page)