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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
A pretty good start to a series brought down a bit by two key things. First, you can tell this author never wrote a short story because he didn't learn brevity. It's not super long as so many other are, but it's too long. Too much description, no need for the flashbacks, and some scenes can be cut whole cloth, such as the completely unnecessary blizzard nonsense. "It's in the Dakotas, I must have a blizzard!" Second, after making fun of stereotypes, the "I have aboriginal Americans as major characters, so there must be mysticism" annoys me.
Walt Longmire is a bit burnt out, a sheriff in a large, not populous county, and a young is shot who got away with rape a few years back.A good, basic setup, with a nice picture of the culture and the time, remaining above average even with my issues about it.
Walt Longmire is a bit burnt out, a sheriff in a large, not populous county, and a young is shot who got away with rape a few years back.A good, basic setup, with a nice picture of the culture and the time, remaining above average even with my issues about it.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i'm delighted to discover that walt is about 20x more of a mess in the books than he is on the show.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence
I enjoy the TV show a lot so I thought I'd give the novels a try and I'm so glad I did. Of course the books are even better then the show so I'd recommend this book to any fans of the long running TV series.
Character List
Characters
Walt Longmire is the sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming
Martha Longmire (deceased)
Cady Longmire (daughter)
Henry Standing Bear is a member of the Cheyenne reservation in fictional Absaroka County who owns the Red Pony bar, tavern, cafe and restaurant. He's been friends with Walt Longmire since they were 12 years old.
Victoria Moretti is one of Longmire's most trusted deputies. Though new to the sheriff's office she is a five year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department. Tough and willing to go the distance she feels that she has something to prove to Walt Longmire.
Lucien Connally former sheriff
Omar Hunting Guide
Jules
George
Vonnie Hayes was old school Wyoming, After Martha died, Cady tried to fix us up,
Dena
Lonnie Little Bird... in wheelchair
Dorothy Caldwell, who owns and runs the Busy Bee restaurant
Bob Barnes - sheep herder, drunk finds dead bodies.
Cody Pritchard, football, track; Dead Jacob and George
Esper, fraternal twins in birth as well as football, tie-and-fly
club, and Future Farmers of America; and Bryan Keller, RAPISTS
Melissa Little Bird raped
Roger Russell, an electrician, shooter
Steve Brandt was the mayor of Durant
Deputies
In the books, Walt is assisted in his duties by a number of deputy sheriffs.
Undersheriff Victoria "Vic" Moretti, ACSD – Walt's second-in-command and named successor, she moved to Wyoming two years before "The Cold Dish" with her husband (whom she has since divorced) from South Philadelphia; she has a degree in Law enforcement from Temple University and is slowly-but-surely working on her Master's, and spent over four years as a patrol officer on the Philadelphia Police Department.
Deputy Sheriff Jim Ferguson, ACSD – Part-time deputy/head of search and rescue/volunteer fireman; Ferg has been on the job since at least 1988.
Deputy Sheriff Brian Turk Connally, ACSD – Lucian's nephew who Walt hired as a favor to his old boss; he transferred from the Powder Junction Substation to the Wyoming Highway Patrol at the end of "The Cold Dish"
Deputy Sheriff Santiago "Sancho" Saizarbitoria, ACSD – A former corrections officer hired in "Death Without Company"
Deputy Sheriff Jess "Double Tough" Aliff, ACSD – Deputy-in-Charge of the Powder Junction Substation in the southern part of the county; he was badly injured in "A Serpent's Tooth"
Deputy Sheriff Chuck Frymyer, ACSD – Hired as a deputy for the Powder Junction Substation in the southern part of the county in "Kindness Goes Unpunished"; he was murdered in "A Serpent's Tooth"
T.J. "Little Lady" Sherwin, the director of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation's lab unit.
In addition, Ruby runs the sheriff's office and serves as dispatcher, and retired Sheriff Lucian Connally works part-time as the dispatcher on the weekends
DCI lab personnel were routinely called Bag Boys, and criminal
investigators were Cashiers.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS found online
The Cheyenne and other tribes live within the borders of the United States. However, as Craig Johnson points out inThe Cold Dish, the Cheyenne also constitute a sovereign nation, and the reservation stands politically and culturally as a world apart. Characters like Henry Standing Bear and Lonnie Little Bird must mediate between two modes of life and two identities. How does Johnson address the Indian characters’ problem of dual identity?
Johnson’s book also deals with various images of the West, and a tension exists between the West of idealized myth and the West as it is experienced by those who actually live there. What instances of the interplay between the romantic West and the literal West do you observe, and what effects do they produce?
The friendship between Walt Longmire, the tough, dedicated Caucasian lawman, and Henry Standing Bear, the savvy, loyal Native American, has well-known antecedents in stories about the West. Does Johnson succeed in distinguishing the relationship from its Lone Ranger and Tonto antecedents? How can Walt and Henry’s friendship be seen as an ironic commentary on its traditional models?
Two of the young men who sexually assaulted Melissa Little Bird are dead before we have a chance to meet them, and they are permitted to speak only in short flashback scenes. The other two are also developed in relatively brief strokes. What does Johnson accomplish by declining to explore the psychology of the four boys, especially the more deeply guilty ones? How would the novel have been different if Johnson had chosen to investigate their motivations and viewpoints in greater depth?
At the end of Chapter Six, while watching a snowfall, Sheriff Longmire thinks of the tiny, inaudible sound made by a snowflake. He reflects that “an awful lot of the voices in [his] own life were so small and high as to be indetectable by the human ear.” Why does he offer this observation, and what do you think generally about his powers to hear and sympathize with the voices around him?
It is easy to think of the West as a principally masculine space. Nevertheless, the women in The Cold Dish refuse to be slighted, and they are much more than romantic foils for the male protagonists. Select a female character and discuss her responses to the gender-related issues in the novel.
The citizens of Absaroka County seem like good people, easy to have a beer with and pleased to trade jokes over a community breakfast. Yet they are also people who try to sweep scandal under the rug and are reluctant to punish the four boys for their heinous attack on a defenseless girl. How does the white community function as a collective character in the novel, and how do central characters like Walt, Henry, Vic, and Lonnie either make peace with the community or define themselves against it?
In Chapter Twelve, Walt observes, “All the important promises are about leaving and not leaving.” Is this statement true or is it merely Walt’s perception? In either case, what does the statement tell us about the needs and values of Walt’s character?
George Esper’s repeated escapes from custody form a recurrent motif in the latter chapters of the novel. Do these escapes have significance apart from the comic frustration they cause Sheriff Longmire? Is there a symbolic dimension to George Esper, whose lack of common sense continually thrusts him outside of attempts to restrain him?
The title of the novel alludes to revenge. Does the revenge that is taken in the novel produce satisfaction for anyone? If the county court had given out stiffer sentences in the Little Bird case, would that outcome have been more satisfying than the acts of a vigilante killer? Does the book as a whole describe a triumph or a failure of justice?
The Cold Dish both begins and ends with Walt’s watching the flight of Canada geese. What mood is created by this framing image? Does Walt’s interest in the geese have a larger meaning?
Character List
Spoiler
Characters
Walt Longmire is the sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming
Martha Longmire (deceased)
Cady Longmire (daughter)
Henry Standing Bear is a member of the Cheyenne reservation in fictional Absaroka County who owns the Red Pony bar, tavern, cafe and restaurant. He's been friends with Walt Longmire since they were 12 years old.
Victoria Moretti is one of Longmire's most trusted deputies. Though new to the sheriff's office she is a five year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department. Tough and willing to go the distance she feels that she has something to prove to Walt Longmire.
Lucien Connally former sheriff
Omar Hunting Guide
Jules
George
Vonnie Hayes was old school Wyoming, After Martha died, Cady tried to fix us up,
Dena
Lonnie Little Bird... in wheelchair
Dorothy Caldwell, who owns and runs the Busy Bee restaurant
Bob Barnes - sheep herder, drunk finds dead bodies.
Cody Pritchard, football, track; Dead Jacob and George
Esper, fraternal twins in birth as well as football, tie-and-fly
club, and Future Farmers of America; and Bryan Keller, RAPISTS
Melissa Little Bird raped
Roger Russell, an electrician, shooter
Steve Brandt was the mayor of Durant
Deputies
In the books, Walt is assisted in his duties by a number of deputy sheriffs.
Undersheriff Victoria "Vic" Moretti, ACSD – Walt's second-in-command and named successor, she moved to Wyoming two years before "The Cold Dish" with her husband (whom she has since divorced) from South Philadelphia; she has a degree in Law enforcement from Temple University and is slowly-but-surely working on her Master's, and spent over four years as a patrol officer on the Philadelphia Police Department.
Deputy Sheriff Jim Ferguson, ACSD – Part-time deputy/head of search and rescue/volunteer fireman; Ferg has been on the job since at least 1988.
Deputy Sheriff Brian Turk Connally, ACSD – Lucian's nephew who Walt hired as a favor to his old boss; he transferred from the Powder Junction Substation to the Wyoming Highway Patrol at the end of "The Cold Dish"
Deputy Sheriff Santiago "Sancho" Saizarbitoria, ACSD – A former corrections officer hired in "Death Without Company"
Deputy Sheriff Jess "Double Tough" Aliff, ACSD – Deputy-in-Charge of the Powder Junction Substation in the southern part of the county; he was badly injured in "A Serpent's Tooth"
Deputy Sheriff Chuck Frymyer, ACSD – Hired as a deputy for the Powder Junction Substation in the southern part of the county in "Kindness Goes Unpunished"; he was murdered in "A Serpent's Tooth"
T.J. "Little Lady" Sherwin, the director of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation's lab unit.
In addition, Ruby runs the sheriff's office and serves as dispatcher, and retired Sheriff Lucian Connally works part-time as the dispatcher on the weekends
DCI lab personnel were routinely called Bag Boys, and criminal
investigators were Cashiers.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS found online
The Cheyenne and other tribes live within the borders of the United States. However, as Craig Johnson points out inThe Cold Dish, the Cheyenne also constitute a sovereign nation, and the reservation stands politically and culturally as a world apart. Characters like Henry Standing Bear and Lonnie Little Bird must mediate between two modes of life and two identities. How does Johnson address the Indian characters’ problem of dual identity?
Johnson’s book also deals with various images of the West, and a tension exists between the West of idealized myth and the West as it is experienced by those who actually live there. What instances of the interplay between the romantic West and the literal West do you observe, and what effects do they produce?
The friendship between Walt Longmire, the tough, dedicated Caucasian lawman, and Henry Standing Bear, the savvy, loyal Native American, has well-known antecedents in stories about the West. Does Johnson succeed in distinguishing the relationship from its Lone Ranger and Tonto antecedents? How can Walt and Henry’s friendship be seen as an ironic commentary on its traditional models?
Two of the young men who sexually assaulted Melissa Little Bird are dead before we have a chance to meet them, and they are permitted to speak only in short flashback scenes. The other two are also developed in relatively brief strokes. What does Johnson accomplish by declining to explore the psychology of the four boys, especially the more deeply guilty ones? How would the novel have been different if Johnson had chosen to investigate their motivations and viewpoints in greater depth?
At the end of Chapter Six, while watching a snowfall, Sheriff Longmire thinks of the tiny, inaudible sound made by a snowflake. He reflects that “an awful lot of the voices in [his] own life were so small and high as to be indetectable by the human ear.” Why does he offer this observation, and what do you think generally about his powers to hear and sympathize with the voices around him?
It is easy to think of the West as a principally masculine space. Nevertheless, the women in The Cold Dish refuse to be slighted, and they are much more than romantic foils for the male protagonists. Select a female character and discuss her responses to the gender-related issues in the novel.
The citizens of Absaroka County seem like good people, easy to have a beer with and pleased to trade jokes over a community breakfast. Yet they are also people who try to sweep scandal under the rug and are reluctant to punish the four boys for their heinous attack on a defenseless girl. How does the white community function as a collective character in the novel, and how do central characters like Walt, Henry, Vic, and Lonnie either make peace with the community or define themselves against it?
In Chapter Twelve, Walt observes, “All the important promises are about leaving and not leaving.” Is this statement true or is it merely Walt’s perception? In either case, what does the statement tell us about the needs and values of Walt’s character?
George Esper’s repeated escapes from custody form a recurrent motif in the latter chapters of the novel. Do these escapes have significance apart from the comic frustration they cause Sheriff Longmire? Is there a symbolic dimension to George Esper, whose lack of common sense continually thrusts him outside of attempts to restrain him?
The title of the novel alludes to revenge. Does the revenge that is taken in the novel produce satisfaction for anyone? If the county court had given out stiffer sentences in the Little Bird case, would that outcome have been more satisfying than the acts of a vigilante killer? Does the book as a whole describe a triumph or a failure of justice?
The Cold Dish both begins and ends with Walt’s watching the flight of Canada geese. What mood is created by this framing image? Does Walt’s interest in the geese have a larger meaning?
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5 stars
I quite liked this. I have watched the whole Longmire TV series, and I loved Robert Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Katee Sackhoff. All three are, as expected, quite different characters in the book. Walter Longmire in particular is not nearly as taciturn on the page as Taylor plays him. But that's ok, I like both versions.
Johnson's writing is surprisingly poetic in parts, and he does a great job of bringing small town Wyoming to life. I learned some interesting things about the history of the Sharps rifle, and lots more about firearms that just went over my head (I'm Canadian! Firearms are just not part of everday life for most people here). Johnson also seems to have some understanding of the inescapable tensions that exist as a consequence of reservation life, and the often complicated rationships between people.
There were a few parts where narrative transitions were a little bumpy, but given this was a debut novel, it's easy to see this smoothing out with experience. Overall, I really enjoyed it and I plan to read at least the next book in the series.
I quite liked this. I have watched the whole Longmire TV series, and I loved Robert Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Katee Sackhoff. All three are, as expected, quite different characters in the book. Walter Longmire in particular is not nearly as taciturn on the page as Taylor plays him. But that's ok, I like both versions.
Johnson's writing is surprisingly poetic in parts, and he does a great job of bringing small town Wyoming to life. I learned some interesting things about the history of the Sharps rifle, and lots more about firearms that just went over my head (I'm Canadian! Firearms are just not part of everday life for most people here). Johnson also seems to have some understanding of the inescapable tensions that exist as a consequence of reservation life, and the often complicated rationships between people.
There were a few parts where narrative transitions were a little bumpy, but given this was a debut novel, it's easy to see this smoothing out with experience. Overall, I really enjoyed it and I plan to read at least the next book in the series.
High drama in the Wyoming hills! Sheriff Walter Longmire keeps the peace in these here parts until some boys (with less than stellar records) start showing up shot to death with buffalo rifles. Longmire is a great character, rest of the characters weren’t built out as much. I ultimately didn’t foresee who was shooting these boys, but all resolves in a tragic, but plausible conclusion. There is a whole series and a tv show to boot. Great brain candy, mystery thriller type. I’ll consider continuing the rest of the Longmire saga (I heard it improves in pacing!)
I watched the show before I read the book, which is not something I often do. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and reading this book was like putting on a warm, familiar blanket. I suppose that says more about the TV adaptation, but either way I loved this book.
These characters are fantastic, and Johnson paints a beautiful picture of Wyoming. The plot is a little over the top for the first book of a series in my opinion, but it was enjoyable and it takes some good twists and turns.
These characters are fantastic, and Johnson paints a beautiful picture of Wyoming. The plot is a little over the top for the first book of a series in my opinion, but it was enjoyable and it takes some good twists and turns.
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As a fan of such characters as Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher and the like, I was delighted to discover the Walt Longmire series.
In addition to endearing main character Sheriff Walt Longmire, Author Craig Johnson has painted a strong sense of place with his descriptions of rural life at the foot of the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming. He has created a supporting cast of interesting and sometimes eccentric characters including Walt’s best friend Henry Standing Bear, Deputy Victoria Moretti and many more as the series progresses.
I really enjoyed the way he realistically intertwines Western history, Indian culture & mythologies as well as community tensions and clashes into his stories.
Cold Dish is the first novel in the series and does a good job of introducing the setting and series characters. The mystery plot is nicely paced and has plenty of deft & good humored dialogue. It begins with the death of Cody Pritchard. Two years earlier, while in high school Cody and three friends raped a Northern Cheyenne girl and instead of jail, they were given suspended sentences. Is someone seeking revenge? Will the other boys be targeted?
I’m looking forward to Johnson continuing to bring to life the world of Walt and his friends in future installments.
In addition to endearing main character Sheriff Walt Longmire, Author Craig Johnson has painted a strong sense of place with his descriptions of rural life at the foot of the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming. He has created a supporting cast of interesting and sometimes eccentric characters including Walt’s best friend Henry Standing Bear, Deputy Victoria Moretti and many more as the series progresses.
I really enjoyed the way he realistically intertwines Western history, Indian culture & mythologies as well as community tensions and clashes into his stories.
Cold Dish is the first novel in the series and does a good job of introducing the setting and series characters. The mystery plot is nicely paced and has plenty of deft & good humored dialogue. It begins with the death of Cody Pritchard. Two years earlier, while in high school Cody and three friends raped a Northern Cheyenne girl and instead of jail, they were given suspended sentences. Is someone seeking revenge? Will the other boys be targeted?
I’m looking forward to Johnson continuing to bring to life the world of Walt and his friends in future installments.