The Cold Dish Hardcover - 2004

by Craig Johnson

There's a powerful, new voice coming from out of the American West and his name is Craig Johnson. In his debut novel Johnson brings to life the vast Wyoming landscape, its people, and a wonderful new character in Sheriff Walt Longmire.

The citizens of the Cowboy State boast a long and bloody history of dispensing rough justice but the last few decades have bred peace between the white and Native American communities. So when Cody Pritchard is found dead near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Sheriff Walt Longmire and the general population of Absaroka County are inclined to think it's a hunting accident. But two years earlier Cody was one four high school boys convicted of brutally raping Melissa Little Bird, a young Cheyenne girl with fetal alcohol syndrome. The boys were guilty but let off with suspended sentences. Was this a revenge killing? Sheriff Longmire intends to find out.

After twenty-four years as sheriff, Walt, along with Deputy Victoria Moretti and lifelong friend Henry Standing Bear, is embroiled in the most volatile and challenging case of his career. He might be the only thing standing between the three remaining boys and a Sharps .45-70 buffalo rifle.

In the first book of this new series, Wyoming resident Craig Johnson fills the vast emptiness of the high plains with a cast both tragic and humorous and brings a unique landscape and its people to life with mesmerizing authenticity.