Part of Walt Longmire, book 4
First published 2008
A young Vietnamese woman's body turns up beside a Wyoming interstate in Absaroka County. Sheriff Walt Longmire begins investigating the murder and discovers disturbing parallels to his first homicide case as a marine in Vietnam forty years earlier. The investigation takes a turn when authorities find Virgil White Buffalo, a homeless Crow Indian and Vietnam veteran, living in a culvert near the crime scene. White Buffalo has the victim's purse, making him the obvious suspect. But Longmire doesn't believe this troubled veteran committed murder. A photograph in the woman's purse looks familiar to Walt, suggesting deeper connections between past and present. As the sheriff digs into both cases, he must confront memories from his military service while pursuing justice for two victims separated by four decades. The investigation forces Walt to reckon with the lasting wounds of war and the ways violence echoes across generations.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, past-and-present, redemption
Setting: Absaroka County, Vietnam, Wyoming
Period: 1970s, 2010s
304 pages · Hardcover · Viking Adult
Content warnings: violence, war