Part of Walt Longmire, book 22
First published 2026
Sheriff Walt Longmire faces a murder with no shortage of suspects when Pepper McKay turns up dead on his ranch in Crazy Woman Canyon. McKay was despised throughout Absaroka County, but Walt focuses on the four sons who had come for a family meeting that fatal evening. There's the silver-tongued charmer, the worldly journalist, the withdrawn monk, and the half-Native ranch hand who actually runs the place. Each brother had reason to want their father gone. Each swears he didn't kill him. Walt digs into the night's events at the O-Kay Lodge, uncovering bitter family feuds and buried secrets. The investigation takes a deadly turn when a second body appears and wildfire sweeps through the canyon. Trapped by flames, Walt must survive both a killer and nature's fury while pursuing justice in this twenty-second Longmire novel that nods to Dostoevsky's classic.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, murder-investigation
Setting: Absaroka County, Crazy Woman Canyon, O-Kay Lodge
Period: 21st-century
368 pages · Hardcover · Viking