DRY BONES

Something old and something new spell big problems for Sheriff Walt Longmire.

Walt and Undersheriff Victoria Moretti have been called out to take a look at a body found in a pond. The corpse is that of elderly Cheyenne Danny Lone Elk, part owner of a large cattle ranch. It will take an autopsy to determine the cause of death because Danny’s remains have furnished several meals for the turtles he considered sacred. Nearby, Walt and Vic run into a problem on the site of the discovery of a dinosaur fossil dubbed Jen, after finder Jennifer Watt, who along with paleontologist Dave Baumann objects to the use of a backhoe to dig up the valuable beast. The Lone Elk family claims Jen’s remains, but Baumann insists that he had his own deal with Danny. Into this heated dispute steps the acting deputy U.S. attorney, who plans to score political points by seizing Jen for the state of Wyoming. While the interested parties wrangle over the bones, Walt welcomes his daughter, Cady, and granddaughter, Lola. They’re barely settled at Walt’s home when Cady gets a call that her husband, Michael, a Philadelphia police officer and Vic’s brother, has been shot and killed in a way that hints it might be payback for one of Walt and Vic’s past cases. She and Vic return east while Walt stays behind to work, without Vic's help, on what’s now recognized as the fatal mercury poisoning of Danny Lone Elk. With the help of his friend Henry, better known as the Cheyenne Nation, Walt escapes from several dangerous situations in the rough country of Lone Elk Ranch while trying to determine who wanted the old man dead and whether his death is tied to Jen, whose estimated value provides 8 million motives for murder.

Johnson’s crusty sheriff (Any Other Name, 2014, etc.) remains tough, smart, honest, and capable of entertaining fans with another difficult, dangerous case.