DAUGHTER OF THE MORNING STAR (2021) ***½
by Craig Johnson
This paperback edition published by Penguin, 2022, 322pp
© Craig Johnson, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-29727-8
Blurb: When Lolo Long’s niece Jaya begins receiving death threats, Tribal Police Chief Long calls on Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire as lethal backup. Jaya “Longshot” Long is the phenom of the Lame Deer Lady Stars High School basketball team and is following in the steps of her older sister, Jeanie, who disappeared a year previously, a victim of the scourge of missing Native Woman in Indian Country. Lolo hopes that having Longmire involved might draw some public attention to the girl’s plight, but with this manoeuvre, she also inadvertently places the good sheriff in a one-on-one with the deadliest adversary he has ever faced in both this world and the next…
Comment: The 17th book in Craig Johnson’s series of Sheriff Walt Longmire mysteries feels like a back-to-basics approach from the author – and that is not a bad thing following a run of books that have fallen short of being amongst the strongest in the series. Walt and Henry Standing Bear are the key protagonists, hired by Tribal Police Chief Lolo Long to investigate threats against her niece. The banter between Longmire and Standing Bear is as witty as ever, and the story proceeds at a decent pace, with the occasional twist and mystical encounter that those familiar with the series have come to expect. The backdrop of the High School basketball team’s push for glory gives the plot added dimension. The whole thing is neatly, if rather unsurprisingly, wrapped up. It is a good, solid read in a series that is always enjoyable.
