Longmire author Johnson at Auntie’s tonight

Mystery fans should be interested in an author reading/signing event that will take place at Auntie’s Bookstore tonight. Craig Johnson , the Wyoming-based writer of the Sheriff Walt Longmire series, will read from his latest novel , “Dry Bones,” at 7.

Johnson’s Longmire series revolves around his protagonist, the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyo. As explained by the Christian Science Monitor , “Johnson tells of Longmire’s adventures from the sheriff’s perspective. A tough-talking female deputy and a best friend from the Cheyenne Nation, as well as Walt’s plucky daughter, give the stories texture and balance to go with Johnson’s commanding sense of place.”

Longmire is featured in a TV series that ran for three season on the A&E cable network. After cancellation, it was picked up by Netflix.

“Dry Bones,” Johnson’s 12th Longmire mystery, involves the sheriff investigating a murder that involves dinosaurs — dead dinosaurs, I have to add — and greed. As the publisher explains, “When Jen, the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found surfaces in Sherrif Walt Longmire’s jurisdiction, it appears to be a windfall for the High Plains Dinosaur Museum—until Danny Lone Elk, the Cheyenne rancher on whose property the remains were discovered, turns up dead, floating face down in a turtle pond. With millions of dollars at stake, a number of groups step forward to claim her, including Danny’s family, the tribe, and the federal government.”

Kirkus Reviews says, “Johnson’s crusty sheriff … remains tough, smart, honest, and capable of entertaining fans with another difficult, dangerous case.”

And from the Denver Post : “Johnson, as usual, offers colorful glimpses of Wyoming history and its physical features. Johnson is able to make the landscape itself at least as fascinating as the slightly off-kilter, and sometime murderous, folks that inhabit Walt’s universe.”

Seats at Auntie’s events are sometimes hard to find. It never hurts to arrive early.