Junkyard Dogs

The old junkyard at the edge of Durant, Wyoming, sits between a wealthy developer's ambitions and decades of accumulated local history. When a severed thumb turns up in the scrap pile and the bodies start following, Sheriff Walt Longmire finds himself in the middle of an escalating property dispute that touches something much older and much more dangerous than anyone admitted. Craig Johnson's sixth Longmire novel is tighter and funnier than its immediate predecessors without sacrificing any of the series' characteristic Western darkness.

George Guidall narrates as though he has known Walt his entire life, which — across six novels — he now essentially has. His delivery of the novel's humor is calibrated precisely to the Wyoming deadpan that defines the series, and his handling of the Basque community subplot demonstrates the cultural attentiveness that has made this series' audio versions feel like genuine literature rather than simply good genre work. At just over seven and a half hours, Junkyard Dogs is a lean and satisfying entry.