Death Without Company

by Craig Johnson
271 pgs  (Longmire series #2)

Death Without Company is Johnson's second Walt Longmire book. It picks up a few months after the conclusion of the first book--The Cold Dish, and it begins with the death of an elderly Basque woman, Mari Baroja, who had been residing at an assisted-living facility for the last few years of her life. Initially it was believed that she died of natural causes, but as Walt and his deputies look further into her past, they quickly discover that she had been poisoned.

Walt's investigation reveals that Baroja's past involved ties to the lucrative methane industry in Wyoming and to Walt's predecessor in the Sheriff's Office, the cantankerous and highly-enjoyable Lucian Connally. The more Walt and his deputies uncover about Baroja's life fifty years earlier, the more complex the mystery behind her death becomes.

Death Without Company is just as good as its predecessor and it increased my anticipation for reading the rest of the books in the series, both those that have already been written and those still to come. While I was reading it I also learned that A&E's Longmire has been renewed for a third season. So I've got plenty of Walt and his supporting cast of characters yet to enjoy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆