Mr. Johnson keeps his entire tale "Real" for the reader from beginning to end. He's done an excellent job in creating flesh & blood characters which almost jump off the page at you. Set in a small Wyoming town at the foothills of Big Horn Mountain, Sheriff Walt Longmire sets to the task of solving two murders whose origins date back to the rape of a young handicapped Cheyenne Indian girl. Four boys were convicted & given suspended sentences for the crime. There's a slight underlying current of racial tension between the white man & Indian throughout the story. Much of that is broken by Longmire's friendship with his old Cheyenne sidekick Henry; as well as Longmire's relationship with the Cheyenne. The story is peppered with sarcastic humor. Personal lives & struggles are interwoven nicely with the mystery.