Craig Johnson writes about Wyoming like Zane Grey painted the Old West in prose. He's got that touch. In "The Cold Dish," Johnson chronicles how small county Sheriff Walt Longmire unravels the mystery surrounding the death of a local boy. At first it appears the body could have been an accidental death, out the in the fields and tromped by resident sheep. But then, the caliber and design of the bullet brings in an entirely new series of elements. The boy, it turns out, was involved in the rape of a young Native American woman. Pretty soon, another of the boys involved in the rape is killed. Longmire is a hard-drinking sort haunted by a past like many in his line of work. He has a long list of suspects, and his methodical investigation makes him no friends. Johnson introduces at first what seems like the entire town, and keeping them straight is a little difficult. But as the story unfolds, their roles make sense and people fall into place. The tempo increases as the book progresses. Longmire even encounters Indian spirits who appear to help him out of a near death experience, hauling his friend out of a snow storm. Definitely a top-flight mystery/thriller.