For the last two years, Craig Johnson has consistently been one of our mystery section’s bestselling authors. The Cold Dish, the first book concerning northern Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire, seems to always be on the section’s top ten, as well as sometimes appearing in the store’s over all ranks. We’re lucky enough to have Craig involved with two upcoming events.
On Wednesday, May 26TH, at 7PM, he’ll be calling in to the Hard Word Book Club for our discussion of his fourth Walt book and my personal favorite, Another Man’s Moccasins. The book deals with two different murders. One is in the present, with the sheriff in his late fifties, looking into a body that was dumped in his jurisdiction. The case takes him (and us) back to his first murder investigation as a young CID officer in Vietnam.
Craig was kind enough to take time from promoting the translations of his books in France to answer some e-mail questions from me.
Another Man’s Moccasins is the book that readers learn the most about Walt. Did you discover anything about him when you wrote it? Tons. I don’t think I took into consideration that about half of the book was going to have to be from Walt’s perspective while in his early twenties, so not only did I learn a great deal about Walt but also the younger Walt. I learned about his temper and a number of other character traits that either did or didn’t survive in the more mature man, and that was very interesting.
Did balancing both mysteries make this tough to write? Actually, no. I guess I approached it as two separate books, but with strong ties to each other. As stated, perhaps the most difficult part was getting to know my protagonist at such an early age and that goes for Henry, too. I guess if I were to choose a particular part that was harder, I guess I’d go with pacing—I think it was important that both stories progress and pace themselves in the same way or else the reader’s interest might wane between.
The book still has your trademark humor. Were you looking for any moment of levity? A particular moment? Probably not. I’m not a big one for planned comedy in my writing because it just seems artificial. I’d like to think that my stuff is more on the humorous side—where the human conditions of the characters just lend themselves to something funny. The humor becomes important because it’s a genuine extension of character—and as a writer that’s where I live.
While this deals with Walt’s experience in Vietnam, how much were you trying to address Iraq and Afghanistan? Same story, different chapter. As a species and as individuals we have a propensity to make the same mistakes over and over again. With all the research I did for the book, I couldn’t help but see similarities in the situations—the more things change the more they stay the same. I think the key to the book was attempting to deal with the larger subject matter in a personal and close setting; other than the battle on 101 and the firefight, the majority of the Vietnam sections take place in Tan Son Nuit and The Boy Howdy Good Times Lounge. I think the mistake you can make in dealing with larger issues is preaching, and I try to avoid that.
What did you think about the book winning the Western Writers of America award for best novel? Stunned. It really meant a lot in the sense that there are so many western writers that mean a great deal to me. My home is in the west, my writing concerns the west, so it is a tremendous honor.
Your latest book Junkyard Dogs, is possibly your funniest, as it deals with a feud between two eccentric families that don’t lean toward the legal. Were you looking to create a lighter chapter in the series? Not really. I was actually attempting to write a more dire treatment on the effects of weather and the more venal aspects of human nature with a day to day narrative, and instead I ended up with a lot of humor… Maybe it’s just my, or the character’s own, mental-health, self-defense mechanism kicking in—it was a long, cold winter last year.
Walt seems to be in the least amount of personal turmoil here? Did you feel it was time to give the guy a break? Yeah, I think you can be too hard on a guy especially when the books are only separated by a few months. I even took it easy on him physically. People write and ask me to not let him get so beat up in the next novel, so in this one he only gets sprayed with bear mace and bit in the ass by a wolf/dog; I think most law-enforcement guys would see that as a light day.
Do you have a favorite moment in the book? My favorites tend to be the quiet ones like when Walt finds Vic sitting on the hood of her truck outside the junkyard (call me a romantic), or when Walt and Henry are at the convenience store with Gina. Those scenes seem simple, but they say a great deal concerning what the novel is about.
Is it ever a problem mixing the comedy with the tragedy? Some, but not what you might suspect. I have to work at the serious drama, whereas the comedy comes easy. For every serious balloon I send up, I’ve got about a dozen comedy darts to throw at it.
In the book, Walt and Lucian are invited to go to Austin. Is there a chance that Walt will be eating some Ruby’s barbecue, listening to Marcia Ball at Antone’s, or picking up a book at our store in a future book? You know, I live in a town of twenty-five and we don’t get a lot of the amenities that are in Austin. I guess that’s a polite way of telling you to go *@#k yourself. Seriously, who knows? I like doing something different with each book, so I wouldn’t bet against it–you see the first Doolittle Raider Reunion I went to was in Texas… I hear there’s even a hotdog joint in Austin called Spike’s Junkyard Dog’s.
Craig will be here in person on June 10TH, 7PM, where I’ll be moderating a discussion with him before a signing Junkyard Dogs and his other books.
-Scott Montgomery
BookPeople 