Craig Johnson’s Sheriff Catches a Firebug
Posted by: Keir Graff
It’s been a quiet week here at Likely Stories, a perfect time to sneak a few minutes of reading for pleasure, not work. As he did last year, Craig Johnson (The Dark Horse) e-mailed his fans a short story for Christmas–this one came so late on Christmas Eve that it likely crossed paths with the jolly old elf himself–and, once again, he’s given us permission to share it with you.
“Firebug” takes place in the Durant Home for Assisted Living, where Sheriff Walt Longmire is visiting his mentor and former boss, Lucian Connally, who has been exiled from his room after his space heater set the curtains on fire. Although “Firebug” doesn’t pack the emotional wallop of last year’s “Slick-Tongued Devil,” it’s a nifty whodunit, and it’s always fun to see a short take on a long-form series hero.
The story begins . . . .
Firebug
By Craig JohnsonThe ignorant or unwary visitor to Absaroka County, Wyoming, faced with where to revel away the holidays might choose the Euskadi Bar, the Centennial, or even my good friend Henry Standing Bear’s establishment, The Red Pony, over the Durant Home for Assisted Living, motivated by either a sense of generational snobbery or that the drink, cuisine, and general atmosphere might be better in such places.
They would, of course, be dead wrong.
Click here to download the PDF and read the whole thing!
December 18th, 2012 at 11:43 am
[...] I asked if we could share them with readers on Likely Stories, and Johnson said sure! “Firebug” followed (this time a PDF), then “Unbalanced,” then . . . to my shame, I just [...]