Spotlight: Spirit of Steamboat (A Walt Longmire Story) by Craig Johnson

A holiday tale from the New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mystery series, the inspiration for A&E’s hit show Longmire

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SPIRIT OF STEAMBOAT

A Walt Longmire Story

Craig Johnson

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Advance Praise for SPIRIT OF STEAMBOAT

“A wild and dangerous adventure that will leave you both touched and breathless.”

—Kirkus, Starred Review

“[Craig] Johnson is a born storyteller, and he spins this old-fashioned adventure tale deftly: everything that can go wrong does, and problems are solved by men who set their jaws and do what needs to be done. As always with these detours, it’s fun to see the characters’ histories come to life. An extremely pleasant present for fans of this popular series.”—Booklist

“[Craig] Johnson delivers a nail-biter with this seasonal Walt Longmire novella.”

—Publishers Weekly

Following the critical and ratings success of seasons one and two of the A&E-TV series Longmire, Craig Johnson celebrates the holidays with the Sheriff Longmire novella, SPIRIT OF STEAMBOAT (Viking; $20.00; ISBN: 978-0-670-01578-8; On sale: October 17, 2013). This time, it all begins when Sheriff Walt Longmire has an unexpected visitor on Christmas Eve.

Walt is reading A Christmas Carol in his office on December 24^th when he’s interrupted by the ghost of Christmas past: a young woman with a hairline scar across her forehead and more than a few questions about Walt’s predecessor, Lucian Connally.  Walt doesn’t recognize the mystery woman, but she seems to know him, and claims to have something she must return to Connally. With his daughter Cady and his undersheriff Victoria Moretti in Philadelphia for the holidays, Walt is at loose ends and despite the woman’s reticence to reveal her identity, he agrees to help her.

At the Durant Home for Assisted Living, Lucian Connally is several tumblers into his Pappy Van Winkle’s and swears he’s never clapped eyes on the woman before. Disappointed, she whispers “Steamboat” and begins a story that takes them all back to Christmas Eve, 1988, when three people died in a terrible crash and a young girl had the slimmest chance of survival...back to a record-breaking blizzard and to Walt’s first year as Sheriff, with a young daughter at home and a wife praying for his safety...back to a whiskey-soaked World War II vet ready to fly a decommissioned plane and risk it all to save a life.

Back to the Spirit of Steamboat.

 Events for Craig Johnson/SPIRIT OF STEAMBOAT

Powell’s Books                                   Portland, OR                           Thursday, October 17

Tattered Cover                                    Denver, CO                             Friday, October 18

Barnes & Noble                                  Boulder, CO                           Saturday, October 19

Old Firehouse Books                          Fort Collins, CO                     Saturday, October 19

Books & Books                                   Miami, FL                               Monday, October 21

Vero Beach Book Center                    Vero Beach, FL                      Tuesday, October 22

USCB Luncheon                                Beaufort, SC                           Thursday, October 24

Murder by the Book                           Houston, TX                           Friday, October 25

Poisoned Pen                                      Phoenix, AZ                            Saturday, October 26

Clues Unlimited                                  Tucson, AZ                             Sunday, October 27

Barnes & Noble                                  Billings, MT                            Monday, October 28

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mystery series. Johnson’s series is the basis for Longmire, the hit A&E-TV original drama.

Craig Johnson is the recipient of the Wyoming Historical Award for fiction, the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for fiction, the Rocky Award from Left Coast Crime, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix 813. Spirit of Steamboat was selected by the Wyoming Library Association as the “One Book Wyoming” for fall 2013. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population twenty-five.

Longmire is the highest-rated scripted program in A&E’s history and stars Robert Taylor (Matrix, Vertical Limit) as Sheriff Walt Longmire, Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Young Guns) as Henry Standing Bear and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24, Riddick) as Victoria Moretti. Longmire was developed by Shephard/Robin Productions for Warner Horizon.

SPIRIT OF STEAMBOAT
CRAIG JOHNSON ▪ Viking ▪ $20.00
On-sale: October 17, 2013▪ ISBN: 978-0-670-01578-8

Also available as an e-book

Find out more at www.penguin.com or at http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/

Penguin Group (USA) LLC is one of the leading U.S. adult and children's trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Viking, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Penguin Press, Riverhead Books, Dutton, Penguin Books, Berkley Books, Gotham Books, Portfolio, New American Library, Plume, Tarcher, Philomel, Grosset & Dunlap, Puffin, and Frederick Warne, among others. The Penguin Group (www.penguin.com) is a Penguin Random House company.