The Brothers McKay
When Pepper McKay, one of the most hated men in Absaroka County, is found murdered on his ranch in Crazy Woman Canyon, suspects aren’t in short supply. But Sheriff Walt Longmire’s attention is on those who had gathered for a family meeting that evening, McKay’s very different sons: a smooth-talking charmer, a cosmopolitan journalist, a reclusive monk, and a half-Native ranch hand who keeps the place running. Each had a motive. Each claims he’s innocent.
As Walt investigates what happened that night at the O-Kay Lodge, he’s pulled into a tangle of old grudges and long-buried secrets. Then the case takes a sharp turn: a second body surfaces, and a wildfire tears through the canyon, trapping Walt and forcing him into a fight for his life as both the killer and the elements close in.
The twenty-second novel in the Longmire series, The Brothers McKay is a murder mystery and a survival thriller that tests the sheriff’s hard-won sense of justice—all while paying sly homage to Dostoevsky’s classic.
Readers also enjoyed
Craig Johnson
In the wind-cut high plains of Wyoming, justice doesn’t come with a badge and a booming voice—it comes with quiet conviction, a deep sense of place, and a stubborn refusal to look away. That’s where Craig Johnson sets his stories, and it’s where his voice has found a lasting home. Best known for the Longmire series, Johnson has carved out a distinct space in modern Western crime fiction—not with flashy gimmicks, but with layered characters, stark landscapes, and a kind of storytelling that lets silence speak as loudly as gunfire.
Walt Longmire Mysteries
Out where the wind carves stories into canyon walls and justice isn't always clean-cut, one sheriff walks the line between duty and doubt. The Walt Longmire Mysteries are steeped in the raw, unforgiving beauty of Wyoming’s Absaroka County—a place where the past lingers like smoke and every silence feels like it’s holding its breath.
Walt Longmire Mysteries consists of twenty-one primary books, and includes six additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of two more books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
