(2021) Very good installment in series. Walt is called in to small native town in Montana to help in a case of an indigenous teenager who is receiving death threats. This follows a pattern of indigenous women in the US & Canada who later go missing or killed. This girl's sister has been missing for about a year and Walt tries to solve both mysteries. Walt & Henry track down the culprit, a local white nationalist who later becomes a victim in a warehouse fire. KIRKUS: The sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, has solved many an odd case, but none so odd as his search for a missing girl.Native American women have experienced extreme violence for years, many of them vanishing without a trace. So Walt Longmire isn't entirely surprised when a favor he's doing for Chief Lolo Long of the Cheyenne police leads him to a search for a missing teen. Jaya, Long's niece, is a star basketball player for Montana's Lame Deer Morning Stars high school who's gotten more than 20 notes threatening her life; her sister, Jeanie, is among the missing. Along with his friend Henry Standing Bear, Longmire realizes he must investigate Jeanie's disappearance to have any chance of helping Jaya, who has prodigious athletic talent but no team spirit. Jaya's mother is an alcoholic who's currently in the county jail, and her father, only recently out of jail, is involved with a White supremacy group that provides plenty of suspects. ?It is not as unusual as you might think," Henry says. "Half-Natives go into the prison in Deer Lodge and come out indoctrinated.? Longmire interviews the people who were with Jeanie when she vanished from a van that was stopped for repairs as well as others who might be connected to the case; the most surprising and useful information comes from Lyndon Iron Bull, a farmer who claims to have seen Jeanie some time later singing in a snowstorm. He introduces Longmire to the concept of the Wandering Without, a spiritual black hole that devours souls. Finding the concept fascinating, Longmire has his own encounter with something dangerous that can't be seen.A mysterious adventure that spotlights the horrific experiences of Native women whose abuse is often unseen and unreported.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021ISBN: 978-0-59-329725-4Page Count: 336Publisher: Viking

I liked this book a lot, but there were two things that were distractors. The Bear was a large part of the book and the banter between Longmire and the Bear was great. The mystery deepened and then was solved nicely. However, Walt agrees to coach a girls basketball team, then bolts out when the case gets hot. Ouch! It should have been a serial series, not a parallel one. Also, the book was situated in Montana on the 'Rez and I doubt that the insular inhabitants would have been forthcoming in that situation. Native American spirituality and the supernatural plays a larger role but it did not add much, especially with Longmire out of his county. ( )

When tribal police chief Lolo Long’s niece, Jaya, keeps getting death threats, Chief Long asks her colleague, Walt Longmire, to investigate. Jaya’s sister, Jeanie, had disappeared several months earlier, and Chief Long wants to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to Jaya. Walt and his best buddy, Henry Standing Bear, spend a lot of time on the reservation in Montana and in nearby Billings as Walt tries to find out what happened to Jeanie, figuring that the threats against Jaya have the same source. Jaya is a star basketball player, so when Walt and Henry aren’t investigating, they’re watching basketball.

I love that Henry is such a big part of this book. I enjoy the banter between the longtime friends, and there’s no one I’d rather have watching Walt’s back. Vic plays only a small role in this book, and I really didn’t miss her. As much as I like Walt, I have a hard time buying that he’s so good at everything, even things he’s had little experience with. Like basketball. I just knew he was going to end up coaching Jaya’s team in the championship. Johnson can be so predictable. This is one of the books in the series where Native American spirituality and the supernatural plays a larger role. I don’t care for the supernatural element, and unfortunately it seems that it’s going to carry over into the next book in the series. ( )

Having read fifteen other books in the Longmire series, this was the best. Fantastic storytelling!

While I loved the book, there was one flaw, an incredibly minor one that no one else will probably even consider much less care about. I really doubt that Walt would have used a timber rattlesnake as his reference snake of choice. The prairie rattlesnake is, for the most part, the only rattler in Wyoming and certainly in the environs of our beloved Absaroka County. My guess is that author Craig Johnson was channeling his experience with timber rattlers acquired during his West Virginia youth. ( )

Daughter of the Morning Star: A Longmire Mystery is a difficult book to follow. It has two stories that are running parallel to each other. One story is about a young woman who disappeared. The other story is about a high school girls' basketball team. A lot of time in the book is spent on the basketball team. The disappearance of the young woman is not really solved which leaves the reader feeling unsettled. The book was awarded three stars in this review because the book just ended. ( )