50 pages • 1 hour read
The Cold Dish
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Cold Dish is a 2004 western mystery novel by Craig Johnson. The first of a series featuring Walt Longmire, sheriff of the fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming, the novel explores concepts related to legal and vigilante justice, including within the context of an Indigenous community. The Cold Dish earned Johnson a nomination for the Dilys Award, and the series was later adapted into a 2012 television series called Longmire, which was a critical and popular success. In 2024, Johnson published the 20th book in the Walt Longmire series. The books have developed a strong fanbase, and readers gather for the Longmire Days festival each year in Buffalo, Wyoming, the real-life town that Absaroka County is based on.
This guide is based on the 2023 Penguin Books edition.
Content Warning: This source text and this guide mention death by suicide and sexual assault.
Plot Summary
During the early 2000s, Walt Longmire is the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. One day, he receives notice that a young man named Cody Pritchard was found dead in the nearby wilderness. With the help of his undersheriff, Victoria “Vic” Moretti, Walt opens an investigation into Cody’s death.
A few years earlier, Cody was one of four young men convicted of sexually assaulting a young Cheyenne woman named Melissa Little Bird, who was born with fetal alcohol syndrome.
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