I watched and enjoyed the TV crime series Longmire on A&E back in 2012, and I went on to read Craig Johnson’s crime novels, on which the TV series was based.
Although the TV series and the novels about Sheriff Walt Longmire take place in Wyoming, there is a strong Philadelphia connection.
I reached out to Craig Jonson and asked him about his popular character, his latest Longmire novel, Return To Sender, and his local connections.
Davis: How would you describe your latest Walt Longmire crime novel Return to Sender?
Johnson: It’s no secret that my novels tend to come from newspaper articles and Return To Sender is no exception. I was reading about this woman that has the longest postal route in the country, over three hundred miles and with the nefarious mind of the crime fiction writer I thought - if she went missing, where would you look for her? This led to my sheriff, Walt Longmire taking on the third undercover operation of his twenty-one-novel career, something at which he’s not particularly good.
I centered the book outside of Walt’s home county down in the Red Desert portion of Wyoming, home of the largest living sand dune in the US, which came as a surprise even to me. I would’ve guessed Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or some place like that, but it’s actually Wyoming.
Davis: How would you describe Walt Longmire?
Johnson: Walt is the sheriff of the least populated county in the least populated state, which makes for some unique situations. He’s a regular guy with a few superpowers, he reads, he reads everything and that makes him formidable, and he has a sense of humor. I have a lot of folks in law-enforcement and the thing they say differentiates the books from most crime fiction is the humor, and that it just seems real.
Davis: Although your series takes place in Wyoming, there are several Philadelphia connections in your novels, especially in one of your recurring characters, Vic Moretti. So, what’s a nice South Philly Italian girl doing in Wyoming? How would you describe Vic Moretti?
Johnson: With a high-context environment like Wyoming, a place that most people aren’t familiar with, the ninth largest state in America with only a third of the population of Philadelphia, I needed an outsider. I needed someone who would ask the questions that a lot of readers might otherwise ask. Victoria “Vic” Moretti is a street cop from Philly with four brothers who are police officers and a father who’s the Chief Detective for Philadelphia South and a graduate of the sixth largest police academy in the country — she’s forgotten more about subjects such as ballistics and forensics than Walt will ever know. She’s also had to be twice as smart and twice as tough as her brothers to be noticed half as much, but when her husband in the energy industry moves to Wyoming she goes along, gets bored and puts an application in with the local sheriff’s department.
Davis: What are your personal connections to Philadelphia?
Johnson: I did my graduate work in Philadelphia and met my wife there and we’ve still got family in the city so that I can get back and do research, i.e., cheesesteaks and an ice-cold Yuengling.
Davis: In your third novel Kindness Goes Unpunished Wal Longmire travels to Philadelphia and becomes involved in a murder investigation. Will he return to Philadelphia in a future novel?
Johnson: You never can tell; Philadelphia is my go-to in big cities and gives me the opportunity to write about things I don’t normally get the opportunity to write about. Never say never…
Davis: Like many people, I came to your novels after watching the Longmire TV series first on A&A and then Netflix. Are there any plans to resurrect the Longmire TV series?
Johnson: The first broadcaster we were with was A&E where we were the highest-rated scripted drama in their network history, and after three seasons they tried to buy Longmire off of the producing studio Warner Brothers. Warner wouldn’t sell, so A&E dropped Longmire after three seasons even though it was their highest rated show. We ended up getting picked up by a fledgling streaming service at the time, Netflix, and became a hit for them and once again, after three seasons they approached Warner about buying Longmire. Warner said no again, so Netflix stopped the show about seven years ago, but it continued garnering an audience in reruns.
Now it looks like Netflix is in the process of buying Warner Brothers and it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Longmire when they actually own it.
Davis: Are you tired of writing about your character in the way that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tired of Sherlock Holmes and Ian Fleming tired of James Bond? Will you be writing more Sheriff Walt Longmire novels?
Johnson: Well, I have an advantage in that my character isn’t a cocaine-addicted-sociopath… No, I think I enjoy writing the books for the same reason readers enjoy reading about him—he’s a good guy. In time of uncertainty, we have a tendency to gravitate toward an honest to goodness good guy and I think that’s who Walt is. He’s not perfect, but if my truck slides off the road in a blizzard in Wyoming late on a January night — that’s the guy I want pulling over to help me.
