“Return to Sender” by Craig Johnson

c.2025, Viking $30.00 336 pages

Signed, folded, inserted, sealed, stamped, and put in the box, red flag up.

That’s how you used to pay bills or communicate long-distance. Maybe you still do, because getting mail is a daily mystery that’s solved every afternoon. It’s fun to play the who-sent-what’s-in-the-envelope game where even the junk mail is interesting – although, in the new book “Return to Sender” by Craig Johnson, that red flag could mean danger.

Mike Thurman was more than worried.

As postal inspector for the State of Wyoming, it was his job to make sure mail was delivered on time and his carriers were safe. So when Blair McGowan never went home after her 307-mile delivery route one afternoon and she couldn’t be located, Mike called a guy he knew could help: his late cousin’s husband, Sheriff Walt Longmire.

Blair was known around Sweetwater County as somewhat of a free spirit, a hippie with a belief in UFOs and boyfriend who was dumb as the rocks in the nearby Red Desert. As Longmire discovered, she took her postal duties seriously – which meant that she’d fostered a kind of trust with a local cult that was hidden in the Wyoming desert.

That was concerning.

The Order of the Red Gate had been on the radar of law enforcement for some time because it was harboring “people you’ve got to be careful with….” Longmire was told that its members were nomadic, that every time anyone got close to them, they moved. And now rumor had it that Blair had ties with the cult leader somehow, and had joined their camp.

If she was with the cult by choice, there was little that a certain Wyoming lawman could do but report her as safe. She was an adult, after all. But when a note was found that said “SAVE ME” and it was written in Blair’s red lipstick, it seemed that Longmire’s help was needed after all, special delivery.

At a time of chaos and uncertainty, you can always bet on one sure thing: author Craig Johnson can deliver a solid, can’t-miss page-turner.

“Return to Sender” is firmly in that category.

Set in a geographically-unique area of Wyoming that many readers may not know exists, this latest installment in the Walt Longmire series can be read as a standalone; the characters are mostly new here, and you’ll get up to speed quickly with the ones that recur. As you’d expect, there’s just the right amount of danger in this tale, bad guys who are cruelly despicable, and at least two unlikely heroes. They ride alongside plot twists that will make you gasp, gun-slinging, a dog, and a bit of humor to lighten things up every now and then. Yes, there’s a formula to this western-detective novel kind of book but seriously, you know you won’t mind.

Like a cozy mystery, “Return to Sender” is comfortable and familiar but still heart-pounding and fun to read for both fans and for newbies to this author. Start it, and you’ll give it your stamp of approval.