Buckle up because on May 27th, 2025, Walt Longmire, America’s sheriff, returns to action in Return To Sender, the latest blockbuster novel from New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson.
Longmire, who is massively popular among Book Spy readers, first appeared in Johnson’s 2004 debut novel, The Cold Dish. Since then, he’s gone on to star in twenty books to date, including First Frost, which came out earlier this year and saw Walt battle events past and present while answering for the fatal actions of previous books. Longmire was also brought to life on the silver screen by actor Robert Taylor, who played Walt in the Longmore television show for six seasons across A&E Network and, later, streaming giant Netflix. Now, he’ll return for his twenty-first go-around, and Book Spy readers are getting an early look at the nail-biting plot details.
Return To Sender by Craig Johnson
Release Date: May 27, 2025
Viking
Walt Longmire is back after the escapades of First Frost and encounters one of his most baffling cases in Wyoming’s brutal and unforgiving Red Desert.
When Blair McGowan, the mail person with the longest postal route in the country of over three hundred mile a day, goes missing the question becomes—where do you look for her? The Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming elicits Sheriff Longmire to mount an investigation into her disappearance and Walt does everything but mail it in; posing as a letter-carrier himself, the good sheriff follows her trail and finds himself enveloped in the intrigue of an otherworldly cult.
Packed to the brim with twists and turns, the 21st novel in the New York Times bestselling Longmire series pushes Walt to his absolute limits, forcing him to wrestle with the impossible question: What good are your morals, if you’re marked for the dead letter office?
Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction and the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association’s Reading the West Book Award for fiction. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 26.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor in addition to running TRBS. He is the author of FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” LETHAL RANGE, OUT FOR BLOOD, and TED BELL’S MONARCH. For more information, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and BookBub. To interact with other readers and talk about your favorite books and authors, join The Real Book Spy’s Discord server.