I admit it.

I have a thing for Netflix’s Walt Longmire.

The strong, silent type–wounded by a tragic past–handsome in a casually masculine way suiting his late middle age.  He’s a sexier John Wayne without the political baggage.

I cancelled Netflix after season three thinking that was all the episodes we were going to get only to find out last week that season four has just come out.

Shoot.

The Highway by Craig Johnson is my first Longmire mystery.  I’ve no idea where it falls in the series, how many books came before it nor how many have come after.  It was okay.  A decent airplane read, one most readers will be able to finish in a five or six hour flight.

But, the television show was better.

While I found The Highwayman entertaining, it was too Scooby Doo for me.  If you watched Scooby Doo as a child, you’ll recall that each episode featured the Scooby Gang arriving at the scene of a supernatural mystery.  The team would investigate the spooky crime in a somewhat comic fashion until events finally revealed the all to human cause of the “supernatural” mystery.

The Highwayman begins with a supernatural mystery, a ghost of sorts.  Walt Longmire arrives on the scene, Henry Standing Bear in tow.  The two try to solve the mystery and save a fellow deputy in the process.  Walt disbelieves the supernatural story but Henry insists the spirit world is real throughout.  In the end the culprits are unmasked and both Henry and Walt are right.

It was fun, but too close to Scooby Doo for my taste.  And why is it assumed the reader will accept the Native American Spirit World as real in ways no one would ever ask us to accept a Judeo-Christian Spirit World?

So while I probably won’t be reading any more Longmire mysteries, I will be renewing my Netflix subscription as soon as my cable contract runs out.  #ShouldHaveStuckWithHulu.