Review: Kindness Goes Unpunished, by Craig Johnson

Kindness Goes Unpunished is the third in the Walt Longmire mystery series. This is a rural police series, normally set in Absaroka County, Wyoming, although this book is largely in Philadelphia. The series was made into a television series in 2012 (two seasons have aired, three is renewed and should air this summer).

I watched the show prior to picking up the books (opposite to the person who recommended it to me, who had read the books long in advance), which I'm finding is colouring my impressions on the novels. I spent a lot of time thinking about how this book differed from what they chose to bring to the series (it had a core similarity of Longmire's daughter being injured, but was otherwise entirely different)... to the books detriment, I think. The characters in the books are separate from the series and I wish I could keep that true in my head - as it stands, I was often momentarily puzzled by descriptions (the casting is not accurate to the books) and had to constantly remind myself that they weren't the same people.

However, mystery was good and the characters likeable, as usual. They didn't play up the "cowboy and indian in the big city" bit too much (Longmire's best friend is Cheyenne - when the series is in Wyoming, it includes a lot of native background accordingly), and meeting the Moretti clan (the deputy's family) was fun. Could have done without Longmire mooning after his deputy's mother and then his deputy (... seriously), but it's consistent and didn't take up too much time, at least.