The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson (2005)

The Cold Dish is the first installment in the Longmire mystery series, introducing a middle-aged county sheriff in the wilds of Wyoming as the unlikely hero. It's a book with a lot going for it, but I do have a few complaints.

On the plus side:
*It is compulsively readable, zipping along nicely with plenty of suspense.
*The solution to the mystery only became apparent to me when the hero realized who the culprit was. Johnson did a fine job with his red herrings and caught me by surprise.
*The book has an overwhelming sense of place, with the weather and the terrain becoming as important as the characters.
*The inclusion of some Indian (Native American?) mysticism was unexpected but seemed appropriate.
*The hints and loose ends left at the book's completion would certainly lead a preferential mystery reader to want to read the next in the series.

On the minus side:
*The hero seems overly formulaic. I realize that the personality of a series mystery detective must engage the reader's interest, but do all series readers look for heroes who (a) speak in a clever and sardonic and ultra-hip fashion and (b) arouse the passions of the females they encounter? Somehow, these attributes do not seem natural for an overweight county sheriff of middle age in the backwoods of nowhere.

I understand that Longmire is a much watched series on cable TV. I have never watched it, but I would be willing to bet that the actor playing the hero is not overweight and middle aged. I could be wrong. I will check it out.