Hell and Back | Craig Johnson

Hell and Back: A Longmire Mystery

Extended Synopsis

In Hell and Back, the eighteenth installment of Craig Johnson's beloved, New York Times bestselling series, Sheriff Walt Longmire faces a psychological and metaphysical battleground that pushes him to the very brink of his sanity. The narrative opens on a surreal and terrifying premise: Walt wakes up lying in the middle of a deserted street in the infamous town of Fort Pratt, Montana. He has no memory of how he arrived, he is covered in blood, and his sidearm is missing a single bullet. The only clue to his identity is the name printed inside the leather sweatband of his cowboy hat—a name he no longer recognizes.

Fort Pratt is a place steeped in tragedy, historical ash, and dust, marking the site where thirty young Native boys perished in a horrific 1896 boarding-school fire. As Walt wanders through an endless, nightmarish landscape, every soul he encounters is already deceased. Looming in the yellowed skies is a malevolent force known to the Northern Cheyenne as the Éveohtsé-heómėse—the Wandering Without, or the Taker of Souls. To survive and uncover the truth, Walt must piece together his fragmented mind while locked in a duel with the most ruthless adversary he has ever encountered: his own psyche.

Reader Targeting

• Devoted followers of the Walt Longmire mystery series eager to read the eighteen volume milestone.
• Readers who appreciate complex, psychological thrillers that blend traditional Western noir with Indigenous folklore and supernatural tension.
• Fans of atmospheric crime fiction featuring deep character introspection and high-stakes survival elements.

Accolades & Awards

• A highly anticipated addition to the internationally bestselling franchise that inspired the hit television drama Longmire.

Author Biography

Craig Johnson is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mystery series. His novels have garnered prestigious honors including the Western Writers of America Spur Award, the Will Rogers Medallion, and the French Prix du Roman Noir. Johnson lives in a town of twenty-five people—Ucross, Wyoming—where he continues to construct his globally celebrated frontier mysteries.

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