"Divorce Horse" is a short story that Craig Johnson wrote as promo for his upcoming Walt Longmire novel, As the Crow Flies. Johnson describes it as "a connecting tissue between novels." Included with the story, and about the same length, is the first chapter of As the Crow Flies. This review addresses the story, not the sample chapter.

A horse is missing. Its owner, a rodeo rider, has been served with divorce papers -- hence the title of the story. Walt Longmire, convalescing after chasing escaped convicts in the Bighorn Mountains, conducts a very relaxed investigation of the alleged horse theft while he banters with his daughter, who is soon to be married. The story is low key, not a thriller and not really a mystery since the nature of the horse theft is obvious to all.

"Divorce Horse" is amusing, not particularly imaginative or deep, but enjoyable. The story assumes the reader's familiarity with the characters (especially friend Henry Standing Bear and daughter Cady) so fans of the Walt Longmire series will probably get more out of it than newcomers. I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to the series, but it's a cute story that Longmire fans should appreciate.

PLEASE NOTE: This was the top review of "Divorce Horse" on Amazon for many years, until Amazon decided to bury popular reviews by putting "Verified Purchase" reviews ahead of reviews based on Netgalley editions. Amazon has done no favor to Netgalley or to the publishers that use it by giving preference to five-word "reviews" by people who purchased the book on Amazon.