Between luck and careful planning, I managed to construct a life where I do almost nothing I don’t want to do. Laundry. Cleaning cat litter. That’s about it for hassle. It’s not all tacos and sunsets, but I do have a fairly stress-free existence.

My passions are coffee, books, and birds. I live way the heck back in the Gros Ventre Mountains, in a cabin by a creek bubbling over moss-covered rocks and shaded by whiplash willows and kinnikinnick. Sounds lovely and for the most part it is.

I wake up every morning about twenty minutes after dawn, stagger out to my front porch and urinate, facing the sun. The world is incredibly beautiful at that time of day. It’s a spiritual awakening made of light on rock. Gray turns pink.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not one of those pretentious pills who get up at five and write two hours then brag about it on social media. Once my spiritual high has dribbled into the greasewood, I go back to bed. Sleep is good for you. It may rate up there with birds, books, and coffee.

I awaken a second time, fix a French press of independently sourced coffee, put in cream, and go back to the porch to read my book of the moment. Luckily, I don’t have wifi or cell coverage up here, so my morning coffee is spent with a book. Then comes a light breakfast of Wheat Thins and Metamucil wafers, then I drive into my coffee kiosk on the edge of GroVont.

The town GroVont is pronounced the same as the Gros Ventre Mountains, River, and Indian tribe, only the town is spelled like the pioneers heard it. My kiosk is called River Runs Through It Espresso. It’s run by Lonicera Singer, a former Rainbow Family love-child from Santa Barbara.

Lonicera gives me grief for the cream in coffee thing. I know, it’s my tragic flaw. I like it that way,

At the kiosk I work my phone, reading the e-mails and texts that came in overnight. If the window is busy, I might help, but Lonicera usually won’t let me. She says I make a mess.

Let’s wrap this up. Rest of my day: Lunch at an upscale coffee shop in Jackson where the pastries are fresh, not like the day-old day olds at RRTI. Then I hike, flyfish, read, or sit on a rock by running water and write my novel until time to go back upriver to feed my cat, Zelda.

One thing I enjoy no end is walking at night. I first caught on to night walks after my wife Janeane left me in a puddle of remorse. My cabin is off a dirt road, which I recommend for night walking. Unless the moon is totally full, walking cross-country leads to skinned shins and broken glasses. But a few miles on a dirt road at night will cleanse the mind and air out the soul.

That’s my day.

LIT
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: December 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Tim Sandlin is back with a deliciously subversive take on a “cozy” mystery that deftly, shrewdly and humorously reflects our turbulent times.

In a small town in the woods of northwest Wyoming, Kasey Cobb lives alone in a cabin, runs a drive-through coffee kiosk, and hangs out at the library, reading the classics. He’s the least-likely guy to become the center of a culture clash… and death. Yet that’s what happens when he strays past a book-bonfire, ignited by a pastor and his hapless followers, and inadvertently rescues a self-important (drunk) author from being burned with his obscure novel.

From that moment on, Kasey’s life becomes a whirlwind that sweeps up a laconic lawman, a pissed off grizzly bear, a relentless podcaster, a sensuous librarian obsessed with death, a fierce female rancher and, most troublesome of all, a devious murderer. And yet, amidst the chaos, Kasey chases another shot at a lasting love, even if it might kill him.

Meet the author
Tim Sandlin is an American novelist and screenwriter. Born in Oklahoma, Sandlin spent his early summers in Wyoming while his father worked seasonally for Grand Teton National Park. Sandlin worked over 40 entry-level jobs including driving an ice cream truck, skinning elk, cooking in a Chinese restaurant, trail inventory for the Forest Service, caretaker of rental cabins, gardener for the Rockefellers, pizza parlor manager, belt buckle buffer, and multiple dishwashing jobs. Throughout this period he lived most of the year on public lands, first in a tent and later in a Cheyenne tipi. He is the author of 11 novels and two books of columns.