Showing results by author "J.A. Johnstone" in All Categories

Scratch Morton and Bo Creel, two aging cowpokes and friends for years, have seen their share of cattle drives, shootouts, and bust-ups. They do their best to stay on the right side of the law, and never go looking for trouble, but it seems to find them just the same. In Arizona Territory, they get stuck in the midst of a battle between competing stagecoach lines. Of course, a pretty woman who happens to own one of the lines has a lot to do with it, and things aren't quite what they seem.

Crater City, New Mexico, is a bustling mining town brimming with the stench of men hungry to get rich the old fashioned way - killing the competition. Dennis Conroy is the owner of the biggest saloon in town, and he needs a few good sharpshooters to help protect surveyors laying out a route for a spur rail lie before his rival Hugh Thornton beats him to it. Jo Buckhorn’s handy with a gun so he takes the job.

A legend among bounty hunters, Luke Jensen is called to track down a deranged Yankee-turned-outlaw with a burning passion to torch the prairies, torment the townsfolks, and turn all he sees into a smoldering cinder....

Having saved Sweet Apple, Texas from disaster, Matt and Sam decide to stay and help the new marshal break in his spurs — not to mention squeeze in a well-deserved vacation with the help of the lovely, spirited daughters of two feuding cattlemen. Quicker than you can say dosy do, Matt and Sam find themselves on the verge of a full-scale range war. But even worse trouble heads into town when an old foe shows up with hired killers masquerading as dry goods salesmen.

Sweet Apple, Texas is the deadliest town west of the Mississippi - where getting killed is as easy as ordering a beer. Which is why East Coast big shot Cornelius Standish sends his lily-livered nephew, Seymour, to Sweet Apple. With Seymour out of the way, Cornelius will own the company that rightfully belongs to his nephew.

The harsh, unforgiving frontier is no place for innocents. And when an old friend of the Preacher's asks him to guide a gaggle of wide-eyed Easterners through the Rockies, Preacher responds with a polite: "Hell no." But the pilgrims are pursued by a gang of outlaws...and then ambushed by angry Indians. With his friend caught up in the melee, Preacher has no choice but to try to rescue him...and anyone else who happens to be within reach.

As proprietors of the growing DT Cattle Company, Casey Tubbs and Eli Doolin finally have a business of their own. If they’re going to spend their remaining years corralling cows, at least they can line their own pockets with the fruits of their labor instead of making wealthy ranchers even wealthier. Unfortunately, the meat market has seen better days and the DT’s finances are drying up faster than a rain puddle—leaving Casey and Eli no choice but to procure cash by any means necessary—usually robbing banks.

Jamie MacCallister remembers the Alamo—especially one brave frontiersman who died fighting there. Now the fallen veteran’s granddaughter needs Jamie’s help. She’s found a letter written by her grandfather with a map to the spot where Alamo legend Jim Bowie supposedly hid a fortune in silver and gold. Jamie never believed the story. Countless treasure hunters had scoured the area and come up empty handed. But his friend’s granddaughter is convinced it’s hidden where no one has ever dared to search—deep in the heart of Comanche country.

Yuma Prison is a fetid hellhole filled with the dregs of humanity — killers, thieves, and backstabbers who'd kill over a scrap of meat. Now it's home to Frank Morgan, who's posing as an inmate. A ruthless outlaw named Cicero McCoy has buried a fortune in stolen bank money in a harsh, desolate little piece of hell known as Ambush Valley. To get Cicero to lead him to the loot, Frank has become Cicero's new best friend behind bars — and co-plotter of a daring breakout. Until the time comes for Frank Morgan to make a fatal choice — and for one of them to die....

Life on the straight and narrow is easier said than done for a pair of crooks like Jimmy "Slash" Braddock and Melvin "Pecos Kid" Baker. But these reprobates are doing their damnedest to make an honest go of it. They've managed to safely deliver a church organ to a mountain parish when their sometime employer - Chief US Marshal Luther T. "Bleed-'m-So" Bledsoe - recruits them for a job only fools would take.

There’s a storm brewing in Oklahoma Territory, and this time, it’s deadly serious. Local cattle ranches are being targeted by Texas rustlers—and the only man who can keep it from turning into a bloodbath is U.S. Deputy Marshal Will Tanner. The newly married lawman hates to leave his beautiful bride Sophie, but duty calls—for better or worse. In Tanner’s experience, it’s usually worse. An unexpected confrontation with outlaws is just the bloody beginning. Then an escaped convict catches wind of the fact that Tanner killed his brother. Now Will’s really in the crosshairs.

Mountain Man Smoke Jensen's long-lost brother Luke Jensen is a dead shot scarred by war - the perfect formula for a bounty hunter. And he's cunning, and fierce enough to bring down the deadliest outlaws of his day.... Luke Jensen has earned this bounty, hunting down the violent man charged with murdering a preacher's daughter. The outlaw Judd Tyler confesses to many crimes, but not the girl's murder. And he tells Luke they won't reach the town of White Fork alive because a corrupt sheriff does the bidding of a cattle baron, and that man's son is the true killer.

Doomsday is coming. Something fishy is going on with the beef at the Circle P Ranch. After a quick-and-dirty shootout with a small band of rustlers, Ty Brannigan and his son Matt do another count of their cattle—and find they have many heads more than before. Seems the rustlers were hiding stolen cows from other ranches among the Brannigan herd. And that’s just the tip of the cowpie. In jail, the rustlers rat out their partners to the local marshal. They’re not just stealing cattle. They’re plotting the biggest bank robbery in the county’s bullet-riddled history.

There are some things in this world that can't be stopped. Like progress, a moving train, and the American Dream. When the bigwigs in Washington decide to build a transcontinental railroad to the West Coast, they need a man who's just as unstoppable to clear a path through Mexican territory. That man is Jamie MacCallister. Jamie knows it's a tough job. The territory is overrun with Apaches. The Apaches are gunning for a fight. And the first patrol sent in by the president has already been ambushed, kidnapped, and most likely killed.

Civil War is brewing. Everything is about to change. Based on true events. When Regis Royle dreams, he dreams big. And since everything’s bigger in Texas, his dream is to make the Royle Ranch the biggest cattle supplier in the country. Problem is, the country is splitting apart, people are taking sides, and everyone’s gearing up for a full-blown War Between the States. Regis’s kid brother, Shepley, has enlisted in the Army. His trusted foreman “Bone” McGraw has left to rejoin the Texas Rangers. And the rail lines have been rerouted for the war effort.

Some say the Wild West is no country for old men. But apparently no one told Eli Doolin and Casey Tubbs. This rowdy pair of cowboys may be a bit long in the tooth but—thanks to the success of their new business venture, the D&T Cattle Company—they’re riding high in the saddle. And raking in the cash. What’s their secret? They rob banks. Disguised as even older men than they are, Doolin and Tubbs have managed to pull off a string of bank jobs without a hitch, making just a few withdrawals to help fund their ranch.

The bear seems harmless—at first. Just a lost and confused grizzly poking around Big Rock. Then the killings begin. A horse wrangler is mangled. A rancher mauled. Then a bartender in the heart of town is found clawed to a bloody pulp. Now every man in Big Rock is taking up arms to hunt down the beast before it strikes again—which worries the local sheriff. He’s afraid this amateur hunting party could turn into a mass funeral real fast. So he asks Smoke Jensen to help keep everyone calm and contain the panic. Unfortunately, it’s too late. The panic is out of control. And the hunt is on.

In a North American British province, a group of Norweigan settlers have carved a life for themselves in a lakeshore village called Skarkavik. Hunters and fishermen, they raise their families in peace under the natural cover of the surrounding forest. Decker Galloway believes the land's natural resources are being wasted on the few when so many have a greater need. Having made his fortune logging the wilderness of the eastern provinces, he wants to turn his axes and saws loose on the untouched western region. And no villagers are going to stand in his way.

With his epic novels of the Jensen family, William W. Johnstone has captured the pioneer spirit of America. Now he reveals the untold story of Smoke Jensen's long-lost brother Luke, thought to have been killed in the fiercest war in our nation's history. Smoke's Brother Luke: The Jensen Legend Continues...

Luke Jensen has seen some sorry-looking bounties in his time, but this one takes the cake. A wanted poster is offering a reward of one dollar and 42 cents - plus one busted harmonica - to capture Three-Fingered Jack McKinney. Turns out, McKinney's 12-year-old son Aaron wants revenge on his daddy for abandoning him and his mom. The reward is all the money Aaron can scrape together. Luke can't say no to the poor boy - or his beautiful mother - so he agrees to go after McKinney and his bank-robbing gang.