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

Brewster Ritter had a warning for Flintlock: Do not cross the Sabine River. Ritter, the so-called Baron of the Bayou, is a vicious crime king still seething because Flintlock killed one of his gunmen in a Texas dustup. But Flintlock has his own powerful reasons for crossing into the nightmarish swamp country from East Texas. Now in an eerie land of mysterious mists, haunting cypress trees, snakes, gators, and black-hearted, trigger-happy war hogs, Ritter is waiting for Flintlock with enough men and guns to kill him 10 times over.

Sam'l Flintlock has been hired to protect an innocent man who narrowly escaped the noose but everyone still seems to want dead. The murder of a school teacher sets in motion a battle to the death that pits Flintlock against the hidden man who pulls the strings in the town of Open Sky. But first Flintlock must find out who that man is, what he wants and why. As people start dying, the pieces start to fall together and Flintlock knows that for every evil deed there must be a reckoning....and Flintlock is that reckoning.

He is brave, tough as leather, and has left behind a trail of deadly enemies - outlaws he's hunted down or killed with the cold heart of a man used to violence. A feared bounty hunter and the scourge of bad men everywhere, Flintlock carries an ancient Hawken muzzle-loader, handed down to him from the mountain man who raised him. He stands as the towering hero of a new Johnstone saga.

In a saloon north of El Paso, the legendary Doc Holliday is forced to kill a rancher's son in self defense. His father, Colonel Robert McHenry, is desperate for revenge. And now Doc is a hunted man on the run. Heading west, he turns to Jacob O'Brien, hoping to find refuge at the family ranch. Jacob knows it's a lose-lose situation — one that's bound to end in violence and blood. Colonel McHenry is the famous "Lion of Lynchburg," whose relentless courage in the Civil War earned the respect of fighting men everywhere.

The war between the States has ended. Now, driven from Texas by carpetbaggers, former CSA Colonel Shamus O'Brien sets off for a new frontier - New Mexico. Here, where land is cheap, bandits shoot to kill, and rustlers rule the night, it takes more than one man to run a ranch. So he offers a partnership to his eldest son, Jacob, with equal shares going to his sons Sam, Patrick, and Shawn. Together, the brother's O'Brien will defend their homestead, the Dromore, in this violent, lawless land...and when necessary, administer their own brand of frontier justice.

Jack “Jackknife” McCabe is through with Special Ops. But in an America where politicians, pundits, and the president care more about polls than securing the borders of the Nation, “Jackknife” finds himself sucked back into the terror wars. To stop a nuclear holocaust in the heart of the country, he leads his family and fellow citizens in the battle against fanatic evil hiding behind Islam.

The twins' train is held up by not one, but two vicious outlaw gangs. The Jessup gang has been using the Spalding gang's hideout to plan the robbery. The Jessups just lost two of their brothers in a bank job gone wrong - courtesy of Duff MacCallister - and they're gunning for revenge. Together, these two bloodthirsty bands of killers and thieves are teaming up to make this one Christmas the MacCallisters will never forget.

As both a prisoner and an undercover operative, US Marshal Hank Fallon has faced down some of the most vicious, terrifying, cold-blooded thieves and murderers in the West. Now, Hank is finally free, and he's got no intention of setting foot inside a jail ever again. But the new federal prison being constructed in Leavenworth, Kansas, needs a warden, and Hank is the right man for the job. He's got the scars to prove it - and to keep the peace. But keeping these lawless hornets in their nest is no easy feat.

The completion of a new railroad line from Colorado to Texas is a dream come true for Smoke Jensen and the other ranchers of Big Rock. But this dream turns into their worst nightmare when the first herd they load onto the train is stolen by a vicious gang of kill-crazy rustlers. This is no ordinary train robbery. It’s an inferno of slaughter that includes the friendly rancher who volunteered to take Smoke’s place on the trip. Now Smoke is saddling up and riding out—to get the prairie rats who murdered his friend.

On the West Texas border, a behemoth is bellowing smoke, fire, and death. This monster is the infamous Abaddon Cannon Foundry, whose weapons of war have spread death and destruction around the world — and made a few men in Big Buck, Texas incredibly rich. Now, a Mexican-born teenager has disappeared into this fortress factory, where men work and sweat as slaves. This boy’s sister wants to learn her brother’s fate, and she just happens to know a man named Shawn O’Brien, the town tamer.

Reece Quaid doesn't want to be known as "The Man Who Killed Smoke Jensen." But when the legendary mountain man shows up in the middle of a stagecoach robbery, Quaid has no choice but to shoot him. He didn't even know his victim was the famous Smoke Jensen—until he goes through his pockets and finds his papers. That's when Quaid comes up with a plan. Since he resembles Smoke, he'll simply assume his identity. Rob some banks. Hold up more stagecoaches. And shoot anyone who tries to stop him. Soon the whole world will be asking. Has Smoke Jensen gone bad?

Cord Bennett staked his claim in the gold-rich Rio Oro Canyon in 1849 at the dawn of the California Gold Rush. That's when all hell broke loose. What started as a makeshift mining camp is now a full-blown boomtown—fueled by greed, plagued by grifters, and overrun by opportunists of every stripe. As town marshal, Cord has the unenviable job of keeping the peace. Which is easier said than done. Here in Rio Oro City, brawls can break out at any moment—whether it's a ruthless rivalry between competing saloons or an all-out turf war between miners and timberjacks.

Building a ranch takes heart and grit. Smoke and Sally Jensen are more than capable of meeting the challenges of shaping the land, raising the livestock, and establishing their brand. But Smoke wasn’t always an entrepreneur. He’s more apt to settle accounts with a fast draw than a checkbook. And when he learns his old friend Preacher has been ambushed by outlaws, he wastes no time saddling up and hitting the vengeance trail with his fellow mountain men Audie and Nighthawk.

Charlie Dawson and his partner Clem don't consider themselves bad guys. But they definitely made a bad error in judgment on a gold mine deal—turns out there was no gold—and ended up in a shootout with some very angry claim jumpers. Now a posse is in hot pursuit of Charlie and Clem. The unlucky pair hightail it to San Francisco, where they try to blend into the red-light district known as Barbary Coast. Another bad decision on their part.

n the darkest days of the Civil War, Neville Goldsmith set the world on fire. As Captain for the Union Army, he marched with General Sherman through Georgia, setting homes and cities ablaze with sadistic glee. For Goldsmith, starting fires was a lifelong obsession. And when the war ended, he set his sights on the great American West—to burn it all to the ground. Years later, Luke Jensen learns about a series of fires wreaking havoc from the Dakota Territory to Kansas.

They met in a bloodbath. Two demons in uniform caught in the middle of one hell of a war. Private Chaw, the Rebel, liked chewing tobacco and fighting blue-bellied Yanks. Private Trace, the Yankee, hated Southerners, especially ornery cusses like Chaw. But when the smoke cleared after the Battle of Deadeye Gap, the Blue and the Gray of their uniforms didn't matter anymore. Both were stained blood red. And both were the last men standing....

Almost overnight, they take over the Springerville. They snatch up the real estate. Turn old-fashioned stores into fancy boutiques. Transform the schools. And bring crime and corruption with them. Now one of these invaders—a predatory media mogul from New York—is running for mayor and plans to turn Springerville into a sprawling urban enclave . . . just like the ones the northerners left behind . . . Not if Gus Fuller can stop it. A former army sergeant and lifelong townie, Gus runs the old luncheonette his grandfather built—and plans to give the media mogul a run for his money.

In January of 1848, the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in California sparked a nationwide frenzy, fueling the dreams of Americans from coast to coast. By 1849, hundreds of thousands of fortune hunters from across the globe headed west to stake their claim. Armed with pan or pickaxe, driven by greed or glory, every last one of them was determined to strike it rich—or die trying …

In a twist of fate, Slash and Pecos are riding hard for the law, dispensing justice as they see fit, and determined to watch their final sunset as heroes... not outlaws. His wicked ways mostly behind him, reformed bank robber Jimmy “Slash” Braddock is getting hitched to his sweetheart. But before the honeymoon, Chief U.S. Marshal Luther T. “Bleed-’Em-So” Bledsoe needs Slash and his former partner-in-crime, Melvin “The Pecos River Kid” Baker, to play unofficial Federal mercenaries again—this time saddling up for a trip to Nebraska.