Showing results by author "William W Johnstone" in All Categories

A killer is on the loose in the Arizona Territory. One by one, Tonto Basin ranchers are being murdered for their livestock - and the Cattle Raisers' Association has hired two range detectives to catch the culprit. From the looks of them, Stovepipe Stewart and Wilbur Coleman are just another pair of high-plains drifters. But with their razor-sharp detective skills and rare talent for trouble, they're the last remaining hope for one young cowboy who's been arrested for the murders. Stovepipe and Wilbur believe the boy is innocent.

In this pulse-pounding Western from national bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, Smoke Jensen welcomes a new rancher to the valley—whose intentions are deadly, especially when his…arrival brings a wild bunch of merciless killers in his wake....

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. For Preacher, that road begins at a remote trading post in the Bitterroot Mountains. At first, it's a friendly reunion with his old buddies Audie and Nighthawk. But then, a young Indian woman and her grandfather are attacked by a vicious gang of thieves—and all hell breaks loose.

Now together in one omnibus for the first time, two unrelenting, action-packed tales about the greatest gunslinger to ever ride the Wild West.

Big Rock, Colorado, has seen its share of wagon trains pass through town, but never one like this. For starters, it's led by a woman—a sweet southern belle named Annabelle—and the passengers are young Civil War widows and orphans. The only man on board is Annabelle's father, a former colonel blinded in the war. They're on their way to Purgatory Butte, Wyoming, to run the ranch the colonel inherited. Smoke's wife, Sally Jensen, thinks it's a noble goal and wants to help the women out—by volunteering her husband's protection on the treacherous journey north. In spite of his doubts, Smoke agrees.

Steely-eyed. Quick as a rattler. Unforgiving as the desert sun. The stories of Nathan Stark’s grit and determination as a manhunter across Indian territory are legendary. He stalks the wild western frontier on behalf of the army, pursuing hostiles to avenge his slaughtered family—and redeem his own failure to protect them. Once again reluctantly partnered with Crow scout Moses Red Buffalo, Nathan has been assigned to assist the U.S. cavalry in escorting a large band of Blackfoot Indians across Montana and into Canada.

With just a single journey under his belt, first-time wagoneer Tomahawk Callahan became a national hero. It started as a challenge waged by a railroad mogul—a race between an old-time wagon train and a brand-new rail line—with the whole world watching. Against all odds, Tomahawk led his family business to victory. At the time, he thought it would be his first—and last—wagon train. But at his sister's urging, he's agreed to take on one final job, a never-before-attempted trip across the Mexican border....

Clay Carson thought his outlaw days were behind him. Years ago, he rode with the fearsome Dirty Creek Gang—and robbed half the banks in Texas. But then a fatally bungled heist in Fort Worth brought it all crashing down. The gang broke up, went their separate ways, and that was the end of that. But today the past came calling for Carson in the form of a telegram. It’s from Lemuel Jones—his old gang leader—who asks him to do something reckless, stupid, and downright crazy: round up the old gang for one last ride.

In Killing Ground, legendary gunslinger Frank Morgan is content as marshal of his Nevada hometown. Trouble rides in, however, when Dex Brighton shows up with an authentic-looking claim to the local silver mine. Suspicious of this stranger, Frank sends for some legal eagles. But after they’re gunned down, Frank realizes the looming standoff must be settled by the law of hot lead.

Dewey “Mac” McKenzie is wanted for a killing he didn’t commit. He saved his hide once by signing on as a cattle drive chuckwagon cook and bolting the territories. Turned out Mac was as good at fixing vittles as he was at dodging bullets. But Mac’s enemies are hungry for more — and they’ve hired a gang of ruthless killers to turn up the heat....

The sight of a rotting corpse hanging from a noose is enough to stop any man in his tracks—and Luke Jensen is no exception. Sure, he could just keep riding through. He's got a prisoner to deliver, after all. But when a group of men show up with another prisoner for another hanging, Luke can't turn his back—especially when the condemned man keeps swearing he's innocent. Right up to the moment he's hung by the neck till he's dead . . . Welcome to Hannigan's Hill, Wyoming. Better known as Hangman's Hill.

Kansas doesn’t want it. Neither does Texas. The 35-mile wide strip of land destined to become the Oklahoma panhandle is a place unlike any other on the frontier: with no laws, no rules and a powerful attraction for killers, looters and fugitives. Frank Morgan, a gunfighter feared by all and hated by some, has been warned to stay the hell out of "the strip." But warnings never did work well on Morgan. So when an ambush robs him of his heart’s desire and nearly takes his life and his would - be murderers take refuge in the strip, the die is cast....

To wealthy rancher Ira Dunellen, the frontier prairie land surrounding his spread is his for the taking. His cattle need room to roam and the one-horse town of Tinhorn, Texas is standing in his way. On the bank of the Neches River, the small community of merchants is just wasting a precious resource that Dunellen's growing range needs. As stray cattle wander into town, followed by rowdy cowboys, Sheriff Flint Moran and partner Buck Jackson start corralling up any man or beast disrespecting the citizenry and breaking the law.

Preacher is heading home to the mountains when he’s approached by a wealthy European with an unusual proposition. He wants the legendary mountain man to track down his missing cousin—a reckless young woman who fled to America with her lover—and he’s willing to pay a small fortune to find her. Preacher isn’t one to get mixed up in the affairs of fancy foreigners, but he reluctantly agrees. The search is on. Striking westward from St. Louis, Preacher quickly begins to suspect that this search party is doomed. And this trail will lead to some very dead ends.

He calls himself The King. Once a respected professor, he was ruined by scandal. Now, he rules his own “country”—an area of western territory where an army of outlaws enforce his laws. Any town he claims as his own must pay “taxes,” collected from bank, stagecoach, and train robberies. When he learns that President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William Tecumseh Sherman are venturing into the far west on a tour of the nation, The King devises a plan to kidnap America’s leaders and expand his empire.

Sixkiller has come to Ringgold, Wyoming, on the trail of Bart Skillern, a vicious murderer he's been carefully stalking for weeks. But before Sixkiller can strike, Skillern takes a job with the town's duly elected mayor, a politician so corrupt that the only way to get near him is by being even more corrupt. So Sixkiller takes a job as a hired gun and sets out to destroy the mayor's gang from inside out.

This latest installment in Johnstone's series about frontiersman Jamie MacCallister finds the former gunfighter, now 50, leading a serene life of retirement in Colorado even as his sons are fighting on both sides of the Civil War. Summoned to Washington, Jamie is offered the position of chief scout for the Union by Lincoln himself. But though the rugged Westerner loathes slavery, he loves states' rights more and, after a meeting with Robert E. Lee, he signs up with the Confederacy as commander of a guerrilla band.

Matt and Sam never could refuse a damsel in distress, so a whole coach load of lovelies, lead by the fetching Charity McKenzie, seems like a gift from heaven. But if it looks too good to be true, it usually is — and in short order the blood will start to flow. Matt and Sam rush in anyway and faster than you can say “soiled doves,” they’re up to their necks in trouble.

What started as a routine hunt and grab - putting outlaw Thorp McCluskey on a train to Cheyenne and prison - has just gone straight to hell for bounty hunter Luke Jensen. First came the beautiful prostitute who pointed her alluring attentions in Luke’s direction. Then came a man who fought by Luke’s side in the war - but the war is over and friendships can turn deadly. Luke gets bushwacked, his prisoner is gone, and so is a fortune in gold. Now Luke is riding back into the Wyoming wilderness to hunt down McCluskey and his woman to finish what he started.

Wise in the ways of a lawless land, the blood brothers deal out their own brand of frontier justice. And when they ride a hot and dusty trail into Texas looking for some excitement, they find it in spades. Big John Lee owns the biggest spread west of the Pecos, but he’s hired a crowd of tough gunners to claim more than his legal share. Bodine and Sam Two Wolves decide to throw their lot in with the men of the Circle S, who were next on John Lee’s land-grabbing list.