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

Kirby - later Smoke - Jensen has just earned his first paying job as a deputy US marshal for the Colorado Territory and is sent to the lawless town of Las Animas. There he finds a sheriff too cowardly to face the outlaw leader Cole Dawson, whose six-gun has left a lot of good men dead. Young Smoke feels no such fear. He takes Dawson down fast. Then the real fight begins. It turns out Dawson is only a cog in a crooked plot hatched by someone hiding behind the law.

Unlike his brothers Jacob, Sam, and Patrick, Shawn O'Brien isn't content to settle down on the family ranch in New Mexico territory. With his razor-sharp eye, lightning-fast draw, and burning thirst for justice, Shawn is carving out a reputation of his own. As a town tamer, he takes the most dangerous, lawless towns in the West and makes them safe for decent men, women, and children. When a stagecoach accident leaves Shawn stranded in Holy Rood, Utah, it doesn't take long to realize he's landed in one ornery circle of hell.

It's fur trapping season and Preacher is about to discover the Rocky Mountain trail holds more than wild game - it's also infested with murderers and trail trash quick to deceive, steal, and hunt Preacher down. Among them are Jebediah Druke, his ruthless band of killers, and most terrifying of all, the barbaric renegade Crow warrior known as Blood Eye. When Preacher shows up and gets on their bad side, he stirs up a clash that could lead to a brutal and bloody battle.

In his mountain-man days, Elwood “Firestick” McQueen was practically a living legend. His hunting, tracking, and trapping skills were known far and wide. But it was his deadly accuracy with a rifle that earned him the Indian name “Firestick.” His two best buddies are Malachi “Beartooth” Skinner—whose knife was as fatal as a grizzly’s chompers—and Jim “Moosejaw” Hendricks, who once wielded the jawbone of a moose to crush his enemies in the heat of battle. Of course, things are different nowadays.

For Smoke and Sally Jensen, the Sugarloaf Ranch is a glorious stretch of untamed land near the Colorado-Kansas border, the perfect place to stake their claim, raise some cattle, and start a new family. But when a man claiming to be an army colonel arrives in Big Rock—with a well-armed militia—the Jensens’ dream becomes a living nightmare. Colonel Lamar Talbot claims there’s a war looming with the Cheyenne Indians. And only he can save them from a bloody massacre—by launching a bloody counterattack… Smoke and Sally aren’t sure they trust him.

In Texas's Big Bend country, every man has a price. For crime lord Harry Holland and his ruthless gang of cutthroats, that price is $20,000 - a ransom demand for the kidnapped daughter of a retired Army colonel. So far, neither the Army, the Rangers, nor bounty hunters have been able to penetrate Holland's guarded fortress.

When a wealthy cattle baroness hires Joe Buckhorn to track down her son, it sounds like easy money. But when he learns that the boy has run off with a girl - whose father is the leader of the cattle-rustling Riley clan - Buckhorn's only hope is to infiltrate the gang. Gain their trust. Live the outlaw life, even at the risk of death. There's just one problem: there's more than one gang. The Riley girl may have stolen a runaway boy's heart but the other gangs are stealing the baroness's cattle.

It sounds like an easy job: track down the lady friend of notorious outlaw Duke Winter and bring her in for questioning. There's just one problem: Slash and Pecos have never met a woman like Miss Fannie Diamond, a glamorous showgirl who's prettier than a French poodle, slicker than a Dodge City gambler, and more slippery than a Mojave rattlesnake. She knows that Slash and Pecos are coming for her and has no intention of being caught—not without one hell of a fight.

On the rolling Missouri River, a riverboat of fur traders, a US senator, and Prussian royalty are all heading to the Yellowstone from St. Louis. Preacher's onboard because the nation's fate depends on the passengers landing safe and sound. But it won't be easy.

The cattle town of Chugwater may not look like much to outsiders. But for Duff MacCallister and the determined settlers who've staked their futures here, it's a land of opportunity. Young railroad developer Jacob Freemantle wants to run a rail line through Chugwater, making it easier to transport cattle. Everyone is on board with the plan - at first. Duff begins to suspect that Freemantle is only after the most valuable land, and he's using strongarm tactics to force reluctant ranchers to sell. Things only get worse when Freemantle's hired guns show up - and the violence really begins.

There are a million ways to die in the Rockies - and a million predators, natural or otherwise. But even a seasoned mountain dweller like Preacher is shocked by the latest horror lurking in the hills. Trappers are being hunted down like animals. Captured. Murdered. Mutilated. Their hearts carved out of their chests. Some of the victims were Preacher's friends. Now two others - Audie and Nighthawk - have gone missing. Preacher is determined to track them down before they end up on the chopping block.

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 US 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.

There are two kinds of traps in the Old West. One is the kind that Preacher and his buddy, Charlie, use to catch a mountain-load of fur pelts. The other is the kind that Charlie steps into — a trap set by a low-life gambler and his seductive partner in crime to swindle Charlie out of his fur money. Preacher hates to see a good friend get robbed. So he sets off after the grifters — on a riverboat bound for New Orleans.

After spending most of his young life driving cattle from Texas to Nevada, Will Tanner is ready to wash the trail dust from his throat. Maybe it was fate that brought him to the Morning Glory Saloon on the border of Indian Territory - or just plain bad luck - because no sooner does he sit down than three rough-looking characters walk into the bar with vengeance in their eyes, guns at their sides...and fingers on their triggers. The trio's target is the famous U.S. Deputy Marshal Dove who arrested one of their kin - and who's sitting in the bar near Will Tanner.

When Smoke Jensen sees a gang of outlaws holding up a stagecoach, his gunfighter instincts take over and he storms in with guns blazing. He kills one of the gunmen, the rest scatter like the rats they are. Another notch on the sharpshooter’s weathered grip. But the dead man is the brother of the notorious outlaw Gabe Briggs, and Briggs will want revenge.... Tired of the savagery of the lawless countryside, Smoke’s wife Sally heads back east for a spell, only to find the big city choking in filth, violence, and corruption. Before Sally can head back home, though, she’s snatched right off the street.

Sheriff McCabe knew he’d make a lot of enemies when he agreed to be a special agent for the Texas governor. But now that he’s managed to keep the peace in the hopeless town of New Hope, he’s hoping he can go home to Two Forks and get back to business as usual. No such luck. The corrupt marshal of East City, Micah Moran, and his murdering band of kill-crazy cutthroats are running wild, leaving the folks in East City in a deadly grip of terror. Now, Two Forks will have to wait because Micah Moran and his evil gang need to be taught some manners—with McCabe’s own brand of retribution.

Duff MacCallister fled the Scottish Highlands for a new world in Wyoming Territory. Betrothed to a good woman, Duff has the bad luck to be standing in the Chugwater Bank when a violent robbery explodes around him. With one man dead by Duff's gun, and another under arrest, a team of bandits swarms outside of town. As witnesses, Duff, a banker, and a beautiful barmaid are whisked into the town's hotel for safe-keeping as the outlaws threaten the defenseless town with a bloodbath if their fellow bandit isn't set free. Except no MacCallister has ever run from trouble.

Apache renegade Bloody Hand plays a role in each of the Jackals' lives. To bounty hunter Jed Breen, he is man with a price on his head. To retired cavalry sergeant Sean Keegan, he is a cellmate after a drunken brawl. And to former Texas Ranger Matt McCulloch, he is the key to a mystery that has long haunted him. When McCulloch breaks Bloody Hand out of jail, his fellow Jackals follow them into Mexico. Now, all four are wanted men. Awaiting them south of the border are Mexican rurales led by Confederate expatriate Major Block Frazer, seeking revenge against Bloody Hand.

As sleepy as Buffalo Peak's been, legendary marshal Elwood "Firestick" McQueen and his deputies "Beartooth" Skinner and "Moosejaw" Hendricks never expected a couple of drifters to wake it up - by kidnapping two lovely ladies in town. Hardly the sharpest quills on a cactus, these dim drifters call it courtin'. Firestick doesn't see it that way. Now the woman snatchers are heading for West Texas with their reluctant brides-to-be...and unwittingly plunging trackers Firestick and Moosejaw headlong into a rescue.

Jamie MacCallister remembers the —especially one brave frontiersman who died fighting there. Now the fallen veteran's granddaughter needs Jamie'sAlamo 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.