Showing results by author "William Johnstone" in All Categories

The Pinkertons believe Rollie “Stoneface” Finnegan was the best agent to ever wear the badge. So does dewy-eyed Pinkerton hopeful and sleuth-in-training Tish Gray, who’s just arrived in Boar Gulch. As co-owner of Boar Gulch’s Last Drop Saloon, Stoneface is content slinging booze into guts instead of bullets. But when his partner Jubal “Pops” Tennyson needs help to rescue his daughter, Stoneface saddles up to take a hard ride into hell. Their destination is Deadwood, Dakota Territory, the notorious mining town and outlaw haven where folks can dig up a gold fortune or dig their own grave.

Gold. Silver. Cold hard cash. Stagecoach guard Red Ryan and his driver Buttons Muldoon have ridden shotgun on some pretty valuable cargo in their day. But they're about to learn - the hard way - that the most dangerous cargo of all is human. They've been hired to escort a cowardly traitor facing an army court martial in New Orleans. Every hired killer in Texas wants him dead, including gun-handy Hannah Huckabee, a woman with a mysterious past and an agenda of her own. But she's just one of the dangers they'll face along the way.

The accidental gunslinger Dooley Monahan has quit wandering and settled down to a farmer's life. But when the itch for adventure gets too strong, he packs up and rides west. Along with his horse General Grant, and Blue, a dog who's too smart for his own good, Dooley rides for the Black Hills to strike it rich in the gold fields of Colorado. But fate has other ideas.

The Scottish Highlands, 1885. Two men, brandishing knives, attack a young woman outside a pub. Duff MacCallister steps in and saves her — killing one of the assailants. Big mistake. The attacker was the sheriff’s son, and now MacCallister is marked for death. His only hope: America. Here, in the sprawling land of dreams, Duff hopes to start a new life with his American cousins. Unfortunately, the sheriff’s deputies are tracking him down — with nine of the deadliest cutthroats money can buy.

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.

They are strangers in a strange land - a band of German immigrants trespassing across the Jensen family spread. Led by a baron fleeing a dark past in Germany and accompanied by a woman beautiful enough to dazzle young Matt, the pilgrims are being pursued by a pack of brutal outlaws hungry for blood, money - or maybe something else…. The Jensens are willing to help the pioneers get to the promised land in Wyoming. But they don’t know the whole story of their newfound friends, or who the outlaws really are.

Orphaned at the age of seven and adopted by Indians, Jami Ian MacCallister grew into a man more at ease in the wilderness than among men. But when the westward strike drove him across the Arkansas Territory into Texas, he finally found himself a home — in the middle of a bloody war. Texans like Jim Bowie and Sam Houston were waging a fierce struggle against Santa Ana’s Mexican army and Jami MacCallister made the perfect scout for the fledgling volunteer force. What lay ahead of them was a place called the Alamo, 13 days of blood, dust, and courage.

Smoke Jensen was the last mountain man and the quickest draw in the West. But he was tired of fighting every punk who wanted to make a reputation for himself, so he hung up his .45s. Like Smoke Jensen, the two Mexican gunfighters known as Carbone and Martine had put away their six-guns, married, and turned to ranching down in Durango. Then they came up against an army of outlaws under a warlord who called himself Carvajal. That was when they called on Smoke Jensen. Smoke didn't waste a minute.

Bo Creel is back at his family's Star C Ranch in Texas. Along with Scratch, he's finding out that home is where the hell-raising is. A rival ranch is trying to drive the Creel family out of business, using any means necessary. For Bo and Scratch, always suckers for a pretty face, come two young ladies who just might blur the battle lines. Desperate to raise cash, the Creel family sets of on a trail drive south to Rockport and a thriving cattle market on the Gulf of Mexico. That's when their rivals strike a devastating blow.

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.

Robber baron Clifton Satterlee's plan is twofold and simple: Wrest the timber-thick hills in New Mexico Territory from the Tua Pueblo and then populate the town with his own subservient labor force. But in his near-perfect campaign of terror, Satterlee has overlooked one mighty obstacle: Smoke Jensen.

No one remembered when he’d come to the mountains - it seemed like Preacher had always been there. He’d seen a world of wonders in the unmapped mountains and forests of the vast North American frontier. In fact, he figured he wouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore. But that was before Preacher traveled into the Ferris Range of Wyoming and discovered the city of Nova Roma....

In Pecos Valley, New Mexico, a cattle war has erupted, pitting rancher against rancher across a once-peaceful land. It has thrust McCallister into the dead-center of one of the most violent battles on record - and barrel to barrel with the greatest challenge he has ever faced. His name is William Bonney. His victims called him Billy the kid. McCallister calls him a bad risk. But in the deadly gamble of the Lincoln County War, placing your bet on an outlaw like the Kid is the only game in town.

Perley's elder brother, Rubin, who manages the Triple-G Ranch decides to try breeding some Hereford cattle with the ranch's longhorns. He asks Perley to deliver the contract for the Herefords, a simple task. But nothing ever remains simple when Perley is involved. And for the reluctant fast gun, it means a nightmare journey through hell itself . . .

Two outlaw brothers have been leaving a blood-trail on their way to infamy on the western frontier. Until bounty hunter Luke Jensen catches one of the black-hearted Kroll brothers away from his gang. But while Luke is trying to get Mordecai Kroll from jail to justice, he's ambushed by the Kroll gang and taken prisoner. And that draws Luke's own brother Smoke Jensen into the fight, guns drawn....

In Tennessee, 17-year-old Breckinridge Wallace knew the laws of nature. When his life was in danger, he showed a fearless instinct to fight back. Killing a thug who was sent to kill him got Breckinridge exiled from his Smoky Mountain home. Brutally wounding an Indian attacker earned him an enemy for life...Now, from the bustling streets of St. Louis to the vast stillness of the Missouri headwaters, Breckinridge is discovering a new world of splendor, violence, promise and betrayal. Most off all, he is clawing his way to manhood behind the law of the gun.

When Duff MacCallister journeys to Texas to deliver 100 head of Angus cattle, he finds a land on fire. Unruly, lawless teams of fence cutters, branded Blue Devils by the locals, are rampaging across grazing land and cutting fences in the name of an Eastern land company. The ranchers are fighting back, and Duff joins the fray. But the fight leads to Austin and into an even deadlier mission.

Deadwood, South Dakota. Miners flock there seeking fortunes, while cardsharps, bandits, and businessmen seek to deprive those who strike gold by means fair and foul. Legendary former lawman Seth Bullock plans to keep the peace by any means necessary—especially when his good friend, President Theodore Roosevelt, is expected in town to celebrate the anniversary of Deadwood’s founding.

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.

He was raised by the mountain man called Preacher, and he was said to be the fastest gun alive. Until he hung up his gunbelts to raise a family. Smoke Jensen was the last mountain man and a force of nature. But Lee Slater and his gang of low life desperadoes didn’t know that. Stirring up a motherlode of trouble for the retired gunslinger was Slater’s first mistake. Shooting Smoke Jensen’s wife Sally was his second.