Showing results by author "J. A. 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.

U.S. Marshal Will Tanner is a man of the law, not a gun for hire. Except when a friend’s in danger and needs the Tanner brand of help that comes out the barrel of a gun.

Scottish cattleman Duff MacCallister staked a claim for his life in America—and reserves a righteous anger for those who break the law in this smoking six-gun shootout from National Bestselling Authors William W. and J.A. Johnstone.

Located in the bullet-riddled heart of Texas, the Lost Coyote Saloon in the town of Wolf Creek is a magnet for drifters, grifters, and outlaws on the run. That's why the bar's manager, the beautiful Rachel Baskin, is glad the new owner is Ben Savage. A former Texas Ranger with a fast draw and low threshold for trouble, Savage knows how to keep the peace. But when notorious hellraiser Malcolm Hazzard is released from prison—and heading to Wolf Creek to kill the local sheriff—the whole town knows the lawman doesn't have a prayer. There's only one way to stop a devil like Hazzard.

In his younger days, Taylor Callahan didn’t know right from wrong—and didn’t much care either. As a Confederate bushwhacker, renegade outlaw, and all-around hellraiser, he gave the devil himself a run for his money. Somewhere along the road to perdition, he decided to change his wicked ways. To atone for his sins. So he became a traveling preacher. But Taylor Callahan is no ordinary preacher. He rides the Western circuit looking to help lost souls. His mission of peace takes a violent turn when he enters the godforsaken town of Falstaff, Texas.

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.

Preacher is no hired killer. When a wagon train is ambushed on the Santa Fe Trail, though, he can’t say no to the St. Louis businessman willing to pay him for justice. It’s not the stolen gold that’s convinced Preacher to take the job. And it’s not the missing body of one of the wagon train’s crew, a prime suspect who may have plotted the ambush and taken off with the gold. No, it’s the suspect’s lovely fiancée, Alita Montez. She believes her boyfriend is innocent—and has run off to find him. Preacher can’t abide the idea of a young woman alone on the Santa Fe Trail.

Keeper of the peace, enforcer of the law, Buck Trammel has faced every kind of killer, outlaw, and prairie rat that’s crawled from the depraved depths of America’s western frontier—with a quick draw and a clean conscience … “King” Charles Hagen is dead. The empire he carved out of Blackstone, Wyoming, by hook and by crook now lies in the hands of his children. Caleb Hagen has long stood in his father’s shadow, ambitiously plotting, and ready to stake his claim.

It’s 1852. The wounds of the Mexican War are healing. Regis Royle, co-owner of a steamship fleet, has made it out alive, relatively unscarred and with enough profit and foolhardy ambition to envision a new life in south Texas. With the help of his crack-shot kid brother Shepley, his glad-handing riverboat partner Cormac Delany, and his old friend, raw-edged former Texas Ranger Jarvis “Bone” McGraw, Regis is laying claim to the prime jewel in a magnificent rolling prairie: the Santa Calina range teeming with wild mustangs, cattle, and eighteen-thousand acres of lush promise.

It’s the kind of job Luke Jensen hates. A millionaire mine owner is willing to pay $5,000 to the man who captures the half-breed outlaw Tom Eagle. Normally, Luke would turn down an offer like this—it smacks too much of being a hired gun. But when the millionaire tells him that Eagle is responsible for killing his son, Luke agrees to take on the job. Which means he’ll have to take the road to hell itself—aka Hard Rock, Montana.

Smoke Jensen has met some down-and-dirty, murdering prairie scum over the years. But this time it’s personal and it’s bloody—and going to get bloodier. First, they stole fifty of the hundred horses Smoke delivered to his old friend Big Ben Conyers in Tarrant County, Texas. Then they stole two thousand cattle from Big Ben...and killed him just for the fun of it. Now they’re going to pay.

Smoke Jensen is mighty proud of his son Louis for finishing law school. But he can't help being a little disappointed that Louis isn't returning to the Sugarloaf Ranch. Instead, he's setting up his own law practice in nearby Big Rock - a career choice that turns out to be every bit as dangerous as fending off cattle rustlers. The boy's first case lands him smack in the middle of a heated dispute between two riled-up ranchers over water rights. The whole thing could blow up into a bloody range war. Then a scheming con man shows up in town to stir up trouble - and ends up dead.

From coast to coast, American families are losing their homes. Evicted with little notice and tossed into the streets by predatory bankers, landlords, and real estate developers, these once-proud homeowners have invested their lives in the American Dream—only to see it turn into a nightmare. But one tightknit community is fighting back. They've decided to stand their ground, defend their homes, and fight the power—with firepower.

Wagon trains carrying immigrants along the Oregon Trail are falling prey to outlaws. Most families surrender their valuables and goods peacefully, but anybody brave enough to resist gets a bullet. The gang's latest victim was a wagon master who sought to protect his charges only to die in the dust. With the blood of good men being spilled and families being terrorized, Preacher and Jamie MacCallister volunteer to escort the next wagon train. Their odyssey across the unforgiving territory takes them through violent storms and into the sights of hostile Indians.

The great state of Texas is a land of opportunity. For outlaws. And horse thieves. And cattle rustlers. Not to mention bank robbers, train robbers, and anything-that-ain’t-nailed-down robbers. The state’s governor, Richard B. Hubbard, is at the end of his rope. He wants to clean up Texas once and for all—and he’s desperate enough to try something crazy: hire a man who can do what the Texas Rangers can’t. A man not tied down by a wife or children. Or rules. Who’s not afraid to go outside the law.

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....

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.

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.

According to local legend, the stagecoach known as the Gray Ghost is either haunted, cursed, or just plain unlucky. Each of its last three drivers and three more riding shotgun came to a violent, bloody end. And now it's Red Ryan's turn to guard five foolhardy passengers on the stage's next - and possibly last - trip.

At first, the job sounds easy: Lead a small herd of horses across the Arkansas-Texas border to the Double-D ranch near Texarkana. No problem - at least not for a man like Perley Gates. In fact, he's looking forward to the 150-mile journey with his old sidekick Possum Smith and young Sonny Rice, and doesn't expect any trouble along the way.