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

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.

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. 

When a farmer's wife is murdered, an innocent man is accused: Patrick O'Brien. The book-loving brother had shared his love of literature with the woman, but her husband claims she spurned Pat's advances and that's why he killed her. Now it looks like Patrick will swing from the gallows - especially after his lawyer is targeted, too. 

If there’s one thing Smoke Jensen hates, it’s a man who fights dirty. And no one fights dirtier than a politician. Especially a lying, cheating, no-good grifter like Senator Rex Underhill. Luckily, with another election coming up, this senatorial snake in the grass has some serious competition: Smoke’s old friend, Sheriff Monte Carson. Carson’s an honest man, and he’s got Smoke’s full support. But Underhill’s got support, too: a squad of hired guns ready to hit the campaign trail - and stain it red with blood.

Cotton Pickens made it through fifth grade. That and a tin star were good enough to make him the sheriff in the boomtown of Doubtful, Wyoming. And Doubtful's name is no accident. The saying around town is, "If you're a lawman, it's doubtful you'll last a day." Spoiled, brash King Bragg is going to hang for the murder of three men in a barroom. But King's arrogant father - and his beautiful sister - use their powers of persuasion to convince Cotton to look into the shooting.

When Conrad Browning's wife disappears in the untamed frontier, Conrad finds himself assuming the identity of his famous gunslinging father, Frank Morgan, to find her. But his hopes of rescuing Rebel are swiftly shattered - and now he's burning for vengeance, the old-fashioned way. So he fakes his own death and starts calling himself The Loner, becoming the deadliest gunfighter this side of his own father - ready to settle the score in blood and bullets....

There are some things in this world that can't be stopped. Like progress, a moving train, and the American Dream. When the bigwigs in Washington decide to build a transcontinental railroad to the West Coast, they need a man who's just as unstoppable to clear a path through Mexican territory. That man is Jamie MacCallister. Jamie knows it's a tough job. The territory is overrun with Apaches. The Apaches are gunning for a fight. And the first patrol sent in by the president has already been ambushed, kidnapped, and most likely killed. 

Western icon William W. Johnstone, author of the acclaimed Mountain Man series, teams with J. A. Johnstone for this tale that brings together three of his most popular heroes. Preacher, Smoke, and Matt comprise the Jensen family - three generations of legendary frontiersman. When a ruthless cattle baron brings a small army of hired guns to Preacher’s neck of the woods, it falls to the Jensens to stand tall and return fire. And they intend to fight to the last man, because the Jensens never back down from a fight.

On his latest bullion run for the Reverend's Temptation Gold Mine, Shotgun Johnny crosses paths with three desperate strangers. One is an old man. The other is his daughter Dixie. The third is the old man's son, Jake Teal, a bank robber who's wanted dead or alive. Thing is, Jake is already dead—stuffed in a pine box on his family's wagon. Now every bounty hunter in the state is after his body . . .

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. 

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. The travelers are a small troupe of performers with dark histories of their own: a song-and-dance man with a drinking problem, a juggler with a secret, a knife thrower with a past, and a beautiful fan dancer who's on the run from a one-eyed, vengeance-seeking outlaw . . .

Those Jensen boys, Ace and Chance, find themselves on the wrong side of the law—and the raw end of justice—inside the meanest, dirtiest prison in the Arizona territory. When a barroom brawl lands Ace and Chance Jensen in jail, it’s just the beginning of a nightmare that will never end. Their jailmates are army deserters. Even worse, their jailers assume Ace and Chance are deserters, too. Which earns them even more hard time—on a brutal prison chain gang.

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. 

Smoke Jensen's daughter, Denny, can outride, outrope, and outshoot any man who gets in her way. But being a pretty woman, Denny sometimes attracts the attention of unsavory suitors. Like the lecherous Count Malatesta. Denny met the seductive Sicilian on her trip to Europe - and almost fell head over heels for the swindler. What's he doing in America? Seems the heartbreaking hustler has huge gambling debts to pay off - and a deadly scheme to scam money out of the Jensens. But Denny's got a plan, too - to shake off this silver-tongued stalker no matter what it takes.

The mountains are brimming with the lure of fortunes — from gold to a booming fur trade. A man at home in this once pristine wilderness, Preacher knows there’s no turning back civilization now. What he doesn’t know is that beyond the plans of some men is a deadly enemy with far more dangerous designs....

Roaming the west with Doc is a band of wild outlaws including a pair of hate-filled ex-cons and the voluptuous Zenobia “Zee” Swallow, Doc’s kill-crazy lady. The gang have been on a killing spree, leaving a trail of bodies near Ty Brannigan’s Powderhorn spread in Wyoming’s Bear Paw Mountains. U.S. marshals want Ty to help them track down Smilin’ Doc’s bunch. But when the hunt puts the Brannigan clan in the outlaws’ sights, Ty and his kin take justice into their own hands—and deliver it with a furious, final vengeance.

Matt Cavanaugh was 9 years old when a band of outlaws slaughtered his family. Now Matt is 18, honed by hardship, schooled in the mountain ways and carrying the last name of the man who raised him: Smoke Jensen. With Smoke's wisdom, Matt's own courage and just enough money to start a life, Matt Jensen begins a relentless hunt for the outlaws who murdered his family in cold blood.

Johnstone country. Looking for trouble? Then look no further. As a Pinkerton agent, Stoneface Finnegan faced the deadliest killers in the West. But now that he runs a saloon, he serves them hard liquor - with a shot of harder justice. The devil walks into a bar. Stoneface Finnegan and his new partner are busy renovating The Last Drop Saloon when a very unusual stranger comes to town. He's nothing like the prairie rat drifters, world-weary miners, and would-be outlaws who normally pass through Boar Gulch.

The Loner didn’t just bust out of jail, he busted out twice. The third time might be the charm — or a bullet in the belly. He didn’t want much — just the chance to drift out of Texas into New Mexico Territory. That’s when the Loner discovered there was a price on his head. A victim of mistaken identity, he broke out of Hell Gate Prison a few years back. Now, he’s behind bars again, until a sheriff’s love-struck daughter decides to come to his aid and a beautiful bounty hunter — who also has eyes for the Loner — joins in.

They just wanted to get home for Christmas...but fate had other plans. It's December 1890. A Texas rancher named Big Jim Conyers has a deal with Scottish-born, Wyoming cattleman named Duff MacCallister. Along with Smoke and Matt Jensen, the party bears down on Dodge, Kansas, to make a cattle drive back to Forth Worth. But before they can get out of Dodge, guns go off and a rich man's son is killed.