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

Nobody double-crosses Smoke Jensen - not if he hopes to live, that is. USA Today best-selling author William W. Johnstone's Betrayal of the Mountain Man finds the rough and tumble hero fighting through one of his deadliest plights yet. Framed for robbery and murder by a pack of low-life outlaws, Smoke is locked up and sentenced to the gallows. But no bars of iron or bonds of rope can withstand a vengeful Mountain Man.

Malcolm Theodore Puddle is a 21-year shipping clerk — from way back East. What is he doing out here? The Mountain Man’s former neighbor, Humbolt Puddle, has died and left his crumbling 600-acre ranch to his only living heir, just as a greedy and ruthless cattle baron is circling the Humbolt ranch like a ravenous vulture. Poor, unsuspecting Puddle is walking into a death trap. Smoke is the not the pitying kind. But any enemy of Smoke’s neighbor is his enemy, too. 

Exiled from the Smoky Mountains for gunning down a man in self-defense, Breck Wallace tries to make a new home in St. Louis, even tries his hand at romance, but some men are too wild to settle down. Breck is soon back on the trail, where a vicious gang of trappers, after his goods, picks up his scent and begins to dog his every step, until Breck’s only choice is to bed down for the winter with a tribe of friendly Indians. In the frigid, brutal cold of a Rocky Mountain winter, he hopes to find peace...but death is not done with Breck Wallace. 

Two of the Johnstones’ most legendary heroes—the rugged mountain man known as Preacher and the Scottish clan rancher Jamie Ian MacCallister, here together for the first time—are forced to choose sides in a blood-soaked battle for the heart and soul of a nation divided. This is not the American dream they were looking for. This is a nightmare. A brutal, blood-drenched frontier war that two heroic men must fight and win—or one struggling nation will never come together. For liberty and justice for all.

They came to America to start a new life. Three brothers and their sister, the Baxter heirs lost everything they had in Europe, so they boarded a ship to the Texas coast, hoping to stake a claim in the land of opportunity. They knew frontier life will be hard. But their troubles begin before they even reach Texas. A man is killed on board—a member of the fierce MaClochlainn clan who blame one of the Baxters for his death. So begins a blood-drenched feud that will haunt and pursue them as they try to build a future in Texas Hill Country....

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....

Wagon Master Clayton Scofield has led countless families across the dusty, wide open territories of the West, helping the brave, sometimes reckless, pioneers settle into new lives brimming with the promise of good fortune. Accompanied on his latest trail by his nephew Clint Buchanan, riding as scout, and cook Spud Williams, Scofield finds himself guiding a train of thirty wagons from Independence, Missouri, to the distant dream of Oregon.

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... 

Duff MacCallister has just returned from a trip back to his native Scotland - more determined than ever to build a new future in Chugwater Valley, Wyoming. But Duff will do it his way, buying up a herd of rare Scottish black angus from the Kansas City market. He can’t know that his dream is threatened by a man driven by one desire: to take other people’s money and other people’s lives.

It starts with a jailbreak. Frank Thorson and his gang ride into Wolfwater to bust Frank's brother out of the slammer. First, they slaughter the deputy. Then, the town marshal. Finally, they run off with the marshal's daughter and no one's sure if she's dead or alive. The townsfolk are desperate enough to ask that drunken old coot Catfish Charlie to put down his fishing pole and wine bottles, pick up his Colt Army .44, and go after the bloodthirsty gang. Sure, Catfish Charlie may be a bit rusty after all these years. But when it comes to serving up justice, no one is quicker.

It didn't matter that the warrant was years old, or that Smoke Jensen had been cleared of all charges. A Texas bounty hunter named Bill Pike believed he could still collect a $10,000 reward for killing Jensen - and he intended to do just that. But when Pike and his men came calling, Jensen was nowhere to be found. So they took the next best thing - Smoke's woman - left behind a ransom note, and headed up into the Rocky Mountains. 

Keeping the peace in a West Texas town like Buffalo Peak should be easy for a legendary frontiersman like Marshal Elwood "Firestick" McQueen. He’s got his longtime buddies "Beartooth" Skinner and "Moosejaw" Hendricks as his deputies — not to mention the famous rifle that earned him his nickname. But when Firestick learns that their ornery old friend “Rip” Ripley just rode into town, all bets are off. 

For Smoke, it starts at a high-class auction for a pureblood Hereford bull. Smoke wins the bidding - and earns the hatred of Pogue Quentin, Santa Clara’s leading citizen and a man living on bloodshed and lies. Then Smoke’s friend Pearlie drifts to Santa Clara. And when Pearlie runs afoul of Quentin, all hell will break loose. Now Smoke Jensen is heading to Santa Clara to face a man who already wants him dead - but Pogue Quentin never met anything like the fire of a mountain man....

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. 

They ride after sundown. Black robed figures with skulls for faces, terrorizing the town of Recoil like the horsemen of the Apocalypse. If the sheriff hopes to defeat this hellish band of outlaws, he'll need back-up. Enter Colonel Shamus O'Brien. The seasoned ranch hand and patriarch has fought off more than his share of horse thieves and marauders. But he's never seen anything like these ornery devils.

Luke Jensen brings a body to Rio Rojo. After all, it's his job and he's going to get paid. But before he can collect the bounty for killing a killer, two notorious criminals hit the Rio Rojo bank. Now Luke can't get paid unless he catches bandit Gunner Kelly and his Apache sidekick Dog Eater. Unfortunately, a would-be man hunter is after the money-toting outlaws, too, and young Hobie McCullough is mostly a menace to himself. With a green kid to protect, renegade Mexican soldiers, and a beautiful runaway bride crossing Luke's trail, the blood hunt takes one deadly detour after another.

A legend, his name is mentioned alongside Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok. He casts a storm-cloud-sized shadow across the untamed Western frontier. Men on both sides of the law fear his wrath. For Nathan Stark is the army’s avenging angel, waging war against the hostile Indian tribes that threaten the nation—and murdered his family in cold blood.

Mountain men are skilled at survival. Preacher, the greatest of all those warriors of the forest, will kill anything-beast or man-that threatens his survival. Ten years ago, he taught this violent lesson to gun-crazed Ezra Pease when he ran the outlaw out of town. But Pease and his trail-scum gang are back - shooting up trouble and crossing the Big Empty to nail Preacher's hide to a tree. So Preacher's riding out to teach Pease one final lesson. But it could be too late because Pease's vicious dealings have fired up an all-out Indian war.

In South Texas, Captain Richard King built a ranch called Santa Gertrudis. But at the end of the Civil War, his ranch was raided by Union troops led by a sadistic killer who burned Santa Gertrudis to the ground. Thirty years later, King's land is about to run with blood once more. Former Union Captain Jack Brant has gotten out of prison and is raring to pick up his rampage where he left off. Called to Texas, mountain man Smoke Jensen is ready and willing to help King fight fire with fire.

A woman and an iron horse put Matt Jensen in the crosshairs of a man out to reap a fortune with a new railroad through Paiute land. First, Cyrus Longacre steals the land. Next, he frames Matt Jensen for the murder of a beautiful woman. The final step is to keep Matt’s father and grandfather far away from Nevada Territory.... Preacher and Smoke are otherwise engaged — until some hired killers get their attention. Suddenly, the elder Jensens have a hunch young Matt is in trouble and together they’re riding to Paiute country.