J A Johnstone Books in Order

Matt Jensen reaches Thirty-Four Corners, Colorado, where two cattle families are locked in a deadly feud. Hired gunmen and lovers caught between the rival sides complicate his attempt to halt the killings rather than simply ride away.

A stagecoach accident strands Shawn O'Brien in Holy Rood, Utah, a town ruled through fear by Hank Cobb. The experienced town tamer confronts Cobb's brutal punishments and hooded enforcers as he tries to make the settlement safe for ordinary people.

The Jensens struggle to reunite for Christmas in Texas. Luke delays arresting an outlaw now working as a pastor, Smoke and Sally face storms and pursuit, and Ace's romance connects him to a gang threatening Luke's bounty.

Former army surgeon Jonas Trask and his gang target the Jensen homestead while members of the family are away. Sally's kidnapping draws Smoke, Matt and Preacher into a rescue against an enemy whose cruelty makes the ranch a dangerous trap.

Sheriff Jess Casey's efforts to tame Hell's Half Acre unravel when politicians send released criminals into town. As violence overwhelms his deputies, powerful opportunists seek to remove him and take control, forcing another fight for the community's survival.

Desperate cowboy Jess Casey enters Fort Worth despite a dying sheriff's warning and takes the vacant lawman's job. Outlaw Kurt Koenig puts a price on his head, leaving Casey and his deputies facing killers determined to preserve the town's lawlessness.

Flintlock ignores a warning not to cross the Sabine River and enters the swamp territory controlled by Brewster Ritter. The powerful criminal has men waiting to avenge a dead gunman, forcing the bounty hunter into a dangerous confrontation.

After the Kingdom Come Gang kills a member of his family, Duff MacCallister rides from Wyoming to Texas. Recruiting help for an assault on occupied Boracho, he must confront ruthless criminals while protecting hostages trapped inside the town.

An ambitious young sheriff calls Shawn O'Brien to Broken Bridle, Wyoming, where outlaw Darius Pike rules through terror. Taking on the job, the town tamer discovers further dangers beneath Pike's control that complicate his mission to restore order.

Preacher investigates gruesome attacks on trappers in the Rockies after friends Audie and Nighthawk disappear. His search leads toward a hidden cult and a bloodthirsty warrior priest, putting the missing men and the mountain man's own survival at risk.

Breckenridge Wallace learns to survive as a mountain man in the Rockies after leaving Tennessee behind. But two powerful enemies from his past send hired killers after him, adding deliberate pursuit to the hazards of trapping and frontier life.

In 1942, an elderly Texan seeking to enlist claims he is Jesse James. His account describes escaping his supposed death, building a new life and confronting the complications of teaching his twin sons skills from his outlaw past.

Young Kirby Jensen grows up on a struggling Missouri ranch as the Civil War draws his father and brother away. Raids, battles and frontier violence shape the boy who will become Smoke Jensen, testing his family and sense of justice.

Sheriff Jess Casey must protect a former Union general responsible for a massacre of Confederate prisoners. When the vengeful McNamara family follows the general to Fort Worth, Casey faces the challenge of upholding the law for a man he despises.

Seventeen-year-old Breckenridge Wallace leaves Tennessee after killing a man sent to murder him. Traveling through St. Louis and toward the Missouri headwaters, he confronts new enemies and frontier dangers while learning the skills needed to survive on his own.

An eviction notice threatens the Kerrigan family's hard-won Texas home. Savannah Saint James wants the property and has hired gunmen to support her claim, leaving Kate, her sons and neighboring ranchers to resist the attempt to drive them away.

New deputy U.S. marshal Kirby Jensen is assigned to Las Animas, where a frightened sheriff cannot confront outlaw Cole Dawson. Challenging Dawson leads the young lawman toward a larger scheme involving corruption hidden behind the authority of the law.

Twin brothers Ace and Chance Jensen are hired by two women to defend a struggling stagecoach line. A ruthless mine owner and his gunmen threaten the business, testing the brothers' contrasting temperaments and the skills inherited from their frontier family.

Texas rancher G.W. Brannock resists government claims that threaten his family's land. With help from his grandson and lawyer Miranda Stephens, he confronts mounting pressure, while national attention draws supporters into a dispute moving toward an armed confrontation.

A Winchester rifle intended as a boy's Christmas gift is stolen in a Texas train robbery. As the gun passes through dangerous hands, Deputy U.S. Marshal Jimmy Mann follows it while hunting the robber responsible.

James Mann enters Indian Territory to search for his missing uncle, and his father follows him. Facing the McCoy-Maxwell gang, the family has help from Deputy Marshal Jackson Sixpersons and his unusual lever-action Winchester shotgun.

The Jensens prepare for Christmas at Sugarloaf Ranch as snow and danger gather around Big Rock. An old trapper pursued by a bounty hunter and a released criminal plotting revenge threaten to turn the holiday violent.

Deputy Will Tanner rides to Muskogee after his friend Ed Pine disappears while pursuing two train robbers. With the killers' trail gone cold, Tanner must find the missing marshal and bring the violent bandits to justice.

Bounty hunter Flintlock arrives in Happyville to find a town devastated by disease. A fanatical clergyman orders fleeing survivors brought back, forcing Flintlock to confront a gunman whose cruelty threatens everyone still trying to escape.

Shawn O'Brien travels to Big Buck, Texas, after a teenager vanishes inside a cannon foundry. The boy's sister wants answers, but the town tamer faces wealthy weapons manufacturers whose factory depends on men treated as slaves.

Terrorists attack a crowded mall on Black Friday, trapping shoppers and separating Iraq veteran Tobey Lanning from his girlfriend. He gathers an unlikely group of survivors to resist the attackers and protect the people still inside.

Joe Buckhorn takes a job protecting railroad surveyors for a saloon owner in a New Mexico mining town. Attraction to his employer's daughter and doubts about the man's motives complicate a rivalry already heading toward gunfire.

Undercover detectives Stovepipe Stewart and Wilbur Coleman join a Montana ranch caught in a range war. Another cowboy is hiding his identity too, and competing loyalties make their effort to stop the violence increasingly dangerous.

Kate Kerrigan travels to Dodge City to defend a cowboy she believes has been framed for murder. Back at the family ranch, her son Quinn faces armed danger when a wagon train of sick travelers arrives.

Preacher rescues Bird in the Tree and a young warrior from an ambush, discovering the family he never knew he had. With the Blackfoot threatening the Absaroka, he must fight beside the son he has just met.

Ace and Chance Jensen plan to free a Chinese woman won in a card game, but she steals their money and flees. Tracking her to Montana brings them into conflict with another man seeking revenge.

After Sam Heller saves a teenage gunfighter from bandits, the boy asks for help with another battle. Johnny Cross rides east to aid an old friend fighting a corrupt power broker for control of a Texas river.

Delivering cattle to Texas draws Duff MacCallister into a violent campaign of fence cutting. When the governor's daughter is kidnapped, Duff must pursue her captors with a small force that includes outlaws he cannot fully trust.

Matt Jensen accepts a lucrative job escorting a wealthy San Francisco businessman and his daughter to Chicago. Assassins board their train along the route, turning the journey into a running fight to keep his clients alive.

Arizona ranchers are being killed for their livestock, and a young cowboy stands accused. Range detectives Stovepipe Stewart and Wilbur Coleman must uncover the real killer while working for the cattlemen determined to stop the attacks.

After years driving cattle, Will Tanner stops at a saloon near Fort Smith. Three armed men arrive seeking vengeance, and the young cowboy's response to their threat begins his move from trail work into a lawman's life.

Smoke Jensen, Sally and Preacher take a stagecoach to a family Christmas gathering in Tucson. A sandstorm and an Apache ambush force them into shelter, while outlaws pursuing the coach's cash cargo add another threat.

After an attack on the Oregon Trail kills his parents and leaves his sisters missing, fifteen-year-old Tim Colter must learn to survive. Mountain man Jed Reno helps him pursue the attackers across a dangerous frontier.

Duff MacCallister finds a neighboring ranch burned and its owners murdered. Their fourteen-year-old daughter insists on joining his pursuit of the killers, leading them into the Gore Range against escaped convicts and their armed rescuers.

Drought threatens the Kerrigan ranch, prompting Kate to hire a man who promises rain. When armed customers arrive demanding revenge for his swindles, the family discovers that these men also have designs on their land.

A young heiress pays bounty hunter Sam Flintlock to spend a week in her murdered uncle's supposedly haunted mansion. A missing treasure map, hostile townspeople and a dangerous gunslinger make the living his most immediate concern.

Dooley Monahan heads toward the Black Hills gold fields with his horse and dog. Mistaken for a bank robber, he becomes a wanted man and joins the actual gang, leaving him threatened by lawmen and outlaws alike.

Wanted doctor Samuel Knight abandons his disguise to treat miners injured in a cave-in. Their employer suspects her former husband caused it, drawing Knight into a violent dispute over a New Mexico mine while risking his freedom.

Deputy Will Tanner confronts a horse thief while visiting a friend's ranch, drawing the anger of dangerous killers. Their pursuit turns his duties into a fight for survival across Texas and Oklahoma as revenge closes in.

Preacher takes young Hawk to St. Louis, where the boy falls for Chessie Dayton. When she joins an expedition seeking gold in the Black Hills, Hawk persuades Preacher to follow the party into dangerous sacred ground.

Bob Hatfield serves as marshal of the violent boomtown Rattlesnake Wells, hoping to leave his outlaw past behind. When enemies from Texas catch up with him, protecting the town threatens the new life he has built.

Former Union sniper John McMasters receives a new Remington shotgun for his fiftieth birthday. When the Butcher gang murders his family, he pursues revenge with the weapon and seeks help from prisoners being transported to Yuma.

Confederate doctor Samuel Knight returns to East Texas after war and imprisonment to find his home occupied and his wife married to another man. Penniless and desperate, he confronts the soldiers and opportunists controlling his town.

Framed for murder, Dewey McKenzie hides on a cattle drive by claiming to be a cook. He discovers a talent for the work, but a trail hand's plan to cheat the herd's owner forces him into conflict.

Breck Wallace seeks a new life beyond the Smoky Mountains, but greedy trappers follow him into the Rockies. Taking winter shelter with a friendly tribe offers little safety when his pursuers attack the people protecting him.

Former Marine Patrick Larkin shelters his family in a converted missile silo after nuclear attacks devastate America. Overcrowding and panic threaten the survivors inside, while armed marauders outside demand entry and force them to organize a defense.

Deputy Marshal Tim Colter hopes to settle down, but railroad expansion brings rival factions into the town of Violet. To prevent their struggle for control from overwhelming the community, he turns to old friend Jed Reno.

After rustlers wound Smoke Jensen, Sugarloaf Ranch faces another attack. His children return from Europe, and daughter Denise must use the riding and shooting skills she inherited while the family waits for reinforcements to arrive.

Ace and Chance Jensen serve on a jury that sends a killer to the gallows. His outlaw brother targets all twelve jurors for revenge, forcing the twins to fight for their lives and protect the others.

Smoke Jensen takes his children through Donner Pass on a Christmas trip to Reno. Sharing a stagecoach with a would-be bank robber is dangerous enough, but a blizzard traps them in the mountains with outlaws nearby.

Perley Gates receives clues to buried gold from the grandfather who deserted his family. Recovering the fortune could secure their future, but the Black Hills are crowded with ruthless men eager to claim wealth for themselves.

Undercover detective Hank Fallon enters Missouri State Penitentiary to locate a pregnant inmate and trace stolen bank money. A growing prisoner rebellion threatens to become a riot, putting his investigation and his life in danger.

Two drifters kidnap women from Buffalo Peak, drawing Marshal Firestick and a deputy away in pursuit. With only Beartooth left to protect the town, a gang robs the bank and takes a hostage, starting another chase.

Breck Wallace pursues trapper Judd Carnahan after a winter of violence in the Rockies. A murdered trader and kidnapped woman lead him toward Santa Fe, where Carnahan's criminal businesses conceal a trap for the man following him.

Wanted for a murder he didn't commit, chuckwagon cook Mac McKenzie joins another cattle drive to evade hired killers. When the owner's son is kidnapped, Mac must face dangers on the trail while his pursuers close in behind him.

Deputy marshal Will Tanner pursues a bank robber into Oklahoma Territory, unaware that cattle rustler Jebediah Cotton has sent relatives after him. Cotton blames Tanner for his son's death, turning the lawman's latest manhunt into a struggle for survival.

Former mountain men Firestick McQueen, Beartooth Skinner and Moosejaw Hendricks settle into ranching in West Texas while serving as marshal and deputies. A hired gunman's arrival threatens their quieter lives and puts their old frontier skills to work again.

A shooting contest in Rattlesnake Wells offers gold-plated revolvers as its prize, but theft and hostage-taking derail the event. Marshal Bob Hatfield pursues the culprits into the Wyoming wilderness, where the stolen guns conceal a more dangerous story.

After saving Buffalo Bill Cody, Dooley Monahan receives help buying a silver mine in Leadville. Becoming sheriff brings him into a gang war, and a series of stagecoach robberies leaves the townspeople questioning whether their new lawman is responsible.

Army scout Nathan Stark reluctantly partners with Crow scout Moses Red Buffalo on a mission into tribal territory. Serving under a ruthless colonel, the rivals discover that surviving a deceptive assignment will require cooperation rather than their usual hostility.

Joe Buckhorn is hired to retrieve a cattle baroness's runaway son, who has fallen for a rustler's daughter. Infiltrating her father's gang draws Buckhorn into a range war where competing thieves make choosing allies a dangerous business.

Flintlock leaves his injured friend O'Hara in a miner's cabin, only to return after raiders have attacked it and kidnapped the miner's daughter. Rescuing her means tracking a violent gang whose leader intends to force her into marriage.

Preacher and his son Hawk rescue Caroline from kidnappers in the Rocky Mountains. Raised by the Crow since childhood, she needs their help getting home, but violent trappers and armed opponents make the journey down the mountain dangerous.

Ace and Chance agree to escort five prospective brides through dangerous country. A woman's violent former husband, men hoping to seize the travelers and a band of kidnappers turn the brothers' assignment into a fight to keep their charges safe.

Marshal Bob Hatfield considers giving a newly released prisoner a chance to clear his name in Rattlesnake Wells. Escalating fights and shootings suggest more than a local dispute, while an enemy from Hatfield's past prepares to strike.

Hunter Buchanon hopes for a peaceful life in Dakota's Black Hills with his rescued coyote, Bobby Lee. An ambush ends with a deputy dead, leaving Hunter to explain a violent confrontation to the sheriff while protecting his unusual companion.

Kate Kerrigan shelters a homeless family fleeing a vindictive rancher. His armed men attack her household, transforming an act of charity into a struggle for survival and leaving Kate determined to confront those who brought violence onto her land.

After his father's death, young Perley Gates leaves the family ranch to find the adventurous grandfather whose name he shares. His search through Oklahoma Territory brings dead ends and dangerous encounters, testing the freedom he hoped the frontier would offer.

Bandits kidnap Frank Morgan in Arizona and demand ransom from his wealthy son, Conrad Browning. Conrad chooses to infiltrate their compound instead of paying, but joining the gang's criminal activities threatens to trap both father and son.

Duff MacCallister discovers that powerful Wyoming cattlemen are targeting small ranchers who legally claim unbranded cattle. When ranch owner Brad Houser offers payment to have those rivals killed, Duff steps into a dispute that has become a campaign of murder.

Former Army Ranger Jake Rivers struggles to fit in at Kelton College until armed attackers seize students for ransom. Facing a campus siege, he must rally classmates and use his military experience to resist the gunmen holding them hostage.

Wrongly convicted former deputy Hank Fallon accepts an undercover assignment in Yuma Prison as a chance to clear his name. Befriending criminal mastermind Monk Quinn draws him toward stolen money and a prison escape involving dangerous inmates.

The Jensens gather at Sugarloaf Ranch for Christmas, but a stranger's scheme threatens their home. Family reunions, rescued children and uneasy new friendships unfold as Smoke and his relatives prepare to defend the ranch against an outlaw attack.

A prison-camp survivor hires Joe Buckhorn to stop former general Thomas Wainwright from committing another atrocity. Wainwright controls an Arizona town through its water supply, forcing Buckhorn to confront a dictator whose ambitions extend beyond abusing the local people.

On a cattle drive, Perley Gates offers to escort a widow, her baby and an older traveler to Butcher Bottom. Her late husband's enemies and the man's hidden fortune expose the dangers their new protector unknowingly agreed to share.

Betrayed by their gang, aging outlaws Slash and Pecos attempt one final robbery and face execution. Marshal Bledsoe offers them survival in exchange for hunting their former partners, turning their plans for retirement into a dangerous pursuit.

Marshal Firestick jails troublemaking old acquaintance Rip Ripley using a long-forgotten wanted poster. Rip's new gang plans to steal Buffalo Peak's bank gold and free him first, leaving Firestick and his deputies caught in preparations for a major robbery.

Escaped bank robber Ansel McCoy joins five outlaws in a Kansas robbery before heading into Oklahoma Territory. Will Tanner takes up their trail alone after other marshals lose it, pursuing six armed men through wilderness without backup.

Preacher hopes settlers and the Crow can live peacefully, while Jamie Ian MacCallister helps negotiate a treaty at Fort Kearny. Violence undermines those efforts, forcing the two frontiersmen to confront a conflict threatening the people and families they care about.

Drifters Bo Creel and Scratch Morton agree to escort five mail-order brides to a New Mexico mining town. Bandits, silver thieves and a demanding rancher threaten the journey, making delivering the women safely far harder than their employer suggested.

After gamblers swindle Charlie out of his fur money, Preacher follows them toward New Orleans. His search leads through the French Quarter's criminal world onto a pirate ship, where escaping captivity becomes essential to helping his friend.

Stagecoach guard Red Ryan reluctantly escorts an army major's wife across Texas with driver Buttons Muldoon. Reports of approaching Apache attacks make the journey dangerous, but her insistence on traveling forces them onto a route where further threats await.

Duff MacCallister's former commander asks him to help the New Mexico mining town he now governs. A would-be king is extorting residents with a private army, and a local traitor makes resisting his takeover still more difficult.

A former cavalry sergeant, bounty hunter and ex-Texas Ranger take shelter together at a West Texas way station. Agreeing to deliver a traveler's money draws the trio into danger from the gang it was stolen from and others seeking revenge.

The Jensens gather for Louis's wedding and welcome a stranger who has rescued Denise from a runaway horse. When their guest proves dangerous, the family's celebration becomes a struggle to protect one another from a threat brought inside their circle.

Marshal Bledsoe recruits Slash and Pecos to drive a decoy wagon during a gold shipment. When bandits strike the real convoy, the pair must pursue them with a surviving Pinkerton agent determined to recover the stolen cargo.

Fugitive chuckwagon cook Mac McKenzie helps stop a stampede and accepts work with the grateful cattle drivers. The chance to cook and escape bounty hunters looks promising until he suspects his new employers may themselves be rustlers.

Hank Fallon reluctantly becomes warden of the new federal prison at Leavenworth, hoping to keep dangerous inmates contained. An escape turns the job personal when prisoners take his wife and baby daughter hostage, forcing him into pursuit.

Duff MacCallister expects a Christmas visit from twin cousins Andrew and Rosanna at Sky Meadow Ranch. Two outlaw gangs seize their train, with one seeking revenge against Duff, turning his planned family reunion into a rescue mission.

Hunter Buchanon struggles to rebuild after losing his ranch and gold, while a wealthy rival threatens his engagement. When Annabelle is kidnapped following a stagecoach robbery, his temporary sheriff's badge and loyal coyote accompany a personal pursuit.

Red Ryan and driver Buttons Muldoon escort a traitor to an army court-martial in New Orleans. Hired killers, including a woman with her own concealed motives, pursue their passenger across hundreds of miles of dangerous country.

Former Pinkerton Buck Trammel has settled in Blackstone, Wyoming, after surviving a deadly encounter with the Bower gang. Its leader discovers his whereabouts and recruits gunmen and a resentful Pinkerton, threatening to bring Trammel's past into his new home.

Retired Texas Ranger Ben Savage inherits a friend's saloon and considers a new life in Buzzard's Bluff. Running the business with manager Rachel Baskin puts him against a rival owner whose plans to control the town include eliminating Savage.

Hank Fallon goes undercover in Huntsville's prison, hoping to find the man who framed him and murdered his family. A work program exposes a plantation owner's criminal operation and plans for another civil war, enlarging the stakes of Fallon's investigation.

Matt Jensen wakes in the desert with a wounded leg, no supplies, and an uncertain memory. Recalling a horse delivery interrupted by outlaws, he must survive long enough to find the thieves and settle what happened.