Thomas McGuane Books in Order

At a Michigan hunting club, two old friends let a boyhood feud turn into sabotage, humiliation, and chaos. McGuane makes the rivalry funny, ugly, and oddly sad all at once.

Nicholas Payne, restless, broke, and hard to trust, throws himself into a manic pursuit of Ann Fitzgerald. His courtship turns into a comic road trip full of grifters, bad schemes, and American absurdity.

Thomas Skelton returns to Key West hoping to become a fishing guide and straighten out his life. Instead, he drifts into a deadly rivalry with Nichol Dance, a local guide feared almost as much as he is admired.

McGuane's screenplay for the 1976 Western pits horse thieves and a Montana rancher against a chilling hired regulator. The story is tough, strange, and full of frontier tension.

Chester Pomeroy, a washed-up rock star in Key West, stumbles through drugs, family trouble, and a ruinous love obsession. The novel is wild, darkly funny, and always close to collapse.

This essay collection ranges through fishing, hunting, riding, and the odd rituals of the sporting life. McGuane writes less about winning than about obsession, skill, weather, solitude, and the people drawn back outdoors.

Patrick Fitzpatrick comes back to Montana as a former soldier, a cowboy, and a man coming apart. Family chaos, drink, and a dangerous new stallion push him deeper into trouble on a ranch that feels as wounded as he does.

Lucien Taylor leaves his wife and son for an old flame, then bails her out after a murder charge and ends up stranded in Montana. What follows is a rueful story about bad judgment, longing, and second thoughts.

This collection shows McGuane in short form, writing about men in trouble, families under strain, and schemes that tilt toward disaster. The stories swing between deadpan comedy and sudden hurt without losing their nerve.

Joe Starling is failing at almost everything, art, ranching, love, and ordinary adult life. His attempt to change course becomes a funny, tender Montana novel about ambition, family, and finally growing up a little.

When his wife leaves, Frank Copenhaver starts wrecking his business, chasing the wrong women, and losing his grip. McGuane turns his unraveling into a sharp, funny portrait of marriage, pride, and Montana reinvention.

Edited and introduced by McGuane, this anthology gathers standout sports journalism from one year across many games and personalities. It shows how good sports writing can carry drama, style, and character well beyond the final score.

In nine essays, McGuane writes about the horses and horsemen who taught him how to ride, work, and pay attention. The book is practical, affectionate, and full of respect for the bond between animal and rider.

These essays follow McGuane from Florida tarpon to Montana trout and beyond, tracing a lifetime in fishing. The book mixes travel, lore, technique, and reflection, with plenty of humor about the beautiful madness of anglers.

A collaboration with photographer Charles Lindsay, this book pairs striking images of Western rivers and anglers with McGuane's reflections on fly-fishing. It is part photo book, part meditation on water, solitude, and wild country.

After Sunny Jim Whitelaw dies, his will sets off a family fight over land, money, marriage, and loyalty in Montana cattle country. Evelyn Whitelaw stands at the center of the mess, trying to hold onto both dignity and ground.

In this nonfiction volume, McGuane writes about horses with the close attention of a rider, rancher, and lifelong admirer. He blends observation, anecdote, and feeling to show why horses still shape work, sport, and imagination in the West.

These ten stories move through Montana, Key West, Massachusetts, and Lake Michigan, where place shapes fate as much as character does. McGuane writes about seekers, failures, and families with dry humor and exact feeling.

Berl Pickett, a doctor in Livingston, Montana, is blamed for the death of a former lover and shut out by his town. His crooked path forward is darkly funny, sad, and unexpectedly hopeful.

Set mostly in Montana, these stories follow lonely ranchers, drifters, families, and men who have waited too long to change. McGuane keeps the tone dry and humane, even when the damage runs deep.

Errol Healy sails out from Key West to dodge the institutions meant to contain him, carrying grief, booze, and old ghosts aboard with him. This long story is lonely, feverish, and tense from the first page.

This career-spanning collection brings together forty-five stories, including new and previously uncollected pieces. From Key West to Big Sky country, McGuane writes about outsiders, bad choices, family strain, and the stubborn urge to keep going.

This later collection gathers nine stories about men on the edges of American life, in motels, fading towns, and shabby bars. McGuane writes with wit and regret about change, memory, and chances already slipping away.