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Yakima Henry Books in Order

Part ofFrank Leslie Books in Order

Explore the Yakima Henry books by Frank Leslie in order, with short summaries, series background, and a clear place to start with the drifter hero.

Last updated: July 11, 2026

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Yakima Henry books in publication order

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19 books

1

The Lonely Breed

by Frank Leslie

2007

Half white and half Native, Yakima Henry is scraping by on the edge of town life when he defends a brothel girl from four brutal men. One violent night makes him her protector and puts a bounty hunter on his trail.

2

The Thunder Riders

by Frank Leslie

2007

A supply run goes bad when Yakima Henry rides into a bloody clash between townsfolk and bandits. When the outlaws make off with his stallion Wolf and a saloon girl, the chase turns personal fast.

3

The Killing Breed

by Frank Leslie

2008

For a little while, Yakima Henry has a ranch, a future, and the woman he loves. Then Bill Thornton comes back nursing old hatred, and Yakima's violent past tears through the peace he thought he had finally earned.

4

The Wild Breed

by Frank Leslie

2008

Yakima Henry heads into Mexico to save an old flame's brother from prison and finds far worse waiting for him. Apaches, rurales, and revolutionaries turn a rescue ride into a desperate borderlands gauntlet.

5

The Dangerous Dawn

by Frank Leslie

2009

Yakima Henry steps in when grieving father Barstow is bullied while taking his dead daughter home for burial. Rumors that the girl knew where outlaw loot is hidden turn the trail deadly, and Yakima becomes a target too.

6

The Savage Breed

by Frank Leslie

2009

To get out of jail, Yakima Henry agrees to guide wealthy Cleve O'Shannon and his wife through savage country to save family and fortune. It is a bargain that promises freedom only if he survives the trip.

7

Bullet for a Half-Breed

by Frank Leslie

2011

Yakima Henry signs on as shotgun guard for a stagecoach and lands in a town rotted by theft, lies, and murder. The deeper he digs into the mess, the harder it gets to walk away alive.

8

Dead River Killer

by Frank Leslie

2011

A brutal winter drives Yakima Henry and Sheriff Jack Kelly into the town of Dead River. Shelter does not mean safety, and Yakima soon faces a killer determined to make the place live down to its name.

9

Revenge at Hatchet Creek

by Frank Leslie

2011

Ambushed and left bleeding in the wild, Yakima Henry is saved by widow Aubrey Coffin. As he heals, the gunmen who tried to finish him keep circling closer, putting both rescuer and patient squarely in the line of fire.

10

Dead Man's Trail

by Frank Leslie

2012

While hunting wild horses, Yakima Henry stumbles onto a dead rifleman and a sack of gold. Trying to deliver the money to the man's family, he rides into a snowy Christmas trail full of outlaws, suspicion, and one more person who needs saving.

11

The Canyon

by Frank Leslie

2012

Fleeing bounty hunters and trying to reach Mexico, Yakima Henry cuts through Skull Canyon despite every warning to stay away. What waits there is worse than lawmen, and this short tale leans into the eerie side of the frontier.

12

Ambush at Apache Pass

by Frank Leslie

2014

Before Yakima Henry became a wandering gunfighter, he was a young scout at Fort Hell in Arizona Territory. When a stagecoach is attacked near Apache Pass, he is pulled into a larger fight with the Chiricahua and a mystery that will not stay buried.

13

Redemption Trail

by Frank Leslie

2020

Yakima Henry promises a dying prospector he will carry a letter and a money belt north to Dakota Territory. The job grows far messier when he falls in with two sisters on the run and a relentless assassin called the Reverend.

14

Blood of the Horsetooth Widow

by Frank Leslie

2021

Trying to slip quietly toward Mexico, Yakima Henry stops in Horsetooth and winds up killing a saloon owner. His trouble only deepens when he is drawn to the dead man's widow, Paloma Collado, and the schemes circling her.

15

Bloody Arizona

by Frank Leslie

2021

Grieving and trying to disappear, Yakima Henry holes up near Apache Springs and ends up behind bars in the wrong town at the wrong moment. A murdered marshal and a vengeful mining man force him to pin on the badge himself.

16

Canyon of Death

by Frank Leslie

2021

A murder in booming Apache Springs puts hired killers on Yakima Henry's trail. The chase leads back toward a treasure-laden canyon that may be cursed, where greed is spreading faster than the town can hold together.

17

Chiricahua Blues

by Frank Leslie

2021

Apache Springs is booming, the railroad has arrived, and Emma Kosgrove's secret canyon is no secret anymore. With one young intruder dead, another broken with fear, and more violence heading in by stage, Yakima's badge gets heavy fast.

18

Stripped and Branded

by Frank Leslie

2021

When Yakima Henry kills a young bushwhacker in self-defense, he makes an enemy of the dead man's powerful mother. Captured, humiliated, and burned with her brand, Yakima rides out bent on a hard, very personal vengeance.

19

Wildcat of the Sierra Estrada

by Frank Leslie

2021

Yakima Henry is back as marshal of Apache Springs just as gold and the coming railroad start changing the town. Hidden treasure, a cursed canyon, and the dangerous pull between Julia and Emma Kosgrove make his job even worse.

Yakima Henry books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Lonely Breed"

    The Lonely Breed

    by Frank Leslie

    2007Yakima Henry, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "The Thunder Riders"

    The Thunder Riders

    by Frank Leslie

    2007Yakima Henry, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Wild Breed"

    The Wild Breed

    by Frank Leslie

    2008Yakima Henry, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "The Killing Breed"

    The Killing Breed

    by Frank Leslie

    2008Yakima Henry, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "The Savage Breed"

    The Savage Breed

    by Frank Leslie

    2009Yakima Henry, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "The Dangerous Dawn"

    The Dangerous Dawn

    by Frank Leslie

    2009Yakima Henry, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Bullet for a Half-Breed"

    Bullet for a Half-Breed

    by Frank Leslie

    2011Yakima Henry, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Revenge at Hatchet Creek"

    Revenge at Hatchet Creek

    by Frank Leslie

    2011Yakima Henry, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "Dead River Killer"

    Dead River Killer

    by Frank Leslie

    2011Yakima Henry, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "The Canyon"

    The Canyon

    by Frank Leslie

    2012Yakima Henry, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "Dead Man's Trail"

    Dead Man's Trail

    by Frank Leslie

    2012Yakima Henry, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "Ambush at Apache Pass"

    Ambush at Apache Pass

    by Frank Leslie

    2014Yakima Henry, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Redemption Trail"

    Redemption Trail

    by Frank Leslie

    2020Yakima Henry, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "Blood of the Horsetooth Widow"

    Blood of the Horsetooth Widow

    by Frank Leslie

    2021Yakima Henry, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "Bloody Arizona"

    Bloody Arizona

    by Frank Leslie

    2021Yakima Henry, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Wildcat of the Sierra Estrada"

    Wildcat of the Sierra Estrada

    by Frank Leslie

    2021Yakima Henry, Book 16
  17. Book cover for "Chiricahua Blues"

    Chiricahua Blues

    by Frank Leslie

    2021Yakima Henry, Book 17
  18. Book cover for "Canyon of Death"

    Canyon of Death

    by Frank Leslie

    2021Yakima Henry, Book 18
  19. Book cover for "Stripped and Branded"

    Stripped and Branded

    by Frank Leslie

    2021Yakima Henry, Book 19

Series background & context

Yakima Henry is the central Frank Leslie hero for a reason. He is a drifter, gunman, worker, occasional lawman, and plain old trouble magnet, but what really gives the series its pull is that he belongs nowhere easily. He is half white and half Native, and on the frontier that means he is mistrusted almost everywhere he goes. The books keep returning to that hard fact without turning him into a symbol instead of a person.

He just wants a place to light, a horse under him, and maybe a little peace.

Usually he gets the horse. Peace is harder.

The early books set the pattern quickly. In The Lonely Breed, Yakima is scraping by on the edges of town life when one violent act of protection throws him onto the run. In The Thunder Riders, a supply trip turns into a chase involving bandits, a stolen stallion, and a saloon girl. In The Wild Breed, he heads south into Mexico and finds prison, revolution, and blood on the trail. These are not puzzle westerns or slow-burn sagas. They move. But the motion always comes from character as much as plot. Yakima helps people because he cannot quite stop himself, even when experience says he should ride on.

One of the pleasures of the series is how many corners of the frontier it lets him pass through. Brandvold uses desert towns, mountain winters, ranch country, brothels, army trails, border settlements, and rough mining camps as working parts of the story. Dead River Killer traps Yakima in a snowbound town with murder close at hand. Dead Man's Trail sends him through a Christmas-season ride with gold, danger, and a woman in trouble. Ambush at Apache Pass looks back to a younger Yakima serving as a scout near Fort Hell, which gives the larger series a useful backward glance.

Yakima also carries a few steady pieces of gear through these stories, including his black stallion Wolf, his Arkansas toothpick, and a reputation that is sometimes useful and often a burden. He falls in love. He loses people. He tries ranch life, hired work, scouting, and wearing a badge. Nothing stays settled for long, but the longing for a home of some kind never disappears. That is what gives the series more feeling than the average trail-and-gun western.

Later books, especially the Apache Springs arc beginning with Bloody Arizona, show another side of him. Instead of always moving on, he is forced to stand for a town and deal with the slower damage caused by greed, expansion, and old hurts. Even then, he is still Yakima Henry, stubborn, wounded, suspicious, and more decent than he wants to admit.

If you like western heroes who are both dangerous and lonely, this series is easy to settle into. Each book delivers action, but the real through line is Yakima himself, a man always riding between worlds and still trying, against the odds, to do one right thing before the next gun goes off.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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