J. A. Johnstone has 176 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 143 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 91 ratings. The most-rated is The Frontiersman.
Colter's Journey
Summary
In this thrilling epic of the American West, New York Times best-selling authors William W. Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone capture the human side of the frontier experience in all its glory, grit, and grandeur - through the eyes of one remarkable teenage boy. Leaving their Pennsylvania home to forge a new life in the untamed Oregon Territory of 1845, the Colter family is ambushed by a kill-crazy gang of cutthroats on the Oregon Trail. Fifteen-year-old Tim Colter manages to escape and hide - only to return and find his parents butchered, his sisters Nancy and Margaret missing, and one last killer waiting for his return. Forced to fight for his life, the young Colter embarks on a perilous journey across a lawless frontier, hoping to save his sisters and salvage the dream they lived for. But first Tim has to figure out how to survive. Luckily he finds a new friend in Jed Reno, a grizzled one-eyed trapper who has lived in the Rocky Mountains since the 1820s - and who was attacked by the same gang that ambushed Tim's family. Together the mountain man and the greenhorn set out after the marauders, blazing a trail of vengeance that leads them to one of the deadliest men in the territory. With danger at every turn and death just a heartbeat away, Colter has no choice but to grow up fast - one bullet at a time.
©2017 William W. Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Cutthroats
Summary
Not every Western hero wears a white hat or a tin star. Most of them are just fighting to survive. Some of them can be liars, cheaters, and thieves. And then there's a couple of old-time robbers named Slash and Pecos... After a lifetime of robbing banks and holding up trains, Jimmy "Slash" Braddock and Melvin "Pecos Kid" Baker are ready to call it quits - though not completely by choice. Sold out by their old gang, Slash and Pecos have to bust out of jail and pull one last job to finance their early retirement... The target is a rancher's payroll train. Catch is: the train is carrying a Gatling gun and 20 deputy US marshals who know they're coming. Caught and quickly sentenced to hang, their old enemy - the wheelchair-bound, bucket of mean, Marshal L. C. Bledsoe - shows up at the last minute to spare their lives. For a price. He'll let them live if they hunt down their old gang, the Snake River Marauders. And kill those prairie rats - with extreme prejudice...
©2019 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Damnation Valley
Summary
America's most popular Western novelists ride hard in their newest adventure as fearless pioneer Breckenridge Wallace carves out a future in the unforgiving American frontier. Justice is hard to reach when it's on the other side of hell. A Rocky Mountain winter has left Breck reeling from the carnage unleashed by bloodthirsty trapper Judd Carnahan - and readying a quest for vengeance as ruthless as their prey. It gets even deadlier when Carnahan lays siege to a trading post on the Yellowstone River. He's left the owner dead and kidnapped a pretty hostage who can turn a nice profit once he puts her to work. Following his trail takes Breck clean to Santa Fe, where Carnahan's set up a brothel bursting with hardened beauties, a saloon for cutthroats and thieves, and a trap for the Frontiersman who's tracked him every bloody step of the way. But over the rough, merciless miles it's taken Breck to get here, he's built up a raging fury that's going to make this unholy town swim in blood.
©2018 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Too Soon to Die
Summary
With their acclaimed novels of the Jensen family, best-selling authors William W. Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone have captured the pioneering spirit of America itself. Now, a new generation of Jensens prepares to take the reins - and live the dream their ancestors fought for.... There's nothing like a wedding to bring families together. And there's no place like the Sugarloaf Ranch to throw a foot-stomping hoedown - even if it turns into a gun-blazing showdown. Smoke and Sally Jensen are delighted that their son, Louis, is marrying the lovely widow he met during a perilous stagecoach journey through the Donner Pass. The whole family welcomes the bride and her young son with open arms. In fact, everyone is invited to the party - even the handsome stranger who rescued Louis' twin sister, Denise, from a runaway mustang. Who is this mysterious hero? No one knows. But there's going to be a lot of gunshots along with the wedding bells when this stranger makes his deadly moves. Once more, the Jensens band together to fight for what's theirs. And it just might be till death do they part....
©2019 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Those Jensen Boys!
Summary
The Greatest Western Writers of the 21st Century A bold, sprawling epic of the American West, the Jensen family saga has captivated listeners for nearly three decades. Now comes the untold story of Smoke Jensen's long-lost nephews, Ace and Chance, a pair of young-gun twins as reckless and wild as the frontier itself.... Luck of the Draw Their father is Luke Jensen, supposedly killed in the Civil War. Their uncle Smoke is one of the fiercest gunfighters the West has ever known. It's no surprise that the inseparable Ace and Chance Jensen have a knack for taking risks - even if they have to blast their way out of them. Chance is a bit of a hothead, good with his gun and his fists. Ace is more of a thinker, sharp as a snake bite and just as deadly quick. Their skills are put to the test when two young ladies ask them to protect their struggling stagecoach line from a ruthless, bloodthirsty mine owner with money, power - and enough hired killers to slaughter half the territory. Those Jensen boys have to ask themselves: What would Smoke Jensen do?
©2015 J. A. Johnstone (P)2015 Recorded Books
Dead Time
Summary
Get out of jail free - or die... Doing time in Texas is no picnic. But getting sent to The Walls in Huntsville is a fate worse than hanging. If the guards don't kill you, the prisoners will. And if it weren't for the fact that the man who framed Hank Fallon and murdered his family could be inside The Walls, Hank would never step one foot in that heinous helltrap - let alone go undercover as an inmate. But this isn't just another assignment. This is his chance for revenge.... Inside The Walls, Hank quickly discovers who's boss-as well as judge, jury, and executioner. The only relief from the gang fights and guard beatings is a prison work program that allows inmates to leave The Walls to work for plantation owner J. J. Justice. Hank figures it can't be any worse than jail. But it is. Seems that Justice is ordering the men to commit robberies and murders. He's stockpiling weapons. Building an army. And planning to restart the Civil War - all in the name of Justice...
©2020 J. A. Johnstone (P)2020 Tantor
The Loner
Summary
He wasn't born to the gun. But a gunman's blood ran in his veins - and it was only a matter of time before there would be hell to pay.... Six days of killing. No day of rest.... Once he was a young, happily married businessman. Then he lost his wife to human madness and that young man was gone, replaced by the Loner, the wandering son of legendary gunfighter Frank Morgan, and now the current occupant of a cell in the brutal and unforgiving Hell Gate prison. The Kid's crime? He looked too much like an outlaw who escaped from this very prison. So the Kid teams up with a fellow inmate with an escape plan, vowing to hunt down a look-alike killer on the loose. But in or out of prison, Frank Morgan's boy knows better than to trust anyone. When you live by the gun, any day could be your last - and every bullet must be your best.
©2010 J.A. Johnstone (P)2012 Recorded Books
Bad Men Die
Summary
What started as a routine hunt and grab - putting outlaw Thorp McCluskey on a train to Cheyenne and prison - has just gone straight to hell for bounty hunter Luke Jensen. First came the beautiful prostitute who pointed her alluring attentions in Luke's direction. Then came a man who fought by Luke's side in the war - but the war is over, and friendships can turn deadly. Luke gets bushwacked, his prisoner is gone, and so is a fortune in gold. Now Luke is riding back into the Wyoming wilderness to hunt down McCluskey and his woman to finish what he started. But he'll have to fight a solitary war, survive murderous betrayal, and face down his most bloodthirsty enemy of all....
©2015 J. A. Johnstone (P)2015 Recorded Books
Brotherhood of Evil
Summary
In one of the most shocking chapters in the Jensen family saga, America's fearless frontier clan is about to take on an enemy as cold and relentless as evil itself - a mad, sadistic surgeon skilled with knives and his gang. They're gunning for the Jensen Sugarloaf ranch to ravage Jensen women and spill an ocean of Jensen blood.... When the Jensen boys decide to take a trip to Smoke Jensen's ranch - leaving Sally, Pearle, and Cal alone at the Sugarloaf - the family homestead becomes an easy target for enemies, outlaws, and one hell of a hard case named Jonas Trask. A former army doctor with a degree in cruelty, Trask and his vicious band of followers descend on the nearby town of Big Rock with a vengeance. First he takes out the sheriff. Then he kidnaps Sally Jensen. Now he waits for the Jensen boys to return like lambs to the slaughter. It doesn't take long for Matt, Preacher, and Smoke to see they're up against a vicious maniac. What they can't figure out is why this mad doctor Trask is doing this - or how they're going to stop him. One thing is sure: The brothers will perform the operation with surgical precision, blazing guns, and not a shred of mercy....
©2015 J.A. Johnstone (P)2015 Recorded Books
Evil Never Sleeps
Summary
The best-selling masters of the American West add a deadly new twist to the epic saga of US Marshal Will Tanner. This time, the hunter becomes the hunted.... He's the most notorious cattle rustler in all of Texas. His name - Jebediah Cotton - strikes fear into the hearts of every rancher in the territory. So it's more than a little strange that someone would shoot Cotton's youngest son in the back. Whoever did it is either a coward, a fool, or a crazy man. Whoever did it must die. Even if he's a US deputy marshal named Will Tanner.... So begins not one, but two of the deadliest manhunts in frontier history. As Will Tanner sets off into Oklahoma Territory in pursuit of godless bank robber named Parson McCoy, Jebediah Cotton sends his five remaining sons and cold-blooded brother-in-law after him. Will has no idea he's being stalked. But when there are this many players in the game, a US deputy marshal has two choices: kill them all or die trying....
©2018 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Dead Shot
Summary
In the best-selling novels of William W. Johnstone, mountain man Smoke Jensen is a legend. Now, Johnstone presents the adventures of Smoke's long-lost brother Luke, who was reported killed during the Civil War. The war is over and Luke is very much alive, his soul forged by the violence he witnessed on the battlefields. His job is now tracking down the worst outlaws - by any means necessary.
©2013 J.A. Johnstone (P)2013 Recorded Books
MacCallister: The Eagles Legacy - Dry Gulch Ambush
Summary
Duff MacCallister is heir to a fierce family of fighting Scotsmen. In a new land, in the extraordinary new saga by best-selling authors William W. Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone, Duff gives new meaning to the words without mercy. The Indians around Fort Laramie, Wyoming, are peaceful. Or so it has seemed - until killers ambush a detail of US soldiers and an officer's wife. One man, an ambitious cavalry officer, flees the carnage and lives to tell the story - his own story, an outright lie. When Duff MacCallister and a few brave men go after the attackers, they discover the officer's wife is very much alive and at the cold merciless hands of the sadistic warrior Yellow Hawk. To free the woman, Duff touches off a fierce battle. And when he finds himself surrounded by the blood-crazed renegades, MacCallister knows there is only one way out - by going after Yellow Hawk himself....
©2013 William W. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Hang Him Twice
Summary
There are a lot of ways a man can end up on a wanted poster. There's the easy way (murder), there's the hard way (robbery), and then there's Dooley Monahan's way (by accident). On the trail west with his trusty horse and dog, the hapless gunslinger stops a mean, hungry bear from making lunch out of the legendary Buffalo Bill Cody. In turn, Cody grubstakes Dooley for the purchase of a silver mine in the lawless, violent boomtown of Leadville, Colorado. Dooley can't believe his good luck. But when he guns down three deadly outlaws, the grateful townsfolk pin a sheriff's badge on Dooley. And that's when his luck runs out... Turns out there's a war going on between two rival gangs. Stagecoaches are being robbed every other day, and fingers are being pointed at Dooley himself. There's a tradition here in these parts, he discovers. If a sheriff's no good, they hang him. And if the next one's no better, they hang him twice...
©2018 J. A. Johnstone (P)2020 Tantor
Buzzard's Bluff
Summary
Johnstone country. Wilder than ever. Welcome to the Lost Coyote Saloon. Saddle up to the bar and order a whiskey. Play a few hands of poker. But don’t make any trouble. The new owner is savage. Ben Savage. Once a Texas Ranger, he’s always cocked and ready for some fool to come looking for payback.... Eat, drink, and be wary When Ben Savage receives a telegram informing him that an old friend died - and left him his saloon - he’s not sure what to think. Western saloons are as wild as it gets, full of rowdy ranchers and cocky cowboys, high-stakes gamblers and low-life drifters, hard liquor and easy women. Then there’s the occasional outlaw gang. But when Savage travels to Buzzard’s Bluff, Texas, to check out his inheritance, he meets the saloon’s lovely manager, Rachel Baskin, and has a change of heart. As an experienced lawman, he figures he can run a decent establishment. Keep things friendly, peaceful, and orderly. There’s just one problem: a rival saloon owner wants Savage out of the way so he can control all the vice in town. And some of his men are bound to turn up in his saloon - thirsty for whiskey...and killing....
©2020 William W. Johnstone (P)2020 Recorded Books
Legion of Fire
Summary
Luke Jensen comes from a righteous brood. Survival is in his blood. And he's burned enough gunpowder to forge out his own legend on the frontier as the toughest bounty hunter who ever stalked his prey.... When Luke Jensen traps fugitive Ben Craddock in Arapaho Springs, he's ready to collect on his bounty. But the job's not done - not by a long shot. A raid by a savage gang known as the Legion of Fire has left the peaceful settlement looted, burned to the ground, and the ashes scoured for female hostages - including the marshal's daughter. For Luke this is more than a hunt. It's now a rescue. And with Craddock busted out of jail and thrown in with the gang, it's also revenge. Wrangling a small posse, Luke heads for the Legion's hideout in the Kansas badlands. Outnumbered, they can't risk an ambush. Instead, it's going to take cutthroat cunning for the outlaws of the Legion of Fire to go down in flames - one by one.
©2018 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Death Rides Alone
Summary
Mountain Man Smoke Jensen's long-lost brother Luke Jensen is a dead shot scarred by war - the perfect formula for a bounty hunter. And he's cunning, and fierce enough to bring down the deadliest outlaws of his day.... Luke Jensen has earned this bounty, hunting down the violent man charged with murdering a preacher's daughter. The outlaw Judd Tyler confesses to many crimes, but not the girl's murder. And he tells Luke they won't reach the town of White Fork alive because a corrupt sheriff does the bidding of a cattle baron, and that man's son is the true killer. Sure enough, halfway to White Fork, Luke and his prisoner are battling for their lives, and when they finally reach town, they're greeted by a storm of bullets, betrayal, and blood. With a band of innocent travelers caught up in the melee, Luke is outgunned, surrounded, and sure of only this: his only job now is survival-by the measured, efficient, righteous killing of as many men as he can....
©2016 J. A. Johnstone (P)2018 Tantor
Bloody Sunday
Summary
With his epic novels of the Jensen family, William W. Johnstone has captured the pioneer spirit of America. Now he reveals the untold story of Smoke Jensen's long-lost brother Luke, thought to have been killed in the fiercest war in our nation's history. Smoke's Brother Luke: The Jensen Legend Continues... The last days of the Civil War. With Richmond under siege, Confederate soldier Luke Jensen is assigned the task of smuggling gold out of the city before the Yankees get their hands on it - when he is ambushed and robbed by four deserters, shot in the back, and left for dead. Taken in by a Georgia farmer and his beautiful daughter, Luke is nursed back to health. Though crippled, he hopes to reunite with his long-lost brother Smoke, but a growing romance keeps him on the farm. Then fate takes a tragic turn. Ruthless carpetbaggers arrive and - in a storm of bullets and bloodshed - Luke is forced to strike out on his own. Searching for a new life. Hunting down the baddest of the bad...to become the greatest bounty hunter who ever lived. This is the sprawling saga of one fearless man who would stop at nothing to bring outlaws to justice - and freedom to America...
©2014 J.A. Johnstone (P)2014 Recorded Books
Red Ryan Series 2, The Backstabbers
Summary
First rule of Johnstone country: Trust no one No one knows the dangers of driving a stagecoach better than Red Ryan. Especially when the passenger's a dead man, the payoff's a gold mine, and the last stop is death... Second rule: Watch your back Red Ryan should've known this job would be trouble. The first stop is a ghost town - in a thunder storm - and the cargo is a coffin. But things start to look a little brighter when Red and his stage guard Buttons Muldoon deliver the corpse to a ranch run by the beautiful Luna Talbot - and her gorgeous crew of former saloon girls. Luna asks the boys to help them find the Lucky Cuss Gold Mine, using a map tucked inside the dead man's pocket. Buttons can't refuse a pretty lady - or the lure of gold. But Red has a feeling they're playing with fire. Especially when the map leads them straight into crossfire of a ferocious range war, a 400-pound load of pure evil known as Papa Mace Rathmore - and his backwoods clan of sadistic, kill-crazy hillbillies...
©2020 J. A. Johnstone (P)2020 Tantor
North of Laramie
Summary
Johnstone Country. A new legend in the making. The best-selling Johnstones kick off their blazing new Western series with a real bang - a fatal, fateful shootout that sends a man named Buck Trammel on the ride of his life.... When Wyatt Earp tells you to run, you run. Once upon a time in the Old West, Buck Trammel was a Pinkerton agent with a promising future. But after a tragic incident in a case gone wrong, he struck out for the wide-open spaces of Wichita, Kansas. Working as a bouncer at the Gilded Lily Saloon, he hopes to stay out of trouble. But soon enough, his gun skills are put to the test. The Bower gang shows up, turning a friendly card game with a Wyoming cattle baron into a killer-takes-all shooting match. Buck saves the cattle baron's life, but at the cost of two Bower men. That's when Deputy Wyatt Earp arrives. He warns Buck that he'd better get out of town, pronto, and take the cattle baron with him. The rest is history - if he lives long enough to tell it.... This is the story of Buck Trammel. Hunted by outlaws. Fighting for justice. Marked for death. This is how legends are born....
©2020 William W. Johnstone (P)2020 Recorded Books
A Stranger in Town
Summary
America's greatest Western storytellers begin the explosive new legend of Will Tanner, a US deputy marshal who will risk everything to save a friend, and bring two desperados to justice.... The train grinds to a halt somewhere in the Indian Nations, and the bandits get onboard. They take everything on the train worth stealing and gun down a guard to make their escape - just another notch on the belt for Ben Trout and Zack Larsen, two of the most savage killers in the west. US Deputy Marshal Ed Pine follows them to Muskogee. There the trail runs cold, and Ed Pine diappears. To save his friend, Deputy Will Tanner rides for Muskogee, where justice extends only as far as the range of a Colt .45. Tanner earned his badge in a blistering gunfight, when he got the drop on a trio of killers and saved the life of another fellow marshal. Now, he'll have to be just as quick - and just as deadly. To bring in Trout and Larsen, Tanner must set his badge aside and resort to the law of the gun.
©2016 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor