William W. Johnstone has 262 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 156 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 165 ratings. The most-rated is The First Mountain Man.
Right Between the Eyes
Summary
A lawman with a past. A gunman with a grudge. A blood-soaked massacre just waiting to happen. Welcome back to Rattlesnake Wells, Wyoming.... This town ain't big enough. In a wild frontier boomtown like Rattlesnake Wells, it's hard to know who to lock up, who to let out, and who to gun down. But as town marshal, it's Bob Hatfield's job to separate the sinners from the saints - or at least keep them from killing each other. Now there's a new boy in town. He's fresh out of prison. He swears he was wrongfully convicted of embezzling from his boss at the local mine. He wants to clear his name and reclaim the woman he loves. Hatfield wants to give the boy the benefit of the doubt. But when all hell starts to break loose - escalating from vicious saloon fights to violent shootouts - Bob knows there's more to the story than a little bad blood between townsfolk.... Someone is gunning for him. Somewhere in Rattlesnake Wells, an enemy from Hatfield's past is waiting to make his move. And sometimes, there's only one way to deliver justice: right between the eyes....
©2017 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Torture of the Mountain Man
Summary
Johnstone Country. The good die young. The bad die younger. When Smoke Jensen is summoned to a small Texas town under siege by a scourge of kill-crazy bandits, volunteers line up to take out the Mountain Man. Being Smoke Jensen, he wouldn’t have it any other way. A gunshot wound has robbed Audubon, Texas, of its top lawman at the worst possible time. Clete Lanagan and his band of outlaws have hatched a scheme to plunder the town bank of a small fortune in railroad money. When the acting sheriff, Dalton Conyers - half-brother of Smoke’s niece Rebecca - is unable to raise a posse to hunt down Lanagan’s gang, he calls on Smoke for help. But with so much cash at stake, Lanagan won’t go down without a fight. With a bounty on his head, Smoke finds himself marked for death by a legendary gunslinger, a wrathful ranch hand bent on revenge for his brother’s death, and an army of trigger-happy recruits with nothing to lose but their lives. Live free. Listen hard.
©2018 J.A. Johnstone (P)2018 Recorded Books
Powder Burn
Summary
From America's greatest storytellers comes a bold new chapter in the Will Tanner saga, an epic quest for justice at the crossroads of history - in a crossfire of bullets... US Deputy Marshal Will Tanner earned his badge the old-fashioned way. He shot the bad guys, saved the good guys, and won the fear and respect of everyone in between. That's how legends are born. But when he visits a friend at his ranch and ends up confronting a trigger-happy horse thief, Will earns the wrath of the deadliest, lowlife killers west of the Mississippi. This is how legends die.... Turns out Will Tanner is nothing but a moving target on a blood-soaked trail of revenge. From a barroom shootout in Texas, to a Chickasaw showdown in Oklahoma, to a dangerous encounter with a hellion named Hannah, Deputy Marshal Tanner has his hands full, his finger on the trigger - and his life on the line....
©2017 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Riding Shotgun
Summary
A blazing new series takes you back to the lawless frontier, where every stagecoach was a moving target. Where every passenger needed protection. And where every hired gun who rides along better be fast on the draw - or be dead on arrival.... If anyone knows the road to purgatory, it's Red Ryan. As a stagecoach guard, he's faced holdups, ambushes, and all-out attacks from every kill-crazy outlaw, Indian, and prairie rat. But even he's a bit reluctant to take on his next job: riding shotgun with his driver Buttons Muldoon on a stage bound from Fort Concho, Texas, to Fort Bliss. Word has it, the Apaches are on the warpath. They're being led by the vicious war chief Ilesh, which means "Lord of the Earth". And this lord means business, as in slaughtering every Texan from here to El Paso. Red wants to postpone the stage. But an army major's beautiful but stubborn wife insists they leave - or she'll go it alone. So Red has no choice.... Thus begins a nightmare journey into 400 miles of harsh, unforgiving terrain, blood-drunk killers, and one scheming devil who plans to paint the town of El Paso red - starting with Red's blood....
©2019 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
A Reason to Die
Summary
From best-selling authors William W. and J. A. Johnstone - the explosive adventures of Perley Gates, who's carving out his own legacy in the violent American frontier.... Restless cowpoke Perley Gates wanted nothing more than to track down the grandfather who abandoned his family years ago. What he found was the crazy old sidewinder barely hanging on after a Sioux massacre. The old man's dying wish was to make things right for deserting his kin - by giving his strong-willed grandson Perley clues to the whereabouts of a buried fortune in gold. Finding his grandfather's legacy will set up his family for life. But it won't be easy. The discovery of raw gold in the Black Hills has lured hordes of ruthless lowlifes into Deadwood and Custer City - kill-crazy prairie rats, gunfighters, outlaws, and Indians - armed with a thousand glittering reasons to put Perley six feet under. All Perley wants is what was left to him, what he's owed. But with so many brigands on his backside, finding his grandfather's treasure is going to land Perley Gates between the promise of heaven and the blood-soaked battlefields of hell....
©2018 J. A. Johnstone (P)2018 Tantor
Shot to Hell
Summary
The Johnstone hero with the heavenly name - and the hellish task of living up to it - Perley Gates - takes on a gang of cold-blooded killers to save the soul of a small Western town.... They say that home is where the heart is. And no one knows that better than Perley Gates. After helping the lovely Miss Emma Slocum reunite with her sister's family in Bison Gap, Perley can't wait to rejoin his own kin at the Triple-G Ranch. No sooner does Perley settle in when he receives an alarming telegram from Bison Gap. Emma's brother-in-law has been murdered. Her sister wants justice. And Perley is their only hope to get it.... Perley can't refuse a family in need. So he saddles up with his salty cowhand Possum Smith and heads to Bison Gap. He notices that the town's new sheriff is acting suspicious - and likely in cahoots with the local gang of deadly outlaws. In no time at all there's a target on Perley's back - and the vicious gang leader is calling all the shots. Justice may be hard to find in a town this wicked. But vengeance is swift - straight out of the Gates....
©2020 J. A. Johnstone (P)2020 Tantor
The Jensen Brand
Summary
JENSEN PROUD. JENSEN TOUGH. It's the dawn of a new century. But on the vast Sugarloaf Ranch not much has changed since legendary gunfighter Smoke Jensen and his wife Sally tamed the land two decades ago. Raising cattle is still a dangerous business - and just as deadly as ever. When Smoke is injured swapping bullets with some cow thieves, Sally puts out a call for help to Matt, Ace, and the rest of the Jensen clan. But time is running out. The bloodthirsty rustlers are ready to strike again - and there are lots more of them. And the Sugarloaf's last defense is Smoke and Sally's next of kin.... Enter the Jensen twins. Denise and her brother Louis have just returned home from their schooling in Europe. Louis is studying to be a lawyer and is too sickly to defend the ranch. But Denise is to the manor born - she can ride like a man, shoot like her daddy, and face down the deadliest outlaws like nobody's business. And there'll be plenty of opportunity to prove she's got Jensen blood in her veins-cold, deadly, and playing for keeps....
©2017 J. A. Johnstone (P)2018 Tantor
A Hill of Beans
Summary
With two trail drives under his belt, Dewey "Mac" Mackenzie has proven to be more than a good chuckwagon cook. He's good at serving up justice, too - with a side of hot lead.... Mac Mackenzie has enough problems on his plate. He's got bounty hunters on his tail, no one on his side, and no place to hide. Just when he thinks it can't get any worse, he hears the rumbling of a cattle stampede - heading straight for his camp. Mac's got two choices: Get trampled like a weed or saddle up and help get the herd under control. At first, the traildrivers ain't too pleased to have a stranger help them out. But once they realize Mac's not a rustler, they ask him to join the team. Mac takes them up on the offer - especially after he meets the cowgirl Colleen - and quickly impresses everyone with his cooking skills. There's just a few more problems: Mac's new employers are the real rustlers. And Mac's stepped out of the frying pan into the fire....
©2020 J. A. Johnstone (P)2020 Tantor
Preacher
Summary
He will become a legend... Before the legend of Preacher there was a man, and before the man there was a boy. In this thrilling new novel, William W. Johnstone tells the story of a young man filled with wanderlust and raw courage - who will someday become a hero. ...if he survives... On nothing more than a lark, he leaves his family and begins a journey from Ohio westward. Along the way, he runs up against badlands and bad men, loses his freedom, gains his freedom, and learns the first rule of the frontier: Do whatever it takes to survive. ...Preacher. With ruthless enemies after him - both white men and Indians - he'll head for a place as brutal as it is beautiful - the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. Two years later, he will come back down from the mountaintop with new skills, and a new future as one of the most feared and admired men of his time...a man called Preacher.
©2002 William W. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Hired Guns
Summary
Johnstone Country. Where frontier legends are born. A legend among bounty hunters, Luke Jensen has tracked some of the deadliest outlaws in the West. But sometimes, the competition can be even deadlier... GHOST TOWN MASSACRE It's the kind of job Luke Jensen hates. A millionaire mine owner is willing to pay $5,000 to the man who captures the half-breed outlaw Tom Eagle. Normally, Luke would turn down an offer like this-it smacks too much of being a hired gun. But when the millionaire tells him that Eagle is responsible for killing his son, Luke agrees to take on the job. Which means he'll have to take the road to hell itself - a.k.a. Hard Rock, Montana... Hard Rock is supposed to be a ghost town. But when Luke arrives, the ghosts are alive and well - and gunning for his hide. They're a gang of actual hired guns - the kind of soulless killers Luke despises - and they're trying to collect the bounty, too. Luke barely makes it out of town alive when he runs in to the only man who can save him. The man he's been hired to hunt. The notorious Tom Eagle...
©2020 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Frontier of Violence
Summary
Welcome to the most dangerous town in the West. For Marshal Bob Hatfield, that means rough justice and 100 ways to die... In the shadow of the Prophecy Mountains, the ramshackle boomtown of Rattlesnake Wells draws schemers, predators, and desperate pilgrims. As for the law, that's the town marshal, a former Texas outlaw trying to make a new life for himself. But Sundown Bob Hatfield knows a man who's slick on the draw can't escape trouble for long. In Rattlesnake Wells, you fight fire with fire - and a new one has just exploded. An enterprising saloon owner stages a shooting contest with a matched pair of gold-plated revolvers as first prize. But some contestants don't play by the rules, and these aren't just any old gold-plated guns. Now the guns are gone, innocent hostages have been taken for a violent ride, and a chase is on into the vast Wyoming wilderness - where a terrifying dark secret will be exposed, much blood will be spilled, and a fast-gun marshal will bring the real outlaws to their knees...
©2017 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Tantor
Hang Them Slowly
Summary
Stovepipe Stewart and Wilbur Coleman look like drifters, but don’t be fooled. In this blazing Western saga, these two undercover cowboys get paid to find trouble - and to risk their lives to stomp it out. By any means necessary. Vance Brewster is a hardworking young cowboy. Stovepipe and Wilbur are two new ranch hands working at his side. And all three are caught up in a brewing, trigger-happy Montana range war between the Rafter M and Three Rivers. Then the fury suddenly explodes - in a hail of gunfire, the three men must show their hands: they’re all hiding their true identities. With Vance falling in love with the daughter of the Three Rivers manager, and Stovepipe and Wilbur paid by a tycoon who needs the violence to stop, all three are in mortal danger. Their real enemies are hiding true identities of their own - and they’re not nice men. The body count is about to go sky high...and Stovepipe and Wilbur would prefer not be be on top of the pile.
©2016 J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing
Buckhorn
Summary
The masters of American frontier storytelling return with the saga of a bold, fearless western legend. When you're a gun for hire, the difference between right and wrong is settled with a bullet.... Crater City, New Mexico, is a bustling mining town brimming with the stench of men hungry to get rich the old fashioned way - by killing the competition. Dennis Conroy is the owner of the biggest saloon in town, and he needs a few good sharpshooters to help protect surveyors laying out a route for a spur line before his rival Hugh Thornton beats him to it. Joe Buckhorn's handy with a gun, so he takes the job. Against his best advice, he'll also take a liking to the boss's daughter, which doesn't go over well with her father. Worse, Buckhorn starts wondering exactly what kind of man he's working for. Before the sun goes down, much blood will be spilled, and a lot of men will be blasted into the middle of next week. Joe Buckhorn aims to be sure he's not one of them.
©2016 J. A. Johnstone (P)2018 Tantor
Kingdom Come
Summary
From best-selling authors William W. Johnstone and JA Johnstone comes a blazing new saga of Duff MacAllister. One man, forging a destiny. One legacy, sworn to justice. One name, branded in the heart of America.... The legend lives! The Scottish Highlands, 1885. Two men, brandishing knives, attack a young woman outside a pub. Duff MacAllister steps in and saves her - killing one of the assailants. Big mistake. The attacker was the sheriff's son, and now MacAllister is marked for death. His only hope: America. Here, in the sprawling land of dreams, Duff hopes to start a new life with his American cousins. Unfortunately, the sheriff's deputies are tracking him down - with nine of the deadliest cutthroats money can buy. Blazing a trail of blood and bullets all the way to the Rockies, Duff has to kill his enemies one by one - or die trying. But this time, Duff is not alone. He has a new ally by his side. A living legend of frontier justice. His cousin, the gunslinger known as Falcon MacAllister....
©2015 J.A. Johnstone (P)2017 Recorded Books
The Range Detectives
Summary
Johnstone Country: The good die young. The bad die younger. From the best-selling masters of Western fiction comes two tough frontier detectives who solve the bloodiest crimes with bravado, brains, and bullets blazing.... Homicide on the range A killer is on the loose in the Arizona Territory. One by one, Tonto Basin ranchers are being murdered for their livestock - and the Cattle Raisers' Association has hired two range detectives to catch the culprit. From the looks of them, Stovepipe Stewart and Wilbur Coleman are just another pair of high-plains drifters. But with their razor-sharp detective skills and rare talent for trouble, they're the last remaining hope for one young cowboy who's been arrested for the murders. Stovepipe and Wilbur believe the boy is innocent. In short order, the trail of clues leads to a secret canyon hideout, and the duo find themselves in the middle of an all-out range war - with the dirtiest gang of cutthroats, thieves, and outlaws the West has ever known.... There's just one mystery left to solve: How will they get out of this alive?
©2016 by J. A. Johnstone (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing
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