There is no such thing as a bad Johnstone western. Each series is built around main characters whose belief in the law and family is absolute, even if they've had to be reformed to get there. From Preacher, the original mountain man to the Jensen family to Perly Gates, to.....well, you get the point. Many times, characters from one series will show up in another as supporting hands. The communities are true to the era, clothing, guns, food and troubles are all what you'd find if you looked them up in the history books. No two stories are the same, each character or set of characters is unique and so are their stories. The writing is skillful, readers are pulled into the story and you will laugh and cry right along with the characters. I made the mistake of picking up a Johnstone western my uncle was reading. Ive been hooked ever since. Now I share them with my reading family and will continue as long as new Johnstones are released.

A Luke Jensen book that has him arriving in town with a footing corpse hanging from a tree. He can leave his prisoner in the jail but what he finds in the town is that one man Ezra Hannigan is set on owning everything around in the area and will go to any lengths to get what he wants. He makes friends with Mac a former trail cook and along with a few others they set out to finally put an end to the man’s way. A good story with many different and excellent characters to help the story along. A very good Western.

In William Johnstone's The Edge of Nowhere (Pinnacle 2024), Texas Ranger Ridge Tisdale, operating alone, is tasked with bringing in a killer, but no one really knows where he is. A vicious snowstorm traps him in a small Western town on the verge of a range war with a feisty Sheriff who believes in law and order and justice. Maggie, a single mother trying to run a business despite a man who wants to own the town, runs into trouble while Tisdale is buying supplies for the next leg of his journey. He can't NOT help, and that's how he becomes involved in the town's range war, one residents avoid, afraid of the consequences of being involved, not realizing the consequences of NOT getting involved.

Once the fighting starts, it doesn't stop until it's over. Good story in the Old West style. Highly recommended for those who like that sort of tale.

Note: The blurb on the Amazon page only loosely resembled the book. The character names are different, as is the overarching plot. I suggest potential readers check out some of the reviews before purchasing. Or--somehow, I got the wrong book.