Sidewinders Books

In frontier literature, the name "Johnstone" means big, hard-hitting Western adventure told at a breakneck pace. Now, the bestselling authors kick off a rollicking, dramatic new series--with the first novel about a pair of not-quite-over-the-hill drifters winding their way across the American west--mostly on the right side of the law. . .but sometimes, if the situation calls for it, on the wrong side. . . Meet Scratch Morton and Bo Creel, two amiable drifters and old pals. Veterans of cowboying, cattle drives, drunken brawls, and a couple of shoot-outs, Scratch and Bo are mostly honest and don't go looking for trouble--it's usually there when they wake up in the morning. Now, in remote Arizona Territory, they're caught up in a battle between two stagecoach lines. The owner of one, a beautiful widow, has gotten both Scratch and Bo hot and bothered--each trying to impress her as they fend off the opposing stage line trying to destroy her. But nothing is what it seems in this fight, and two tough sidewinders are riding straight into a trap.

In the west, there's always work for the kind of men willing to get their hands dirty - from rounding stray cattle to stringing barbed wire. Bo Creel and Scratch Morton are just such men. Now they've been hired for the one job they've never tried: wearing badges - in a little stain of a town called Whiskey Flats.What Bo and Scratch don't know is that a gang of outlaws is bent on burning down the town the Sidewinders have been hired to protect. With only a passing acquaintance of the law, a keen sense of self-preservation, and a range war gathering round them, Bo and Scratch need a good plan or it's a one way ticket to Boot Hill. They'll also need a little luck, a whole mess of bullets, and the courage to stand tall - and shoot true...

Johnstone's towering Mountain Man and The Last Gunfighter series are epics of the frontier. Now, with J. A. Johnstone, he has created Sidewinders , a wild, rollicking ride alongside two hardheaded cowboys with a knack for staying on the wrong side of the law—but for all the right reasons. Sometimes it's bad to be good. That's what happens when Scratch Morton and Bo Creel are rewarded with a gold mine for saving a rich man's bacon. The catch: this mine is a magnet for marauding Mexican banditos. Budding capitalists, Scratch and Bo fight back. That's when they discover that the thieves aren't who they thought they were, some really bad guys are on the way, and a beautiful woman might just be the most dangerous bandit of all—the kind that can steal your heart. For Scratch and Bo, this gold mine might make them rich. But it's more likely to get them killed—just as soon as they can figure out who wants them dead . . .

Famed for The Last Gunfighter and Mountain Man sagas, master storyteller William W. Johnston joins forces with J.A. Johnstone to let loose a pair of the most unforgettable, trouble-prone, hard-fighting cowboys the West has ever known--who are about to step in the biggest hornet's nest in Colorado Territory. . . A Good Name--For A Very Bad Town Bo Creel and Scratch Morton have a lot of experience with the law: they've been breaking it most of their lives. But now the drifters are down to their last dime, and they accept the best job they can get in a boomtown called Mankiller. Their boss is a drunken sheriff named Biscuits O'Brien. Their tin stars are mighty pretty. And they start to take their new job seriously--until they're standing between a cunning clan of killers and the town's cowering citizens--with the killers outnumbering the cowerers. The only hope for a besieged town, Bo and Scratch now have a chance to become real heroes--that is, if they don't get their heads blown off the minute they stick their snoots out of the door.

The Greatest Western Writer Of The 21st Century Famed for his Mountain Man and Eagles epics, William W. Johnstone, with J.A. Johnstone, now introduces two hard-riding, trouble-prone Texans-with a knack for keeping the west as wild as it ever was. . . When A Devil Comes Calling, Meet Him With A Gun. . . Two years after Wild Bill Hickok made his mark on Deadwood, Scratch Morton and Bo Creel make theirs. Their job is guarding gold shipments from the mining camps-shipments that keep getting hijacked by a gang called the Devils of Deadwood who plunge pitchforks into their victims' bodies. With Thanksgiving approaching, Scratch just wants to carve a turkey with a handsome widow woman at his side. Course, when the U.S. Army comes to the rescue, all hell breaks loose. The widow gets taken hostage. So do a bunch of soldiers. Now, Scratch and Bo are going after missing gold and a band of vicious killers in the heart of a winter storm. Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

The Greatest Western Writer Of The 21st Century With his monumental Mountain Man and Eagles series, William W. Johnstone has become America's most popular Western writer. Now, with J.A. Johnstone, he unleashes the Sidewinders, two honest Texas cowboys with an uncanny knack for lighting wildfires everywhere they go. . . Home Sweet Deadly Home If there's anything better than coming home to Texas, it's getting paid to do it. For Scratch Morton and Bo Creel, always on the hunt for funds, the job is taking three vicious criminals from Arkansas to Tyler, Texas for trial. Little do they know that one of the criminals, the one that's a beautiful woman, is the most dangerous of all. Soon the journey home turns into a race for buried treasure, a shoot-out, and another double cross--until Scratch and Bo are making one last mad, bullet-sprayed dash through the land of their birth. . . or the land of their death. . .

The Greatest Western Writer Of The 21st Century In his new novel, USA Today bestsellers William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone bring back those beloved, bumbling cowboys, Bo Creel and Scratch Morton. As usual, despite their best efforts, deep trouble has a way of tracking them down. . . Knocking On Trouble's Door There's nothing like family. At least that's what people say. But when Bo and Scratch come home to Bear Creek for a long-overdue visit, Bo's family kindly invites him to turn around and leave. His old friends and neighbors turn tail and run when they see him. Next thing he knows, he's in jail for the brutal murder of two saloon girls in neighboring Cottonwood. Unfortunately, the real killer looks astonishingly like Bo. Now, with his buddy in jail, Scratch needs to ride to the rescue, if he can escape the clutches of the beautiful assistant to a traveling snake oil salesman. With Bear Creek in an uproar, a man with Bo Creel's face and body is about to kill again. And the worst is still hovering on the horizon: a family secret that could turn Bo's hair bone-white.

The Greatest Western Writer Of The 21st Century Two hard luck, hard-living cowboys, Bo Creel and Scratch Morton, are the heroes of this new adventure by USA Today bestsellers William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone--in a bloody all-out battle for one family's survival. Texas, Bloody Texas Bo Creel is back at his family's Star C Ranch in Bear Creek, Texas. Along with his buddy Scratch, he's finding out that home is where the hell-raising is. A rival ranch is trying to drive the Creel family out of business, using any means necessary. For Bo and Scratch, always suckers for a pretty face, come two young  ladies who just might  blur the battle lines. Desperate to raise cash, the Creel family sets off on a trial drive south to Rockport and a thriving cattle market on the Gulf of Mexico. That's when their rivals strike a devastating blow. Now Bo and Scratch are madder than two wet hens. Assembling a ragtag army of aging, crusty cowboys who've seen their share of gun battles, Bo and Scratch need to recapture a stolen herd and make it to the Texas coast in time to save the Creel family's future--while a relentless enemy is about to unload the bloodiest mayhem to ever drench Texas . . .