If you are not yet a member, please register now! If you are already a member, you may log in here.
If you are not yet a member, please register now! If you are already a member, you may log in here.

Joe Pickett is back on May 20. Place your order in advance with your bookseller or online to guarantee immediate delivery of BLOOD TRAIL...A Booksense Notable Pick for June
It’s elk season in the Rockies, but this year one hunter is stalking a different kind of prey. When the call comes in on the radio, Joe Pickett can hardly believe his ears: game wardens have found a hunter dead at a camp in the mountains—strung up, gutted, skinned, and beheaded, as if he were the elk he’d been pursuing. A spent cartridge and a poker chip lie next to his body.
Ripples of horror spread through the community, and with a possibly psychotic killer on the loose, Governor Rulon is forced to end hunting season early for the first time in state history—outraging hunters and potentially crippling the state’s income from the loss of hunting license revenue. But when the brutal murders eerily coincide with the arrival of radical anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore, Pickett knows the Governor’s ruling is the least of his worries. Are the murders the work of a deranged activist or of a lone psychopath with a personal vendetta?
As always, Joe Pickett is the governor’s go-to man, and he’s put on the case to track the murderous hunter, as more bodies—and poker chips—turn up.
Bold, fast-paced, and sure to be controversial, Blood Trail is proof that C. J. Box never fails to keep the pages turning.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| BloodTrail Excerpt.doc | 104 KB |
When a hunter is butchered in Wyoming, game warden Joe Pickett and his boss, Randy Pope, set off to investigate. Soon, it becomes clear that someone is systematically killing hunters.
*STARRED REVIEW* – In January, Box branched out from his popular Joe Pickett series with a stand-along thriller, Blue Heaven (2008).
"It's no secret that I am a huge C.J. Box fan. I have reviewed virtually everything he has ever written except his daily to-do lists...I said it before; I'll say it again: C.J.
When an elk hunter is shot and gruesomely gutted in Box’s solid eighth Joe Pickett novel (after 2007’s Free Fire), Wyoming governor Spencer Rulon assigns Joe to the investigative team headed by Jo
Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett (Free Fire, 2007, etc.) once again at the governor’s behest, stalks the wraithlike figure who’s targeting elk hunters for death.

Four weeks on the extended New York Times bestseller list...Optioned for film by producers Michael Besman ("About Schmidt") and Cameron Lamb...
This break-out novel from the author of the New York Times Bestselling Joe Pickett novels is "a non-stop thrill-ride…a provocative suspense novel that has you rooting for the characters every step of the way." -- Harlan Coben
A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder—four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her children’s fate. Retired cops from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the inexperienced sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children.
William and Annie’s unexpected savior comes in the form of an old-school rancher teetering on the brink of foreclosure. But as one man against four who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses, Jess Rawlins needs allies, and he knows that one word to the wrong person could seal the fate of the children or their mother. In a town where most of the ranches like his have turned into acres of ranchettes populated by strangers, finding someone to trust won’t be easy.
With true-to-life, unforgettable characters and a ticking clock plot that spans just over 48 hours in real time, C.J. Box has created a thriller that delves into issues close to the heart: the ruthless power of greed over broken ideals, the healing power of community where unlikely heroes find themselves at the crossroads of duty and courage, and the truth about what constitutes a family. In a setting whose awesome beauty is threatened by those who want a piece of it, BLUE HEAVEN delivers twists and turns until its last breathtaking page.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Blue Heaven, Chapter One.pdf | 82.36 KB |
"...it's as good as a psychological/action thriller gets..."
By Margaret Cannon
“Blue Heaven is one of the best thrillers of the year, and it kept me up most of the night, the way few books have ever done. C.J. Box owes me a night’s sleep!”
“Blue Heaven is a first-rate thriller, peopled by complex characters and unpredictable action. Don’t miss it.”
North Idaho, as its inhabitants prefer to call it, is the rugged setting for this gripping new thriller from bestselling writer C. J. Box.
Two children making their way through the woods to go fishing stumble on something no one was meant to see. In a clearing, three men execute a fourth.
"...It's four days of high tension and high action. And Box delivers surprises until the final page..."
Wyoming author C.J. Box knows the people, the geography, the issues of the mountain West.
Thriller 'Blue' is slice of heavenly writing
Rob Thomas — 1/10/2008 9:14 am
Blue Heaven reads like a good suspense movie
By JC Patterson
Madison County (MS) Herald
January 5, 2008
THE master of the regional western thriller, C.J. Box departs from his irresistible Wyoming game warden series in this new stand-alone novel.

FREE FIRE debuts at #29 on the New York Times Best Seller List!
Joe Pickett returns, this time to the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. Deftly plotted and full of intrigue, Free Fire is C.J. Box’s best novel yet.
Joe Pickett, recently fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, is working on his father-in-law’s ranch when he receives a visit from the governor. Governor Rulon – a devious but down-home politico – has a special request, one Joe knows he can’t refuse. For weeks, the headlines have been abuzz with the story of Clay McCann, a lawyer who slaughtered four campers in a far-off corner of Yellowstone.
After the murders, McCann immediately turned himself in at the nearest ranger station. Seemed like a slam-dunk case for law enforcement – except that the crimes were committed in a thin sliver of land with zero residents and overlapping jurisdiction, the so-called free-fire zone. McCann has taken advantage of an obscure loophole in the law: neither the state nor the federal government can try him for his crime. The worst mass murderer in Wyoming history walks out of jail a free man.
Governor Rulon, sensitive to the rising tide of public outrage, wants his own investigation into the murders and will reinstate Joe as a game warden if he’ll go to Yellowstone “without portfolio” to investigate. Joe, happy to get his badge back, even under these circumstances, agrees.
It quickly becomes clear to Joe that McCann is deeply involved with some illegal activity taking place in the park – something tremendously lucrative and unusually dangerous. As Joe and his partner Nate Romanowski search for the key to the murders, they discover that it may be hidden in the rugged terrain of the park itself.
raves, "With Free Fire, C.J. Box delivers like a well-oiled rifle taking down its trophy elk at three hundred yards.
'When I think of crime committed out-of-doors, I think of Joe Pickett,' the governor says. So do we.
says, "...C. J. Box is a marvel. I learned more about Yellowstone National Park in the night it took me to read FREE FIRE than I did in 19 years of school..."
Among the new breed of thriller authors...[FREE FIRE is] Yellowstone in all its dangerous glory -- the author conveys a vivid sense of the park and its unpredictable topography..."
says, "Box is one of my favorite authors writing today. The depth of his skill shows on every page.
"C.J. Box has fashioned a splendid thriller, deftly plotted and skillfully executed...Previous Joe Pickett novels have earned Box numerous awards. This should bring him another...."
names FREE FIRE a "Critic's Choice" and says, "...A must read for anyone who's headed for Yellowstone this summer, and highly recommended for everyone else..."
Box makes brilliant use of the mystery novel as a forum to examine real issues of importance...."
The setting, action, new characters and old favorites join together to enrich this compelling tale..."
STARRED REVIEW* raves, "...absorbing...his best yet...The author vividly evokes Yellowstone's natural beauty, but the book's real power emanates from Pickett's (and Box's) passion for preserving the w
says, "...The plot is built on an ingenious premise...Free Fire is, at its heart, a mystery with a message.
*STARRED REVIEW* states, "...Box, winner of the Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry Mystery awards, knows how to turn on the nail-biting suspense and violence until the cliff-hanger of an ending...H
*STARRED REVIEW* says, "...Though Joe's far out in no-man's-land, as professionally on his own as he's ever been, the family man's moral compass is as strong as ever.
says FREE FIRE is, "absorbing...almost unimaginably exotic... Box is after bigger game..."
says, "The mystery is well paced and action-packed, and Pickett proves once again to be an appealing hero...."
reports, "Typical of a Box mystery, the book is deftly plotted and quickly paced, but the back-story in this novel is what is most improbable. In this case reality is stranger than fiction..."

J. W. Keeley is a man with a score to settle. He blames one man for the death of his brother: Joe Pickett. And now J.W. is going to make him suffer.
Spring has finally come to Saddlestring, Wyoming and game warden Joe Pickett is relieved the long, harsh winter is finally over. However, a cloud of trouble threatens to spoil the milder weather—local matriarch and ranch owner Opal Scarlett has vanished under suspicious circumstances. Two of her sons, Hank and Arlen, are battling for control of their mother's multi-million dollar empire and their bitter fight threatens to tear the whole valley apart.
Everyone is so caught up in the brothers' battle that they seem to have forgotten that Opal is missing. Joe is convinced, though, that the local outfitter who was the last to see her alive isn’t responsible for her murder. He begins to believe the reason for Opal’s disappearance is much more twisted and sinister.
Determined to uncover the truth, Joe is attacked and nearly beaten to death by Hank Scarlett's new right-hand man on the ranch—a recently arrived stranger who looks eerily familiar.
When a series of wicked pranks escalate into the most personal kind of violence, Joe starts to doubt what is happening is connected to Opal's disappearance -- but comes instead from the darkest chapters of his own past. And he knows whoever is after him has a vicious debt to collect and wants Joe to pay with his job, his home... his blood.
In Plain Sight could be considered a new genre: Ranch Gothic.
Compelling and suspenseful, In Plain Sight is a crackling novel from one of today's best mystery writers. It will go on sale nationwide May 4, 2006.
writes,"...the themes that dominate "In Plain Sight," Box's newest novel, are more personal. Hate. Family.
*STARRED REVIEW* When Wyoming's governor appoints Randy Pope to be the new director of the Game and Fish Department, warden Joe Pickett finds it almost impossible to do his job.
says, "GRADE: A. If you need a good reason to pick up a new mystery, look no further. C.J.
reports, "Joe Pickett - honest, upright and hardworking - tends to attract the meanest villains this side of a spaghetti western...sprightly......Edgar-finalist Box expertly evokes Wyoming's landscape
After an eventful trip to Jackson Hole (OUT OF RANGE, 2005). Wyoming Game and Fish warden Joe Pickett is back in Twelve Sleep County for a homecoming that's anything but homey.
reports, "gripping and thoughtful...rich conflicts and relentless suspense, C.J. Box shows how his hotheaded protagonist makes choices that affect all and forever change the dynamics of family. ..."
says, "Pickett's old-fashioned character is a large part of the charm of Box's series. Another is his choice of setting.
More outdoorsy types have welcomed C.J. Box's six novels about Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett, all crammed with action even though Joe's no threat with fists or firearms.
says, "...By the end of this gripping story, Pickett's life is profoundly changed, and his family's future is uncertain at best.
Wyoming Game and Fish warden Joe Pickett - honest, upright and hardworking - tends to attract the meanest villains this side of a spaghetti western, as shown in his sprightly sixth outing in which he
says, ""In Plain Sight" is a modern-day Western mixed with the classical influence of Shakespeare's "King Lear." Box's treatment of family grudges makes for a refreshing read...."
A wild Wyoming saga
The land plays a fateful role in this tale of two families.
Keeping any series balanced between familiar and fresh is tricky. An excellent series is like a tightrope act.
says, "The sixth in a successful and satisfying series, In Plain Sight has more violence than C.J.
Joe Pickett, hero of C. J. Box's series, was a new discovery for me last year. I read one book and then hunted out four more. In Plain Sight is the sixth in the series, and the best.
reports, "In Plain Sight is the sixth in the series, and the best.
STARRED REVIEW* says, "...if you don't know this series, it's high time you started...Despite an encore roster of perps and felonies that plays like a Greatest Hits list from Joe's first five adventur
C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series has taken the detective thriller out of the city and into the plains of Wyoming.
STARRED REVIEW* raves, "...edge-of-the-chair suspense; his prose sings with energy and heart-stopping action... unforgettable..."
Game Warden Joe Pickett is living in a purgatory of his own making. He has made enemies while protecting the environment of Saddlestring, Wyo. His boss hates him and wants to get rid of him.
says, "Box has created an exceptionally good series of contemporary crime novels full of tense suspense and believable, emotional, well-crafted characters...the well-plotted tale races to an explosive
If you need a good reason to pick up a new mystery, look no further. C.J.
says, "What mystery writer Tony Hillerman is to New Mexico, C.J. Box is to Wyoming... crackling good reads..."
Box sights in hot new mystery
Joe Pickett's self-confidence, family and career are in the crosshairs in author C.J. Box's sixth book featuring the troubled, but appealing Wyoming game warden.
reads, "Just be warned, you'll want to keep the lights burning to see if your theories on resolution of the many mysteries in the book hold true -- and you'll be inspired to seek out those earlier Pic
writes, "...crammed with action...Box, having lavished all his audience's frustrations on his everyman hero, lets him act out their deepest fantasies of revenge..."
raves, "...Arguably, Box is steadily staking his claim as the heir apparent to such masters of the genre as Zane Gray and Louis L' Amour.
says, "C.J. Box ain't one of those pale-skinned writers strapped indoors by the dull glow of a computer screen..."

Game Warden Joe Pickett returns in a twisting, action-packed tale of greed, power, and murder. And meat.
"In the crowded field of crime fiction, C.J. Box has quickly established himself as an original voice. When I came across the world of Joe Pickett, I was reminded of the time I discovered the work of Tony Hillerman. Like Hillerman, Box is exploring new territory. He is fresh, captivating, and has something to say."
- Michael Connelly
Joe Pickett is attempting to survive his mother-in-law's wedding to a wealthy local rancher when he receives some disturbing news: Will Jensen, a fellow Wyoming game warden and a good friend, has killed himself. And Joe's been picked to temporarily run Jensen's Teton district.
Jackson Hole is a far cry from Joe's hometown of Saddlestring -- it's the epicenter for many environmental extremists and an elite playground for the rich and powerful -- and Joe quickly finds himself over his head. Yet despite the pressures of his new job and his surprising and disturbing attraction for a married woman named Stella, he can't get his friend's suicide out of his mind. By all accounts, Will had changed in the last few months of his life, becoming violent and unpredictable.
Meanwhile, back at home, Marybeth is frightened by threatening phone calls and asks the outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski for assistance, not realizing she has opened the door to much more than help.
The closer Joe comes to the truth about Will's death, the more his own life begins to mirror Will's and spiral out of control -- and he realizes that if he's not careful, he may end up as Jackson's next victim.
OUT OF RANGE proves once again that C.J. Box is one of the most original and entertaining voices in mystery fiction in the most riveting and surprising Joe Pickett novel yet.
Odd departmental doings also figure into C.J. Box’s “Out of Range” (Putnam, 308 pages, $24.95), the fifth in an outstanding series involving game warden Joe Pickett.
It's an image as big as the West itself, and almost as old - the lone lawman maintaining order and fighting the good fight in a vast and rugged territory. C.J.
*STARRED* When a fellow game warden kills himself, Joe Pickett is transferred to Jackson Hole – “Wyoming’s very own California” – where the new and old Wests collide head-on.
OK, let me admit it - I'm a fan of Wyoming author C.J. Box. A big fan.
C. J. Box is another brilliant voice from the American West. His series featuring game warden Joe Pickett is set among the mountains and forests of Wyoming.
C.J. Box has staked out memorable turf — the rugged landscape of Wyoming — for his series about game warden Joe Pickett.
In Box's taut, suspenseful fifth Joe Picket novel (after 2004's Trophy Hunt ), the Wyoming game warden is temporarily transferred from his backwater base, Saddlestring, to Jackson, a sophisticated tou
Saddlestring, WY, game warden Joe Pickett (Trophy Hunt) takes a temporary assignment in upscale Jackson, when friend and coworker Will Jensen dies from an apparent suicide.
If you aren't familiar with the name "C. J. Box" you're missing out on something, and someone, special.

This time, I wanted to write a mystery. Of course, the previous Joe Pickett novels are considered mysteries, or thrillers set in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. With Trophy Hunt, I set out to construct a full-fledged mystery filled with death and deception that will keep the reader in suspense until the last pages – and, I hope, thinking about it long afterward. My intention is to challenge the reader to note important clues (they’re there) in a hard-charging story involving murders and mutilations, a rogue grizzly bear, self-proclaimed experts in the paranormal, twists and double-twists, and an investigation that leads toward an unexpected, and (for Joe) deeply unsettling conclusion.
My novels include environmental issues that are integral
to the modern West. Trophy Hunt is no different. The boom
in coal bed methane development in the Rocky Mountains has
literally transformed the terrain – and the economy
– in ways both good and bad. I was researching the
issue for background when something entirely unrelated happened:
the discovery of dozens of mutilated cattle in Montana.
Remembering the stories of cattle mutilations from my youth,
I contacted the lead reporter covering the story and she
supplied me with clippings, reports, and extremely disturbing
photos. The details of the deaths were eerily similar: no
obvious cause of death; faces and genitals surgically removed;
no tire tracks, footprints, or evidence near the bodies;
and, strangest of all, the bodies were untouched by natural
predators. I knew as I leafed through the documents that
Joe Pickett would have a new case - one that would test
his sense of reality.
Joe Pickett has been compared to Gary Cooper by both reviewers
and the actor’s only daughter for his quiet, but determined,
approach. Imagine Joe’s frustration and self-doubt
when the evidence points to something he simply will not
let himself believe in?
As the pressure mounts and the rural citizens of the area
look ominously at the big sky and form their own conclusions,
Joe strikes off on his own, and is plunged into a world
filled with twisted motives, hidden agendas, long-held secrets,
and the gnarled black heart of an age-old mystery.
It's an idyllic late summer day in Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is fly-fishing with his two daughters when he stumbles upon the mutilated body of a moose. Whatever-or whoever-attacked the animal was ruthless: Half the animal's face has been sliced away, the skin peeled back from the flesh. Shaken by the assault, Pickett begins to investigate what he hopes is an isolated incident.
Days later, after the discovery of a small herd of mutilated cattle, Pickett realizes this is something much bigger. Local authorities are quick to label the attacks the work of a grizzly bear, but Joe knows otherwise. The cuts on the moose and the cattle were too clean, too precise to have been made by jagged teeth. Are the animals only practice for a killer about to move on to a different, more challenging prey?
Joe's worst fears are realized when the bodies of two men are discovered within days of each other, their wounds eerily similar to those found on the moose and cattle. There's a vicious killer, a modern-day Jack the Ripper, on the loose in The Bighorn Mountains - and it appears his rampage is just beginning.
In the vast expanse of Wyoming, where hunting is a way of life, game warden Joe Pickett is used to catching poachers squatting beside the half-skinned carcasses of deer or elk.
Box's riveting fourth Joe Pickett adventure (after 2003's Winterkill) opens on a disturbing note, with the Wyoming game warden's chance discovery of the oddly mutilated body of a moose near his favori
The events at the center of Box’s fourth novel featuring game warden Joe Pickett make the fate of the Donner Party look like a square dance.
"I want to get inside his head, see what makes him tick. Find out what he's thinking and why he came here. And who sent him."
I've come to really like the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box. Pickett is a good hero.
For an author like Chuck Box, it's hard to constantly better yourself when
your first novel wins a whopping four prestigious mystery awards. But when
In the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box, Pickett is a good hero.
Two authors from our American West have written action-packed, compelling
stories that are vastly different while sharing many similarities that guarantee
lively reads.
Box, whose superb Joe Pickett series has nailed some great western issues (ecoterrorism, endangered species, survivalists), here draws a bead on one out in left field: cattle mutilations.
Author C. J. Box mines Hillerman territory in Trophy Hunt, his fourth novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.