Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden who, with the shot of a rifle, is thrust into a race to save not only an endangered species, but to unravel a mystery that threatens the life and the family he loves.

Game warden Joe Pickett looks into the bizarre death of an environmental activist...and what he finds is bigger and far more sinister than anything he imagined... When a massive explosion occurs deep within the forests of Twelve Sleep County and a colorful environmental activist appears to...  more

Game warden Joe Pickett looks into the bizarre death of an environmental activist...and what he finds is bigger and far more sinister than anything he imagined... When a massive explosion occurs deep within the forests of Twelve Sleep County and a colorful environmental activist appears to have perished in the blast, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is called to the scene to help investigate. The case is wrapped up quickly, explained as an environmental publicity stunt gone wrong, but Joe isn't convinced. He soon discovers clues that suggest adeadly conspiracy one that will test his courage, his survival skills, and his determination to do the right thing despite all costs.

Joe Pickett's pursuit of a killer through the rugged mountains of Wyoming takes a horrifying turn when his beloved foster daughter is kidnapped. Now it's personal. It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Joe is deep in the forest edging Battle Mountain, a shotgun...  more

Joe Pickett's pursuit of a killer through the rugged mountains of Wyoming takes a horrifying turn when his beloved foster daughter is kidnapped. Now it's personal. It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Joe is deep in the forest edging Battle Mountain, a shotgun in his left hand, his truck's steering wheel handcuffed to his right - and Lamar Gardiner's arrow-riddled corpse splayed against the tree in front of him. Lamar's murder and the sudden onslaught of the snowstorm warn: Get off the mountain. But Joe knows this episode is far from over. Somewhere in the dense timber, a killer draws his bowstring - with Joe as his prey...

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...  more

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 Saddle-string-and it appears his rampage is just beginning.

Joe Pickett is attempting to enjoy -- all right, survive -- his mother-in-law's wedding to a local big-shot 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...  more

Joe Pickett is attempting to enjoy -- all right, survive -- his mother-in-law's wedding to a local big-shot 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, Wyoming, 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 in over his head. Yet despite the pressures of his new job, he can't get his friend's suicide out of his mind. By all accounts, Will had changed in the last few months, becoming violent and unpredictable. The closer Joe comes to the truth about Will's death, the more his own life spirals out of control -- and he realizes that if he's not careful, he may end up as Jackson's next victim.

When wealthy matriarch Opal Scarlett vanishes, Joe Pickett is sure one of her greedy sons did her in. But when Joe becomes the victim of violent pranks, he wonders if what's happening has less to do with Opal's disappearance than with the darkest chapter of his own past.

Joe Picket returns, this time to the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. Joe Pickett, having recently been fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, is working on his father-in-law's ranch when he receives a call from the governor's office. Governor Rulon -- a devious but down-home...  more

Joe Picket returns, this time to the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. Joe Pickett, having recently been fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, is working on his father-in-law's ranch when he receives a call from the governor's office. 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 cold blood in a far-off corner of Yellowstone National Park. After the murders, McCann immediately turned himself in at the nearest park ranger station. It 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 had taken advantage of a loophole in the law: neither the state of Wyoming nor the federal government can try him for his crime, so he walks out of prison a free man. Governor Rulon, sensitive to the rising tide of public outrage over the McCann case, wants his own investigation into the murders. The governor will reinstate Joe as a game warden if he'll go to Yellowstone to investigate. Joe, happy to get his badge back, even under these circumstances, agrees. However, 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 in the unlikeliest places to find the key to the murders, they find out that it may be hidden in the rugged terrain of the park itself.

Award-winning writer C. J. Box returns with a vengeance in this thrilling new novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. It's elk season in the Rockies, but this year a different kind of hunter is stalking a different kind of prey. When the call comes in on the radio, Joe Pickett can...  more

Award-winning writer C. J. Box returns with a vengeance in this thrilling new novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. It's elk season in the Rockies, but this year a different kind of 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, and flayed, 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 the hunting season early for the first time in state history. Are the murders the work of a deranged anti-hunting 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 with a controversial hook -- hunting versus anti-hunting activists -- Blood Trail is proof that C. J. Box is an ever-rising talent.

Award-winning and national bestselling writer C. J. Box returns with a vengeance in this thrilling new novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. Below Zero begins with an unassuming phone message: "Tell Sherry April called".  But Sherry -- Joe Pickett's oldest...  more

Award-winning and national bestselling writer C. J. Box returns with a vengeance in this thrilling new novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. Below Zero begins with an unassuming phone message: "Tell Sherry April called".  But Sherry -- Joe Pickett's oldest daughter, Sheridan -- and the Pickett family are shaken to the core.  April, Pickett's foster daughter, was killed in a horrific murder and arson spree six years prior.  To Joe, it doesn't seem even remotely possible that April could have survived the massacre described in Winterkill.  He was there.  But Sherry starts to believe there's a chance that April is still alive; the girl on the other end of the phone is able to recall family incidents that only April could know.  Joe, however, remains suspicious, especially when he discovers that the calls have been placed from locations where serious crimes have occurred. At the same time, an older man and a much younger girl cross the country.  The man is on a mission to repent for the crimes he's committed against the environment during his lifetime.  He ultimately wants to offset each incident until he not only becomes carbon neutral, but actually drops below zero -- as if he's never existed.  As the path of these travelers starts to intersect with the Pickett family, the question is raised: Is this young girl April -- or are Joe and his family the victims of the cruelest of hoaxes?

Joe Pickett's in his last week as the temporary game warden in the town of Baggs, Wyoming, but there have been strange things going on in the mountains, and his conscience won't let him leave without checking them out: reports of camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. And then...  more

Joe Pickett's in his last week as the temporary game warden in the town of Baggs, Wyoming, but there have been strange things going on in the mountains, and his conscience won't let him leave without checking them out: reports of camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. And then there's the runner who simply vanished one day. Joe doesn't mind admitting that the farther he rides, the more he wishes he could just turn around and go home. And he is right to be concerned. Because what awaits him is like nothing he's ever dealt with, like something out of an old story, except this is all too real and too deadly. When he'd first saddled up, he'd thought of this as his last patrol. What he hadn't known was just how accurate that thought might turn out to be.

When Earl Alden is found dead, dangling from a wind turbine, it's his wife, Missy, who is arrested. Unfortunately for Joe Pickett, Missy is his mother-in- law, a woman he dislikes heartily, and now he doesn't know what to do-especially when the early signs point to her being guilty as...  more

When Earl Alden is found dead, dangling from a wind turbine, it's his wife, Missy, who is arrested. Unfortunately for Joe Pickett, Missy is his mother-in- law, a woman he dislikes heartily, and now he doesn't know what to do-especially when the early signs point to her being guilty as sin. But then things happen to make Joe wonder: Is Earl's death what it appears to be? Is Missy being set up? He has the county DA and sheriff on one side, his wife on the other, his estranged friend Nate on a lethal mission of his own, and some powerful interests breathing down his neck. Whichever way this goes . . . it's not going to be good.  

He never wanted to tell Joe Pickett about it, but Nate Romanowski always knew trouble was coming out of his past. Now it's here, and it may not only be the battle of his life -- but of Joe's. In 1995, Nate was in a secret Special Forces unit abroad when a colleague did something...  more

He never wanted to tell Joe Pickett about it, but Nate Romanowski always knew trouble was coming out of his past. Now it's here, and it may not only be the battle of his life -- but of Joe's. In 1995, Nate was in a secret Special Forces unit abroad when a colleague did something terrible. Now high up in the government, the man is determined to eliminate anyone who knows about it, and Nate knows exactly how he'll do it -- by striking at Nate's friends to draw him out. The entire Pickett family will be a target, and the only way to fight back is outside the law. Nate knows he can do it, but he isn't sure about his straight-arrow friend -- and all their lives could depend on it. 

It was always good to see Lyle Pendergast, Joe thought -- a hard-working, upright local business owner whose daughter was friends with his own. Little did he know that when he talked to Lyle that day, the man was about to disappear. He was heading into the mountains to hunt, he said, but instead...  more

It was always good to see Lyle Pendergast, Joe thought -- a hard-working, upright local business owner whose daughter was friends with his own. Little did he know that when he talked to Lyle that day, the man was about to disappear. He was heading into the mountains to hunt, he said, but instead he was running. Two EPA employees had just been murdered, and all signs pointed to him as the killer. As the manhunt organized itself, Joe heard more of the story -- about the tract of land Lyle and his wife had bought to build their retirement home on, until the EPA declared it a wetland. About the penalties they charged him when he balked, new ones piling up every day, until the family was torn apart by debt . . . and finally, it seems, the man just cracked. It was an awful story. But was it the whole story? The more Joe looks into it, the more he begins to wonder -- and the more he finds himself in the middle of a war he never expected and never wanted. Powerful forces want Lyle not just caught, but dead . . . and the same goes for anyone who stands in their way.

The electrifying new Joe Pickett novel from the New York Times–bestselling author.   Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the...  more

The electrifying new Joe Pickett novel from the New York Times–bestselling author.   Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the sudden disappearances. And especially the persistent rumors that the man?s wealth comes from killing people. Joe Pickett, still officially a game warden but now mostly a troubleshooter for the governor, is assigned to find out what the truth is, but he discovers a lot more than he?d bargained for. There are two other men living up at that ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe. The other is new—but Joe knows him all too well. The first man doesn?t frighten Joe. The second is another story entirely.

She was gone. Joe Pickett had good reason to dislike Dallas Cates, even if he was a rodeo champion, and now he has even more—Joe’s eighteen-year-old ward, April, has run off with him. And then comes even worse news: The body of a girl has been found in a ditch along the...  more

She was gone. Joe Pickett had good reason to dislike Dallas Cates, even if he was a rodeo champion, and now he has even more—Joe’s eighteen-year-old ward, April, has run off with him. And then comes even worse news: The body of a girl has been found in a ditch along the highway—alive, but just barely, the victim of blunt force trauma. It is April, and the doctors aren’t sure if she’ll recover. Cates denies having anything to do with it—says she ran away from him, too—and there’s evidence that points to another man. But Joe knows in his gut who’s responsible. What he doesn’t know is the kind of danger he’s about to encounter. Cates is bad enough, but Cates’s family is like none Joe has ever met before. Joe’s going to find out the truth, even if it kills him. But this time, it just might.

Nate Romanowski is off the grid, recuperating from wounds and trying to deal with past crimes, when he is suddenly surrounded by a small team of elite professional special operators. They’re not there to threaten him, but to make a deal. They need help destroying a domestic terror cell in...  more

Nate Romanowski is off the grid, recuperating from wounds and trying to deal with past crimes, when he is suddenly surrounded by a small team of elite professional special operators. They’re not there to threaten him, but to make a deal. They need help destroying a domestic terror cell in Wyoming’s Red Desert, and in return they’ll make Nate’s criminal record disappear. But they are not what they seem, as Nate’s friend Joe Pickett discovers. They have a much different plan in mind, and it just may be something that takes them all down -- including Nate and Joe.

The plane circled in the dark. Joe Pickett could just make out down below a figure in the snow and timber, and then three other figures closing in. There was nothing he could do about it. And Joe knew that he might be their next target. The Cates family had always been a bad lot. Game warden...  more

The plane circled in the dark. Joe Pickett could just make out down below a figure in the snow and timber, and then three other figures closing in. There was nothing he could do about it. And Joe knew that he might be their next target. The Cates family had always been a bad lot. Game warden Joe Pickett had been able to strike a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April had been endangered, but he’d always wondered if there’d be a day of reckoning. He’s not wondering any longer. Joe knows they’re coming after him and his family now. He has his friend Nate by his side, but will that be enough this time? All he can do is prepare . . . and wait for them to make the first move.

Wyoming's new governor isn't sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for him that is extremely delicate. Three British executives, all women, never came home from the high-end guest ranch they were visiting, and the British Embassy is pressing hard. Pickett knows that happens...  more

Wyoming's new governor isn't sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for him that is extremely delicate. Three British executives, all women, never came home from the high-end guest ranch they were visiting, and the British Embassy is pressing hard. Pickett knows that happens sometimes -- these ranches are stocked with handsome young cowboys, and "ranch romances" aren't uncommon. But three disappearances? That's too many. At the same time, with the help of his friend Nate Romanowski, he's been called to investigate the killings of several bald and golden eagles -- a serious federal crime. The more he investigates both cases, the more someone wants him to go away. Is it because of the missing woman or the dead eagles? Or are they somehow connected? The answers, when they come, will be even worse than he'd imagined. 

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett encounters bad behavior on his own turf--only to have the FBI and the DOJ ask him to stand down. The good news is that Joe Pickett has his job back, after his last adventure in The Disappeared. The bad news is that he's come to learn that a drone is...  more

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett encounters bad behavior on his own turf--only to have the FBI and the DOJ ask him to stand down. The good news is that Joe Pickett has his job back, after his last adventure in The Disappeared. The bad news is that he's come to learn that a drone is killing wildlife--and the drone belongs to a mysterious and wealthy man whose grandson is dating Joe's own daughter, Lucy.  When Joe tries to lay down the rules for the drone operator, he is asked by the FBI and the DOJ to stand down, which only makes him more suspicious. Joe discovers that the man is in the witness relocation program, as he is in possession of knowledge about dangerous people. Soon, Joe comes across a pack of four killers working on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel to find the man in the WITSEC program--and Joe realizes his actions might expose the man. Teaming up with a female game warden (based on a real person, one of the few female game wardens at work in Wyoming today) to confront these assassins, Joe finds himself their prey--along with Lucy and her boyfriend.

The wife of a prominent local judge is shot and killed on Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett's turf. But as Joe investigates, all signs point to the shot having been taken from an impossibly long distance. Joe has seen a lot in his time as warden, but he's never seen a killing like this....  more

The wife of a prominent local judge is shot and killed on Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett's turf. But as Joe investigates, all signs point to the shot having been taken from an impossibly long distance. Joe has seen a lot in his time as warden, but he's never seen a killing like this. How could the shooting have been arranged? And who else is in the cross hairs? At the same time -- just as he's adjusting to the arrival of a new baby, his first child -- Joe's best friend Nate Romanowski is attempting to decipher a startling grizzly attack in the area. Beset by threats both man-made and natural, the two men must go to great lengths to figure out how to keep their loved ones safe.

When the governor of Wyoming gives Joe Pickett the thankless task of taking a tech baron on an elk hunting trip, Joe reluctantly treks into the wilderness with his high-profile charge. But as they venture into the woods, a man-hunter is hot on their heels, driven by a desire for revenge. Finding...  more

When the governor of Wyoming gives Joe Pickett the thankless task of taking a tech baron on an elk hunting trip, Joe reluctantly treks into the wilderness with his high-profile charge. But as they venture into the woods, a man-hunter is hot on their heels, driven by a desire for revenge. Finding himself without a weapon, a horse, or a way to communicate, Joe must rely on his wits and his knowledge of the outdoors to protect himself and his companion. Meanwhile, Joe's closest friend, Nate Romanowski, and his own daughter Sheridan learn of the threat to Joe's life and follow him into the woods. In a stunning final showdown, the three of them come up against the worst that nature -- and man -- have to offer.

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett’s job has many times put his wife and daughters in harm’s way. Now the tables turn as his wife discovers something that puts the Pickett family in a killer’s crosshairs... A day before the three Pickett girls come home for Thanksgiving,...  more

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett’s job has many times put his wife and daughters in harm’s way. Now the tables turn as his wife discovers something that puts the Pickett family in a killer’s crosshairs... A day before the three Pickett girls come home for Thanksgiving, Marybeth Pickett finds an unmarked package at the front door of the library where she works. When she opens the package she finds a photo album that belonged to an infamous Nazi official. Who left it there? And why did they leave it with her? She learns that during World War II several Wyoming soldiers were in the group that fought to Hitler’s Eagles Nest retreat in the Alps—and one of them took Hitler’s personal photo album. Did another take this one and keep it all these years? When she finds the name of a deceased local man who was likely in the unit, Joe visits the man’s son—only to find him brutally tortured and murdered. Someone is after the photo album—but why? And when a close neighbor is murdered, Joe and Marybeth face a new question: How will they figure out the book’s mystery before someone hurts them…or their girls? Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski is on the hunt for a younger and more ruthless version of himself—the man who stole Nate’s falcons and attacked his wife. Using a network of fellow falconers, Nate tracks the man from one city to another, learning that his target is an agitator and a financier of anarchists. Even as he grasps the true threat his quarry presents, Nate swoops in for the kill—and a stunning final showdown.

While tracking a wounded elk in the midst of an epic Rocky Mountain spring snowstorm, Joe Picket makes a startling and gruesome discovery: the frozen and mutilated body of a man who has obviously trespassed on a private ranch and was killed near the location of a mysterious high-tech structure....  more

While tracking a wounded elk in the midst of an epic Rocky Mountain spring snowstorm, Joe Picket makes a startling and gruesome discovery: the frozen and mutilated body of a man who has obviously trespassed on a private ranch and was killed near the location of a mysterious high-tech structure. Joe also finds the man's vehicle on an isolated mountainside -- the victim's  ID indicates that he is a prominent University of Wyoming professor. When Joe attempts to learn more, his investigation is obstructed by federal agents, extremists, and Governor Colter Allen. Nate Romanowski is rebuiding his falconry company -- and financing this through crypto mining with the assistance of Geronimo Jones. Nate is then approached by a shadowy group of local militant activists that is gaining in power and influence, and demanding that Wyoming join other western states and secede from the union -- by force, if necessary. They ask Nate to throw in with them, but he's wary. Should he trust them, or is he being set up? As a storm of peril gathers around them, Joe and Nate confront it in different ways -- and maybe, for the first time, on opposite sides.