Showing results by author "C.J. Box" in All Categories

It all started with a simple, yet sneakily difficult challenge from global best-selling author Harlan Coben: Pick a bird of prey, then use it as the inspiration for a brand-new story. The response from some of the best writers on the planet: Game on! The result: Eleven stories that are twisty, scary, surprising and bursting with imagination. An egg worth more than its weight in gold. A mysterious operative known only as Owl. An eagle-watcher who sees more than she should. Even a story that somehow places the Maltese Falcon in a nursing home.

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. 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.

Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is called to a bizarre crime scene deep within the forests of Twelve Sleep County. Famous eco-activist Stewie Woods has been killed in an explosion, along with his new bride and ten head of cattle. The case is wrapped up far too quickly: an environmental publicity stunt gone wrong. But what is the millionaire rancher who owned the cattle hiding? And why is Joe’s wife Marybeth receiving mysterious phone calls from someone claiming to be Stewie Woods?

The governor of Wyoming has given game warden Joe Pickett the thankless assignment of taking a tech baron on a hunting trip. But unbeknownst to them, as they trek further into the wilderness, a hunter is hot on their heels. Joe must rely on his wits and his knowledge of the outdoors to protect himself and his charge. Meanwhile, when Joe's closest friend, Nate Romanowski, and his own daughter, Sheridan, learn of the threat to his life, they follow him into the woods to rescue him, and all three come together for one final showdown.

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. At the same time, just as he's adjusting to the arrival of a new baby, 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.

Thirteen bibliomysteries by best-selling and award-winning authors are contained in this first of volume of a must-listen collection.

Butch Roberson was known by all as a local business owner, a hard worker, and a family man. Then he disappeared, leaving two dead bodies in his wake. Now he's known as a murderer - though Joe Pickett cannot believe someone as gentle as Butch could have the instincts of a killer.

Cody Hoyt, while a brilliant cop, is an alcoholic struggling with two months of sobriety when his mentor and AA sponsor Hank Winters is found burned to death in a remote mountain cabin. At first it looks like the suicide of a man who's fallen off the wagon, but Cody knows Hank better than that. Sober for fourteen years, Hank took pride in his hard-won sobriety and never hesitated to drop whatever he was doing to talk Cody off a ledge. When Cody takes a closer look at the scene of his friend's death, it becomes apparent that foul play is at hand.

A good friend and fellow game warden of Joe Pickett's has killed himself, and Joe's been chosen to temporarily run his district. But Jackson, Wyoming, is a far cry from Joe's hometown of Saddlestring, and it doesn't help that Joe feels compelled to investigate the circumstances surrounding his friend's suicide. The closer Joe comes to the truth, the more his own life spirals out of control - and he realizes that if he isn't careful, he may be Jackson's next victim...

When a University of Wyoming professor goes missing, authorities are stumped. That is, until Game Warden Joe Pickett makes two surprising discoveries in his district. First, Joe finds the professor's vehicle parked on a remote mountainside. Then he finds the professor's frozen and mutilated body. When he attempts to learn more, Joe's investigation is obstructed by Federal agents, extreme environmentalists, and Governor Colter Allen. Meanwhile, Joe's associate, falconer Nate Romanowski, is approached by a shadowy group of local militant activists who are gaining in power and influence.

It’s an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is deep in the forest near Battle Mountain: 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. Joe knows that Lamar’s murder and the sudden onslaught of the snowstorm mean he should get off the mountain. But he also knows this episode is far from over.

The plane circled in the dark. Down below, Joe Pickett could just make out figures in the snow and timber. Joe knew that he might be their next target. The Cates clan's history with the Picketts is about to come full circle. Game warden Joe Pickett struck a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April was endangered. But it wasn't a killing blow, and he'd always wondered if there'd be a day of reckoning...It seems now Joe will find out.

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 sight, Joe starts to investigate what he hopes is an isolated incident.

Everything about the ranch is a mystery. Rumours abound about the millionaire who owns it, the women who live with him, and the sudden disappearances. Joe Pickett is tasked by the governor to find the truth. There are two other men living up at the ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe. The first man doesn't frighten him. But the second is another story entirely.

A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage—killing, among others, the fiancee of Joe's daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a list of six names tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away: the people he blames for the deaths of his entire family and the loss of his reputation and property.

There’s nothing unusual about the sound of a gunshot in Twelve Sleep. In remotest Wyoming, where elk roam the pine forests and cougars prowl the mountains, everyone owns a gun. But when Joe Pickett hears two sharp cracks ring out months before hunting season, it’s his job to investigate. As game warden, dad-of-two Joe is not only badly paid and poorly housed, he’s deeply unpopular. So when the source of the shots – a well-known poacher – gets off scot-free, the locals are delighted. And then the poacher turns up dead in the Picketts’ back yard.

Wyoming's new governor isn't sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for him that is extremely delicate. A prominent female British executive never came home from the high-end guest ranch she was visiting, and the British embassy is pressing hard. At the same time, his friend Nate Romanowski has asked Joe to intervene with the feds on behalf of falconers who can no longer hunt with eagles even though their permits are in order. But the more he investigates both cases, the more someone wants him to go away.

When local ranch owner and matriarch Opal Scarlett vanishes under suspicious circumstances, Joe Pickett grows convinced that her family are responsible. In her absence, two of her sons, Hank and Arlen, battle for control of their mother's multi-million-dollar empire. The whole town is so caught up in the infighting that they seem to have forgotten that Opal is still missing.

Investigator Cassie Dewell is headed to Anaconda, Montana, in search of a slippery con-man who has disappeared somewhere in the Treasure State. A wealthy Florida divorcee has accused him of absconding with her entire fortune, and wants Cassie to find him and get it back. But Anaconda, a quirky former copper-mining town, is the perfect place to reinvent yourself, and as the case develops, Cassie begins to wonder if her client is telling her everything.

For three years Investigator Cassie Dewell has been on a hunt for a serial killer known as the Lizard King whose hunting grounds are the highways and truck stops where runaways and prostitutes are most likely to vanish. Cassie almost caught him...once. Working for the Bakken County, North Dakota, sheriff's department, Cassie has set what she believes is the perfect trap, and she has lured him and his truck to a depot. But the plan goes horribly wrong, and the blame falls on Cassie.