C. J Box

Nine months after bringing their adopted daughter Angelina home, Jack and Melissa McGuane receive a devastating phone call from the adoption agency: the birth father, a teenager and son of a powerful Denver judge, never signed away his parental rights, and he wants Angelina back.

When two girls disappear on a remote stretch of Montana road, former police investigator Cody Hoyt and his former rookie partner Cassie Dewell begin an investigation that will lead them into the hunting ground for a killer whose viciousness is outmatched only by his intelligence.

"For three years, Investigator Cassie Dewell has been on a hunt for a serial killer known as The Lizard King. He works as a long haul trucker. His prey are the "lot lizard" prostitutes who frequent truck stops. And she 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. Standing by, ready to close the net are...

It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Joe Pickett is deep in the forest edging 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. 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 rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage--killing, among others, the potential fiancé of Joe's daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a special list tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away: the six people he blames for the deaths of his entire family and the loss of his reputation and property. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to...

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,...

A good friend and fellow game warden has killed himself, and Joe Pickett'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 now Joe feels compelled to investigate the circumstances surrounding his friend's suicide. But as he comes closer 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...

In the wake of an elk hunter's grisly murder, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is directed by the governor to investigate the relevance of a mysterious poker chip found at the crime scene.

The debut of a writer hailed by Tony Hillerman as "a great storyteller"--The first book in an engaging and gritty mystery series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. Few first mysteries have been welcomed as enthusiastically as Open Season, or with better cause. "When a high-powered bullet hits living flesh, it makes a distinctive -pow-WHOP-sound that is unmistakable even at tremendous distance." And so it begins for Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game...

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...