Westerns book series in reading order

by Robert J. Randisi

by J.D. Hardin

by J.D. Hardin

by Tabor Evans

by David Robbins

by John R. Erickson

by Terry C. Johnston

by Clarence Mulford

by Ray Hogan

by Robert J. Randisi

by Lou Cameron

by Terry Harknett

by Frank Leslie

by Kristine Raymond

by Terry Harknett

by Becca Van

by Jonas Ward

by Louis L’Amour

by James Axler

by B.M. Bower

by Robert J. Conley

by Emmy Eugene

by David Robbins

by Larry McMurtry

by Robert Adams

by Al Lacy / Bill Reno

by Elizabeth Fackler

David Robbins is a Western writer, according to subject records that name Skye Fargo and Canyon O'Grady as fictitious characters and cite frontier and pioneer life, Colorado and Texas. Series listed under the name include Wilderness, Canyon O'Grady, White Apache, Mountain Majesty, Davy Crockett, Preacher's Law and Blood Feud, alongside Omega Sub and Battlefield Mars. Endworld is also among the linked names. Stalked (2020) is the most recent title in the listing.

Tabor Evans is a house pseudonym used by a number of authors at Jove Books for the Longarm westerns. The Longarm novels follow Custis Long, known as Longarm, a U.S. Deputy Marshal working out of Denver, Colorado in the 1880s. The catalogue lists 464 books, from Longarm (1978) to Longarm and the Model Prisoner (2015), with the 2000s the busiest decade. Longarm Giant is also listed as a series. Subjects include outlaws, frontier and pioneer life, U.S. marshals, missing persons and Wyoming.

Max Brand

345 books• 13 series

Max Brand was the main pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust, an American writer who died in 1944 and whose westerns fill most of a 345-title catalogue. Faust also created Dr. James Kildare, a young medical intern, for pulp fiction; the character later carried into Paramount and MGM films, radio, two television series and comics. Other Faust pseudonyms include George Owen Baxter, John Frederick, Evan Evans, David Manning, Peter Dawson, George Challis and Frederick Frost. Series strands include Silvertip, Dan Barry, Thunder Moon, Ronicky Doone and Bull Hunter. Harrigan (1918) is the earliest catalogued title, with reissues dated as late as 2022.

William Wallace Johnstone, October 28, 1938 to February 8, 2004, was an American author of westerns, horror and survivalist fiction. The Devil's Kiss opened the run in 1981, followed by The Last of the Dog Team (1981), Out of the Ashes (1983) and Anarchy in the Ashes (1984). Series filed under the name include Ashes, First Mountain Man, Smoke Jensen, Last Gunfighter, Blood Bond and Duff MacCallister, and subjects include outlaws, frontier and pioneer life, revenge and Texas. The catalogue carries 544 titles under the Johnstone name dated 1981 to 2026, well past the 2004 death date, and 400 of them carry a William W. Johnstone credit.

Louis L’Amour

183 books• 11 series

Westerns are what Louis L'Amour is catalogued for - 183 titles built on frontier and pioneer life. The Sackett family novels form the largest sequence, with Kilkenny, Chantry, Bowdrie and Talon beside them. L'Amour also wrote Hopalong Cassidy novels, among them The Riders of High Rock and The Rustlers of West Fork (1951). Smoke from This Altar (1939) is the earliest entry, and the Lost Treasures line carries later releases through 2019.

Robert J. Randisi (August 24, 1951 – October 6, 2024) was an American author, editor and screenwriter working in detective fiction and westerns. Series credited to Randisi include Gunsmith, Shelter, Lady Gunsmith, Tracker, Angel Eyes, Rat Pack Mysteries, Miles Jacoby Mystery and Joe Keough Mystery. Catalogue subjects include Clint Adams, private investigators, police, serial murder and New York. Randisi is credited on 665 listed books, with titles such as Chain Gang Kill (1980), Circus of Death (1981) and Deadly Debt (2024).

Zane Grey

144 books• 13 series

Zane Grey, born Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939), was an American author of adventure novels and stories in the Western genre who presented an idealised American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was Grey's best-selling book. Adaptations of Grey's novels and stories number 112 films, two television episodes and the television series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. The catalogue opens with Betty Zane (1903), followed by The Spirit of the Border (1906), The Last of the Plainsmen (1908), The Last Trail (1909) and The Heritage of the Desert (1910). Outlaws, cattle stealing, Mormons and fishing appear among the subjects, and series include the Ohio River Trilogy, Ken Ward and Jim Traft.

J.D. Hardin is the name on the Raider and Doc and Raider western series, about Pinkerton detectives working the American frontier. The 114 catalogued books appeared in a tight window between 1979 and 1990, peaking in the 1980s, from Blood, Sweat and Gold (1979) to End of the Trail (1990). Plots turn on cattle drives, swindlers, fugitives and outlaw gangs, and the median volume runs 188 pages.

Lauran Paine (1916-2001) was an American author of Western fiction, born Lawrence Kerfman Duby Jr. The catalogue holds 306 titles dated 1957 to 2022, opening with The Farthest Frontier and The Long Law Trail in 1957. Ranch life, cattle drives, outlaws and frontier settlement run through the subject list, with detective and suspense titles alongside. Paine also published as Mark Carrel, the name on Wagon Train (1957) and Case Of The Innocent Witness (1959). Books average 191 pages.

Ralph Cotton (1945-2024) was an American writer of westerns. The debut novel, While Angels Dance: The Life and Times of Jeston Nash, appeared from St. Martin's Press in 1994, and more than 80 novels followed, three of them carrying Ralph Compton's byline after Compton died. 75 titles are catalogued here, through to Gunman's Pass (2022). Ranger Sam Burrack is the recurring lead, with the Jeston Nash, Will Summers, Sherman Dahl, Gun Culture, Long Riders and Dead Or Alive sequences alongside. Arizona Rangers, outlaws, gunfights and frontier life carry the subject tags.

J.T. Edson, full name John Thomas Edson, was an English writer of Westerns, escapist adventure and police-procedural novels, with 137 Westerns to that name. Edson was born on 17 February 1928, lived near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire from the 1950s, stopped writing in 2005 because of ill health, and died on 17 July 2014. The catalogue lists 143 books from Slaughter's Way (1965) to Texas Teamwork (1997). Floating Outfit, Calamity Jane, Waco, Ole Devil, Rockabye County and Bunduki are among the series, and Dusty Fog and the Texas Rangers feature in the subject records.

Ray Hogan's catalogue subjects list westerns, outlaws, United States marshals, sheriffs, guerrillas, kidnapping and New Mexico. Shawn Starbuck Westerns is the series credited to Hogan, and Shawn Starbuck appears among the subjects as a fictional character. Longhorn Law (1957) is the listed first book, with Land of the Strangers and The Friendless One from the same year. Hangman's Valley (1959), Outlaw Marshal (1959) and Guns Against the Sun (1960) follow.

Lewis Byford Patten (1915-1981) wrote American westerns, and was born and died in Denver, Colorado. Three further names appear on the books: Lewis Ford, Lee Leighton and Joseph Wayne, the last two used for work written with Wayne D. Overholser. Revenge, sheriffs, lynching, the Cheyenne and frontier life run through the subjects. The listing holds 113 titles dated 1951 to 2011, opening with The Snake Stomper (1951) and closing with Gene Autry and Arapaho War Drums (2011).

Elmer Kelton

74 books• 9 series

Elmer Kelton (April 29, 1926 - August 22, 2009) was an American writer of Westerns, born in Andrews County, Texas. Kelton graduated from the University of Texas in 1948, edited farm and ranch news at the San Angelo Standard-Times until 1963, and was associate editor of Livestock Weekly from 1968 to 1990. Kelton's novels won seven Spur Awards and three Western Heritage Awards, and Kelton received the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement. The catalogue holds 74 books from Hot Iron (1956) to Law of the Land (2021), including the Texas Rangers, Texas Tradition and Hewey Calloway series.

Matt Braun was an American novelist of the American West, born in 1932 and died in 2016. Braun wrote fifty-six books, most of them westerns, with more than 40 million copies in print. Luke Starbuck, the Brannocks, Ash Tallman and the Gunfighter Chronicles are the series, and outlaws, gamblers, Texas Rangers and the Comanche recur in the subjects. The listing holds 54 titles from Black Fox (1972) onward, at a median of 277 pages.

Charles G. West writes westerns and historical frontier fiction. The catalogue holds 54 books published between 1996 and 2023, opening with The Tenant (1996) and closing with The First Day of Eternity (2023). Outlaws, revenge, ranchers, criminals and frontier and pioneer life run through the recorded subjects, along with Indians of North America. Series in the listing include Matt Slaughter, Trace McCall, Jason Coles, Little Wolf, Jordan Gray, Culver and John Hawk. Nothing has been catalogued since 2023.

Ralph Compton is the name on 72 catalogued Western novels published between 1992 and 2022. The Goodnight Trail (1992) opens the run, which continues through The Western Trail (1992), The Bandera Trail and The Chisholm Trail (1993), and closes with Stagecoach Revenge (2022). Subject tags cover Western stories, cattle drives and cattle trails, outlaws, revenge and historical fiction. Trail Drive and Sundown Riders are recurring headings, alongside Gunfighter, Border Empire, Danny Duggin and the Buck Fletcher Series. The Ralph Compton listing is dormant.

Lou Prophet, Sheriff Ben Stillman and Gideon Hawk are among the named figures in the westerns of Peter Brandvold, whose subject headings also cover outlaws, sheriffs, bounty hunters, revenge and frontier life. The catalogue counts 86 books from Once a Marshal (1998) to Finn and the Spirit Wolves (2026). Blood Mountain (1999), Dakota Kill (2000), Once a Lawman (2000) and Once Hell Freezes Over (2001) are early titles. Series include Lou Prophet, Sheriff Ben Stillman, Rogue Lawman, Bloody Joe Mannion, .45-Caliber, Rusty Spurr, Bush Riders, Lonnie Gentry, Tom Navarro and Bear Haskell: U.S. Deputy Marshal.

James Reasoner writes westerns and frontier fiction, and the 193 catalogued books run from Texas Wind (1980) to Blood on the Border (2026). Civil War history, Texas and military fiction also appear among the subjects. Reasoner's series include Stagecoach Station, Abilene, Cody's Law, Wind River, Outlaw Ranger, Tales From Deadwood and the Walker, Texas Ranger tie-ins. Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin and Livia Reasoner are each co-credited on 1 book.

The westerns of Dusty Richards fill a catalogue of 58 books from 1992 to 2025. Noble's Way (1992) opens the list, followed by By the Cut of Your Clothes and From Hell to Breakfast (both 1994). Lawless Land and Servant of the Law date from 2000, and The Abilene Trail from 2003. Rambling Down the Range (2025) is the newest title. Series include Byrnes Family Ranch, Brandiron, Frank Brothers, O'Malleys of Texas, Texas Badge Mysteries, Battling Harrigans of the Frontier and Rodeo Riders. Ranch life, cattle drives, outlaws, sheriffs, Texas Rangers and Arizona appear in the subject tags.

Johnny Boggs writes Westerns. Hannah Scott and Pete Belissari are the recurring leads, and the Hannah and the Horseman books ran across several titles between 1997 and 1999. The catalogue holds 73 books published between 1997 and 2024, opening with Hannah and the Horseman (1997) and reaching Bloody Newton (2024). Frontier and pioneer life, Texas, outlaws and murder trials recur as subjects. Killstraight and Frontier Story are the other named series, at a median of 249 pages.

Lou Cameron (June 20, 1924 – November 25, 2010) was an American writer and comic book artist. The catalogue holds 101 books from Angel's Flight (1960) to First Blood (1992). Subjects include westerns, the American West, frontier life, Apache Indians and war, and the fictitious characters Longarm and Stringer MacKail. Cameron's series are Stringer and Renegade. Earlier titles include The Sky Divers (1963), The Dirty War of Sergeant Slade (1966) and Green Fields of Hell (1968).

Loren D. Estleman

122 books• 10 series

Loren D. Estleman, born September 15, 1952, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an American author of detective fiction and westerns. Estleman is known for crime novels featuring Amos Walker, a private investigator, and Detroit recurs in the subject headings. Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal, Peter Macklin, Valentino and Detroit are the other series. The catalogue counts 122 books from Red Highway (1976) to Man One (2026), and Motor City Blue appeared in 1980.

Elmore Leonard

65 books• 12 series

Elmore Leonard (October 11, 1925 to August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. Leonard began with Westerns in the 1950s and moved on to crime fiction and suspense, and many of those books were filmed. The story "Three-Ten to Yuma" became the film 3:10 to Yuma (1957), which was remade in 2007. Anthony Lane, a British journalist, called Leonard one of the best crime writers in the land. Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight, Glitz and LaBrava rank among Leonard's best-known works. The catalogue lists 65 titles starting with The Bounty Hunters (1953), plus series featuring Raylan Givens, Chili Palmer, Jack Foley and Carl Webster.