Although the Joe Pickett books do not need to be read in order, readers will get more context and continuity by following this publication order:[2-66]
| Order | Cover | Title | First published | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Open Season | 2001[2] | Establishes Joe, his family, Saddlestring, and the choices that shape later books. |
| 2 |  |
Savage Run | 2002[3] | Expands the series from a local case into a wider conspiracy. |
| 3 |  |
Winterkill | 2003[4] | Develops the Pickett family’s continuing story through April and a volatile federal standoff. |
| 4 |  |
Trophy Hunt | 2004[5] | Adds a mutilation case while advancing Joe’s home and professional life. |
| 5 |  |
Dull Knife | 2005[6] | Optional short story about a basketball star’s death on the reservation. |
| 6 |  |
Out of Range | 2005[7] | Moves Joe to Jackson and tests his judgment after another warden’s death. |
| 7 |  |
The Master Falconer | 2006[8] | Optional short story centering Nate in a conflict over wild peregrines. |
| 8 |  |
In Plain Sight | 2006[9] | Returns to Saddlestring for a ranch feud and a revenge threat. |
| 9 |  |
Free Fire | 2007[10] | Sends Joe to Yellowstone and advances Nate’s fugitive storyline. |
| 10 |  |
Blood Trail | 2008[11-12] | Ties a hunter-killing campaign to old abuses and political pressure. |
| 11 |  |
Below Zero | 2009[13-14] | Reopens April’s story and takes Joe beyond Wyoming. |
| 12 |  |
Nowhere to Run | 2010[15-16] | Concludes Joe’s Baggs assignment with a survival-focused mountain case. |
| 13 |  |
Cold Wind | 2011[17-18] | Combines a family murder trial with the next stage of Nate’s conflict. |
| 14 |  |
Force of Nature | 2012[19-20] | Brings Nate’s military past into the series. |
| 15 |  |
Breaking Point | 2013[21-24] | Puts Joe between a fugitive, federal enforcement, and a wildfire. |
| 16 |  |
Stone Cold | 2014[25-26] | Sends Joe into a county controlled by a rancher. |
| 17 |  |
Shots Fired | 2014[27-28] | Optional ten-story collection. |
| 18 |  |
Endangered | 2015[29-32] | Reunites the family and Nate storylines around attacks on April and sage grouse. |
| 19 |  |
Off the Grid | 2016[33-34] | Draws Joe, Nate, and Sheridan into a Red Desert terror plot. |
| 20 |  |
Vicious Circle | 2017[35-38] | Returns Dallas Cates and escalates the threat against Joe’s family. |
| 21 |  |
The Disappeared | 2018[39-40] | Moves the investigation south to a missing guest and wind-energy cover-up. |
| 22 |  |
Wolf Pack | 2019[41-44] | Connects a wildlife-drone case to a protected witness and cartel assassins. |
| 23 |  |
Long Range | 2020[45-48] | Places Nate under suspicion in a sniper investigation and renews cartel pressure. |
| 24 |  |
Dark Sky | 2021[49-50] | Turns an elk hunt for a billionaire into a wilderness pursuit. |
| 25 |  |
Shadows Reel | 2022[51-52] | Links a Nazi-era album, murders, and Nate’s hunt for Soledad. |
| 26 |  |
Storm Watch | 2023[53-56] | Mixes a secret computer site with an extremist operation. |
| 27 |  |
Three-Inch Teeth | 2024[57-60] | Pairs a grizzly threat with a human campaign of revenge. |
| 28 |  |
Battle Mountain | 2025[61-62] | Brings Joe and Nate together against Soledad’s attack. |
| 29 |  |
The Crossroads | 2026[63-64] | Follows the family after Joe is ambushed. |
| 30 |  |
The Missing | 2027[65-66] | Follows Joe as he investigates two missing children in Wyoming’s Star Valley. |
1. Open Season
Open Season (2001)[2] begins when Joe finds a murdered outfitter on his property and follows evidence toward a supposedly extinct animal. The case establishes Saddlestring, the Pickett family, Joe’s professional code, and the consequences of his determination to pursue the truth.[67]
Its family and career developments provide useful background for conflicts that recur throughout the series.[67]
2. Savage Run
Savage Run (2002)[3] starts with the apparent death of environmental activist Stewie Woods in an explosion and expands into a series of suspicious deaths. Joe’s investigation connects Marybeth’s past, an organization rooted in Western power structures, and the dangerous terrain of Savage Run.[68]
This book broadens the scale of Joe’s cases while continuing relationships established in Open Season.[68]
3. Winterkill
Winterkill (2003)[4] follows Joe after a federal official is murdered during a blizzard and suspicion falls on Nate Romanowski. The investigation intersects with a sovereign-citizen camp, an escalating federal response, and the Pickett family’s attempt to protect April.[69]
Its consequences for April, Nate, and the Picketts carry emotional weight into later books.[69]
4. Trophy Hunt
Trophy Hunt (2004)[5] opens with mutilated wildlife and develops into a case involving human deaths, physical evidence, and competing explanations. Joe must investigate while his family continues recovering from the events surrounding April. Meanwhile, Sheridan becomes more involved with Nate and falconry.[70]
The central mystery is independent, but the family relationships benefit from the context of the preceding books.[70]
5. Dull Knife
Dull Knife (2005)[6] follows Joe after he finds former basketball star Jessica Antelope frozen beneath a reservoir’s ice. The case leads him toward addiction, exploitation, and prejudice surrounding the Wind River Reservation.[71]
This story adds a reservation-centered investigation without advancing the series’ continuing family or career threads.[71]
6. Out of Range
Out of Range (2005)[7] sends Joe to Jackson after another game warden dies and leaves questions behind. A development project, suspicious behavior, and a personal connection complicate the assignment.[72]
This book advances Joe’s professional and family tensions while moving the series beyond Twelve Sleep County.[72]
7. The Master Falconer
The Master Falconer (2006)[8] centers Nate Romanowski when a wealthy Saudi falconer pressures him to supply wild peregrines. Nate’s response tests whether his principles, his birds, or his safety can be bought.[73]
This story expands Nate’s falconry world and personal code without carrying Joe’s main case sequence forward.[73]
8. In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight (2006)[9] begins with ranch matriarch Opal Scarlett missing and her sons fighting over the family legacy. Joe is drawn into the feud while a separate enemy studies how to hurt him through his family.[74]
This book returns the series to Saddlestring and pushes several professional and personal conflicts into a new phase.[74]
9. Free Fire
Free Fire (2007)[10] sends Joe to Yellowstone after Clay McCann exploits a jurisdictional problem known as the “Zone of Death” following four killings. Joe’s investigation connects the murdered concession employees to energy interests, Yellowstone’s natural resources, and a conspiracy reaching beyond the park.[75]
This book also advances Nate’s fugitive status and revisits Joe’s relationship with his father.[75]
10. Blood Trail
Blood Trail (2008)[11-12] follows a killer who treats hunters as prey and leaves signs linking several deaths. Joe’s search intersects with anti-hunting activism, concealed events from the past, and people in authority who have reasons to keep old accusations buried.[76]
The case stands on its own, but the roles of Nate, Pope, and other characters gain context from earlier installments.[76]
11. Below Zero
Below Zero (2009)[13-14] begins when Sheridan receives messages from someone claiming to be April, the foster sister the Picketts had believed dead for years. Joe, Marybeth, Nate, and the girls follow the trail as it becomes connected to a criminal, his son, and a campaign built around environmental accounting.[77]
Because April’s earlier history is central to the family’s response, this book gains weight after Winterkill and In Plain Sight.[77]
12. Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to Run (2010)[15-16] places Joe on a final horseback patrol in the remote Sierra Madre before he is due to leave the Baggs district. After encountering the Grim brothers, Joe is wounded, cut off from help, and drawn into questions surrounding a missing woman and a mountain refuge.[78]
The survival plot is largely self-contained, though Joe’s career position and Nate’s role build on earlier events.[78]
13. Cold Wind
Cold Wind (2011)[17-18] begins with wealthy rancher Earl Alden murdered and Marybeth’s mother, Missy, arrested for the crime. Joe investigates Earl’s wind-energy dealings and Missy’s history while Nate survives an attack tied to enemies from his covert past.[79]
This book strengthens two long-running threads: Missy’s influence over the Pickett family and the danger attached to Nate’s former life.[79]
14. Force of Nature
Force of Nature (2012)[19-20] brings Nate’s military history into the foreground when his former commander, John Nemecek, begins eliminating people connected to him. Joe becomes involved as Nate’s past threatens the Pickett family and reveals why Nate abandoned his former covert unit.[80]
This book provides context for Nate’s background and for the dangers that continue to follow him in later installments.[80]
15. Breaking Point
Breaking Point (2013)[21-24] follows the search for construction-company owner Butch Roberson after two EPA agents are found dead on his property. Joe becomes caught between local loyalties, federal pressure, environmental enforcement, and a wildfire that turns the manhunt into a survival crisis.[81]
The case also changes Joe’s relationship with the Game and Fish Department and helps shape his later professional role.[81]
16. Stone Cold
Stone Cold (2014)[25-26] sends Joe to Medicine Wheel County to investigate wealthy rancher Wolfgang Templeton and the influence he exercises over local institutions. Joe encounters a community shaped by Templeton’s money while Nate works inside the same network and questions the morality of his assignments.[82]
The Templeton storyline has consequences for Nate, Liv, Missy, and later books even though Joe’s immediate investigation reaches its resolution.[82]
17. Shots Fired
Shots Fired (2014)[27-28] collects ten standalone stories set largely in Wyoming, including narratives featuring Joe Pickett, Nate Romanowski, historical characters, and unrelated protagonists. Its contents range from contemporary investigations such as One-Car Bridge to historical and independent stories, while also reprinting The Master Falconer and Dull Knife.[83]
This collection is supplementary rather than a new installment in the continuing Joe Pickett series.[83]
18. Endangered
Endangered (2015)[29-32] opens with April found injured while Joe investigates the slaughter of sage grouse at a protected breeding ground. The two investigations converge on Dallas Cates, while Nate becomes the target of an attack by people who fear the consequences of his actions.[84]
This book benefits from prior knowledge of April, Dallas, Nate, and the Templeton aftermath because all four influence its stakes.[84]
19. Off the Grid
Off the Grid (2016)[33-34] follows Nate into the Red Desert after federal operatives recruit him to investigate missing journalist and falconer Muhammad Ibraaheem. Joe and Sheridan become involved as an anti-surveillance project is overtaken by men intending to turn electromagnetic weapons toward broader targets.[85]
This story advances Nate’s relationship with federal authorities and brings Sheridan into the danger surrounding him.[85]
20. Vicious Circle
Vicious Circle (2017)[35-38] begins with Dave Farkus disappearing and Joe, from a Civil Air Patrol aircraft, witnessing what may be his murder. The case pulls Dallas Cates back into Joe’s life and expands into a revenge campaign involving prison associates, law enforcement, and threats against the Pickett family.[86]
Earlier knowledge of April’s history with Dallas and the destruction of the Cates family gives the conflict more context.[86]
21. The Disappeared
The Disappeared (2018)[39-40] sends Joe to southern Wyoming to investigate the disappearance of British executive Kate Shelford-Longden after a vacation at an exclusive guest ranch. His search intersects with Sheridan’s work at the ranch, political pressure from Governor Colter Allen, and an operation concealing protected-eagle deaths around a wind project.[87]
This book continues Joe’s relationship with state political power while developing Sheridan’s adult role in the series.[87]
22. Wolf Pack
Wolf Pack (2019)[41-44] begins with a drone harassing wintering wildlife and leads Joe toward a family compound whose residents are operating under concealed identities. The wildlife case collides with a federal witness-protection operation and a cartel assassination team searching for the protected witness.[88]
The resulting violence reshapes Joe’s local law-enforcement circle and carries consequences into the next books.[88]
23. Long Range
Long Range (2020)[45-48] follows the investigation of a long-distance rifle shot that wounds Judge Hewitt’s wife. Joe searches for the shooter while planted evidence places Nate under suspicion. At the same time, a cartel operative moves against Nate’s family.[89]
Readers gain additional context for this novel from Wolf Pack, particularly through Nate’s continuing exposure to cartel retaliation and changes within local law enforcement.[89]
24. Dark Sky
Dark Sky (2021)[49-50] assigns Joe to guide technology billionaire Steve-2 Price on an elk hunt intended to help Wyoming attract a major business investment. The expedition becomes a wilderness pursuit when people with grievances against Price take control of the hunt, while Nate and Sheridan investigate stolen falcons closer to home.[90]
The falcon-smuggling storyline introduces a conflict with Axel Soledad that continues beyond the book’s main wilderness plot.[90]
25. Shadows Reel
Shadows Reel (2022)[51-52] begins when a Nazi-era photo album is left at Marybeth’s library and a fishing guide is found murdered. Joe protects his family while tracing the album’s history, as Nate and Geronimo Jones pursue Axel Soledad and the stolen birds through a separate investigation.[91]
The Soledad storyline expands beyond falcon theft here and becomes an important continuing threat.[91]
26. Storm Watch
Storm Watch (2023)[53-56] opens with Joe discovering a dead university professor inside a secret computer facility during a blizzard. His investigation connects Bitcoin mining, poachers, manipulation, and an extremist operation surrounding Governor Colter Allen.[92]
This book also develops Nate and Geronimo’s involvement with antigovernment networks and has consequences for subsequent books.[92]
27. Three-Inch Teeth
Three-Inch Teeth (2024)[57-60] begins when a grizzly kills Clay Hutmacher Jr., Sheridan’s boyfriend, near the Twelve Sleep River. Joe investigates the animal while other deaths resembling bear attacks reveal a human campaign involving Dallas Cates and Axel Soledad.[93]
This book brings several grievances back into the foreground and sets up Nate’s pursuit of Soledad.[93]
28. Battle Mountain
Battle Mountain (2025)[61-62] follows Nate as he continues hunting Axel Soledad while Joe searches for two missing elk guides near an exclusive gathering. Their investigations converge on an operation involving veterans, activists, infiltrators, and Soledad’s plan to attack the gathering.[94]
This novel provides the principal resolution to the Soledad conflict developed across Dark Sky, Shadows Reel, Storm Watch, and Three-Inch Teeth.[94]
29. The Crossroads
The Crossroads (2026)[63-64] begins when Joe is ambushed at the junction of roads leading to three neighboring ranches and is hospitalized with a head wound. Sheridan, April, Lucy, Marybeth, Nate, and a new sheriff investigate motives involving rare-earth exploration, fentanyl production, ranch disputes, and a prisoner.[95]
This family-centered investigation draws on the daughters’ adult roles and the relationships developed across the later books while treating the shooting as a self-contained mystery.[95]
30. The Missing
The Missing, which will be published on February 23, 2027,[65-66] follows game warden Joe Pickett as he returns to work while still dealing with injuries from the shooting that nearly killed him. He is assigned to assist an FBI task force searching for two siblings who disappeared in Wyoming’s Star Valley while their wealthy father was hunting and their mother was staying in town.[96]
The investigation is complicated by an insular community whose religious elders repeatedly intervene, while numerous possible suspects emerge without a clear motive. Joe must determine who had access to the children and why they were taken before further harm occurs. At the same time, his daughter Sheridan handles a poaching investigation that develops into a more dangerous case than she expected.[96]
References
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