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Joe Pickett — by C.J. Box
Joe Pickett Series in Order: 30 books
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Open Season
Book - 1
"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 warden who, with the shot of a rifle, is thrust into a race...
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Savage Run
Book - 2
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 in to help investigate. The case is wrapped up quick...
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Winterkill
Book - 3
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 ...
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Trophy Hunt
Book - 4
Pickett faces his most baffling--and dangerous--adventure yet... Local authorities are quick to label a rash of animal mutilations as the work of a grizzly bear, but Joe Pickett suspects that something far more sinister is afoot. And when the bodi...
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The Master Falconer
Book - 4.5
A dramatic short story of justice both old and new from the New York Times-bestselling author of Cold Wind. The West is not the way it's portrayed in the movies. But when a man from the East brings trouble for Nate Romanowski and his friend Joe Picke...
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Out of Range
Book - 5
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 invest...
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In Plain Sight
Book - 6
Ranch owner and matriarch Opal Scarlett has vanished under suspicious circumstances during a bitter struggle between her sons for control of her million-dollar empire. Joe Pickett is convinced one of them must have done her in, and when he becomes th...
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Dull Knife
Book - 6.5
A chilling short story of death and retribution from the New York Times-bestselling author of "Cold Wind". Twenty-two degrees below zero on a high mountain lake in Wyoming. Game warden Joe Pickett was carefully sliding across to check the license...
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Blood Trail
Book - 8
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 mounta...
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Below Zero
Book - 9
It begins with a phone message: Tell Sherry April called. And suddenly Joe Pickett's family is shaken to the core. April, Pickett's foster daughter, was murdered six years ago. His daughter Sherry starts to believe there's a chance that April is stil...
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Nowhere to Run
Book - 10
It's Joe Pickett's last week as temporary game warden in the mountain town of Baggs, Wyoming, but his conscience won't let him leave without checking out the strange reports coming from the wilderness: camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. Not ...
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Force of Nature
Book - 12
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 w...
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Breaking Point
Book - 13
Breaking Point, however, takes Joe Pickett into uncharted territory. The question is: What will he do when he gets there? It was always good to see Butch Roberson, Joe thought -- a hardworking, upright local business owner whose daughter was frien...
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Stone Cold
Book - 14
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 phil...
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Endangered
Book - 15
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 ...
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Off the Grid
Book - 16
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 he...
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Vicious Circle
Book - 17
The past comes back to haunt game warden Joe Pickett and his family with devastating effect in the thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box. The plane circled in the dark. Joe Pickett could just make out down below a...
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The Disappeared
Book - 18
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett has two cases to contend with, both of them lethal, in the electrifying new novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author. Wyoming's new governor isn't sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for h...
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Long Range
Book - 20
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett must investigate an attempted murder--a crime committed from a confoundingly long distance--in the riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box. When Joe Pickett is asked to join the rescue...
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Shadows Reel
Book - 22
Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett and his wife Marybeth make separate discoveries that put the Pickett family in a pair of killers' crosshairs in this thrilling new novel in the bestselling series. A day before the three Pickett girls come home for ...
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Storm Watch
Book - 23
Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett investigates a mysterious death at a secret remote high-tech facility in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller CJ Box. When a prominent University of Wyoming professor goes mi...
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Three-Inch Teeth
Book - 24
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett faces two different kinds of rampaging beasts -- one animal, one human -- in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C.J. Box.A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage -- killing, among others, the p...
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Battle Mountain
Book - 25
Outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski is off the grid and out for revenge in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C. J. Box.The campaign of destruction that Axel Soledad and Dallas Cates wreaked on Nate Romanowski and Joe Pickett left ...
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The Crossroads
Book - 26
"Raining here, but I've got a cup of hot tea and a Joe Pickett novel, so who has it better than me?" -- Stephen King Game warden Joe Pickett fights for his life as his daughters try to uncover who shot him and left him for dead in this riveting...
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Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country
From C. J. Box, the New York Times-bestselling author of the Joe Pickett novels, comes a thrilling book of suspense stories about the Wyoming he knows so well -- and the dark deeds and impulses that can be found there. Over the course of eighteen...
Series Premise
Joe Pickett serves as a Wyoming game warden in the fictional Twelve Sleep County, often drawn into larger criminal investigations that go beyond wildlife violations. Each book features a self-contained mystery or thriller plot—frequently involving murder, political intrigue, or powerful interests clashing with conservation values—while Joe balances his duties with family responsibilities. The stories blend procedural detail with broader conflicts over land use and ethics in the modern West.
Joe Pickett Series Reading Order
🔄 Best Read in Order · Start with Book 1: Open Season
Standalone stories, but characters and relationships develop across the series.
Publication order gives the best experience for the Joe Pickett series. Each book has a complete central mystery with its own resolution, while character relationships and ongoing personal developments carry across the volumes. Readers who jump ahead miss the evolution of Joe’s family dynamics, his deepening ties with recurring allies like Nate Romanowski, and the cumulative impact of past events on his life and career.
Explanation of reading order types
Joe Pickett Series Characters
Joe Pickett is the central protagonist, a principled but often underestimated game warden who frequently finds himself at odds with local power structures. His wife Marybeth and their daughters (Sheridan, Lucy, and April) play significant recurring roles, while outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski serves as a key ally and recurring figure throughout the series.
Setting of the Joe Pickett Series
The series is set primarily in rural northern Wyoming, centered around the town of Saddlestring in Twelve Sleep County near the Bighorn Mountains. Stories frequently feature vast wilderness areas, ranches, national forests, and the dramatic landscapes surrounding Yellowstone, highlighting both the beauty and harsh realities of the Mountain West.
Tone & Themes of the Joe Pickett Series
The tone is suspenseful and grounded with vivid natural descriptions and moral complexity. Core themes include justice versus bureaucracy, the tension between conservation and economic interests, family loyalty, personal integrity in difficult situations, and the challenges of modern life in the American West.
Is the Joe Pickett Series Worth Reading?
Yes, for readers who enjoy character-rich crime thrillers with strong Western settings and ethical dilemmas. The long-running series offers consistent quality and deep investment in its central family and community.
Content Warnings and Heat Level
This is an adult mystery/thriller series that includes violence, murder, gunfights, and descriptions of poaching or animal harm. Some books feature moderate language and references to political or environmental conflict; sexual content is generally mild.
The Joe Pickett series follows a Wyoming game warden as he protects wildlife and confronts larger threats in his corner of the American West. With its blend of self-contained investigations and continuing personal and family arcs, it rewards sequential reading. C.J. Box’s authentic depictions of Wyoming landscapes and complex moral questions define this long-running series.
Books in this series fall into the following genres
Themes
People / Creatures
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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