John D. Nesbitt

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John D. Nesbitt's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    55 Books
  • First Book:
    March 1994
  • Latest Book:
    January 2025
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Book List in Order: 55 titles

  • One-Eyed Cowboy Wild

    After a three-year absence, Zeke Hill returns home to the Redboot ranch a changed man, causing his brother, Gene, to wonder whether Zeke's grit and nerve are merely signs of his natural self-assurance, or that of a cold-blooded killer. Original....

  • Twin Rivers

    Having filed a claim on a piece of land, hoping it will be worth something when the railroad goes through, Clay Westbrook confronts the ruthless ambitions of Theodore Sutton, who will stop at nothing to get all of Clay's property. Reprint....

  • Wild Rose of Ruby Canyon

    When his new neighbor, Van O'Leary, approaches him with a money-making scam, homesteader Henry Sommers learns that freeing himself of O'Leary is much harder then it looks and extremely dangerous. Original....

  • One Foot in the Stirrup

    This is a collection of nine western stories, ranging from gunfights to romance. Men and women alike have enjoyed these selections.Each story has the features of good western writing -- a clearly etched setting, memorable characterization, an origina...

  • Black Diamond Rendezvous

    When he comes upon two hardcases threatening a helpless girl, Pete Garnett is forced to shoot the men, but he soon becomes aware that the crooks' partner has seen him and is out to get rid of any witnesses...

  • Coyote Trail

    Fired from his last ranch job when a friend of his plots against the owner, Travis Quinn seeks another job in the Powder River country, and when he links up with Miles Newman, he does not suspect that he is about to have guilt-by-association problems...

  • North of Cheyenne

    Monte Casteel hadn’t planned on staying long when he rode into the small Wyoming town of Eagle Spring. He was just a ranch hand with no work between seasons. But even before he got into town, someone warned him it might be better for his health i...

  • Man from Wolf River

    On his way to the Laramie Mountains from the Wolf River, Owen Felver makes his camp outside of Cameron, Wyoming. While in town, he defends a young woman who is accosted. Soon after that, Owen decides to stay in Cameron, but a gang of thugs determine ...

  • For the Norden Boys

    Tom Atkins is out of work. So when the Norden brothers ride into his camp one night and offer him a job, he figures he might as well accept. The Norden boys are nice enough and they just bought a small ranch nearby. All things considered, Atkins coul...



  • Black Hat Butte

    Braden isn't looking for trouble. He is just a ranch hand, out looking for stray horses. But trouble finds him. He hears about someone doing something pretty low and getting away with it, and it starts to work on his mind. Then the man who told him i...

  • Red Wind Crossing

    Clevis always says that when he sees a pretty girl walking down the street and looking over her shoulder, he pays attention, especially if she is walking fast. From the time he sees Helen hurrying down the street, Clevis knows she is in some sort of ...

  • West of Rock River

    Vance Coolidge always said a man should have a chance to get even when he's been done wrong. And he's certainly been done wrong in his life. So when his friend Tip asked for his help in going after the men who killed Tip's brother, Vance agreed to jo...

  • Rancho Alegre

    Jimmy Clevis is out of work and needs some money. So when an old man named Tull asks him to do a quick job for him, Clevis agrees. All Clevis has to do is head south to Paloma Springs to find Tull’s son. Sounds like easy money, right? Wrong. C...

  • Lonesome Range

    Lyle McGavin is a very dangerous man. He's one of the most powerful land developers in the area, an overbearing bully who's used to having his own way and who's definitely not above using threats and physical harm to get what he wants or protect what...

  • Raven Springs

    Just outside the small town of Raven Springs there's a curious little inn. Is it just a coincidence that a number of missing people spent their last night there? That's what Jimmy Clevis aims to find out. He's tracking down a man who seems to have va...

  • Death at Dark Water

    All Devon Frost was looking for was peace and quiet. An artist, he came to the remote town of Tinaja to draw the local buildings. He didn't expect to get caught in a web of lies, accusations...and murder. The suitor of a ranch owner's daughter has be...

  • Poacher's Moon

    Well known author John D. Nesbitt, who has delivered more than 18 historic Western novels to eager readers, now turns his hand to a contemporary Western story that sets intriguing characters against a background of the wildlife and wild lands of Wyom...

  • Trouble at the Redstone

    Will Dryden picked the wrong time to ride onto the Redstone Ranch. He was looking for a job...and a missing man. But one of the Redstone's hands was just found killed, so tensions are riding high and not everyone's eager to welcome a stranger. The mo...

  • Stranger in Thunder Basin

    Ed Dawes will never forget that snowy day when he was a boy...the day his beloved "Pa-Pa" was murdered. And he'll never forget the face of the man who gunned the old man down in cold blood. So years later, when Ed sees that face again, he knows what ...



  • Blue Horse Mesa

    Men and women, guns and horses, tough situations and no easy solutions -- these are the features of a dozen new stories by one of the most acclaimed writers of Western fiction today. John D. Nesbitt shows once again why his work is consistently prais...

  • Not a Rustler

    With a lot of rustling in the area, tensions are high and rumors are flying fast and furious. Word's going around that some of the larger ranchers have hired a gunman named Wolf Carlton to stop the rustling and protect their cattle. And now a couple ...

  • Gather My Horses

    Tom Fielding rides headlong into trouble when he helps some small ranchers stand up to the big cattlemen who are trying to push them around. ...

  • Rose of Durango

    Good-natured Jimmy Clevis has a knack for finding people. Magdalena, his girlfriend, has a cousin who disappeared after seeking work at a ranch farther north. Jimmy travels north and pokes around under the guise of looking for work. Will he find Magd...

  • Song of Pierre

    Cactus Pete hired me to do a job -- a secret sort of job for good eatin' and two bits a day, he promised. It didn't sound too bad, at first. Then he brought out this black, smelly beast he called a burro. Pierre and I took an instant dislike to each ...

  • Field Work

    This collection contains seven works of fiction ranging in length from short story to novella. The stories take place in rural California from 1964 to 1970, and they continue the mystery/noir style in which John D. Nesbitt has gained recognition. The...

  • Frost on Thin Ice

    ~ Speculative Mystery Short by award-winning author John D. Nesbitt ~ Why would one country neighbor run down another on Main Street in front of the post office? It happened in early November... Keith Harriman was crossing the street when Jerry Fros...

  • Death at the Whistling Swan

    ~ A mystery short from the award winning author of Twin Rivers and Frost on Thin Ice ~A curious fellow by nature and with an interest in a certain young woman, I attended a poetry reading at her invitation. The poet was entertaining, but my attention...

  • Thorns on the Rose

    ~ Western Poetry from a true son of the American West ~ Staring into a campfire on a starry night as he listens to the coyotes howl and the cattle lowing gives a cowboy time to think, room to put his thoughts to paper, a chance to sing what's in his ...

  • Dark Prairie

    A stranger named Dunbar comes to the town of Winsome, on the plains of Wyoming, in the 1890's. He goes to work at the Little Six ranch and begins to look into the affairs of Tut Whipple, a water project developer. The investigation starts small, with...



  • Across the Cheyenne River

    Russell Archer has come to Wyoming to fulfill his dream of having his own land. After one season of work on Lidge Mercer s ranch, he receives an offer to become a junior partner. Before long, however, Archer learns that Lidge was caught up in an old ...

  • Wearing out a Welcome

    Al and Rosalie Decker’s uninvited house guest is in no hurry to leave their ranch. Jerome Hayden is “just a little too courteous, a little too attentive”… and is making himself at home, in all the wrong ways…...

  • Don't Be a Stranger

    Elwood Lawrence‚ top hand at the Crown Butte ranch‚ tries to find out where the cattle are disappearing to. It looks like an inside job. His work becomes complicated when he develops an interest in a woman who comes to visit the ranch‚ and behi...

  • Justice at Redwillow

    Jim Fontaine wants to get a new start in life by settling on his own piece of land near the town of Redwillow. He isn't there very long, though, when a saloon girl named Emma turns up dead and a friend of his, Charley Drake, gets thrown in jail for t...

  • Death in Cantera

    A stranger named Dunbar comes to Cantera and shows interest in the Frenchman's Quarry and the death of the owner's son twenty years earlier. Dunbar also asks about the town marshal and about Dolores Carreau, the Frenchman's widow. Bodies begin to mou...

  • Good Water

    A Booklist Best Mystery 2016



    Tommy Reeves and his pal Red Armstrong make friends with the Mexican people who live near the ranch where Tommy and Red work. The boys take an interest in the Mexican girls, and their foreman ...

  • Shadows on the Plain

    This is a book of hard-crafted fiction set in the contemporary West, stories about life and love, loss and death, with a few laughs along the way. In selections such as “Cowboy Heart,” “Ice on the Doorstep,” “Chokecherries Are Free,” “D...

  • Destiny at Dry Camp

    A stranger named Dunbar comes to the town of Dry Camp and goes to work at Rich Stanton’s ranch. Shortly after Dunbar’s arrival, he helps find the body of an old man named Ross Guilford. The foreman, Paul Kelso, picks a fight with a ranch hand nam...

  • Antelope Sky

    Antelope Sky: Stories of the Modern West

    Here is a world of sky and sage, dust and rain, horses and saddles, pickups and gun racks -- where the wild roses bloom in springtime and the wild geese fly in winter.

    This is a world where m...

  • Seasons in the Fields

    Stories of a Golden WestSomewhere between John Steinbeck and Merle Haggard, these short stories are about people who work in the fields, sleep in cars and bunkhouses, and sort out the problems that life hands them. One character remembers the day Ma...



  • Adventures of the Ramrod Rider

    If you have grown weary of SEX and VIOLENCE-- If you feel you have overdosed with accounts of TAWDRY LUST, POLITICAL CORRUPTION, and BRUTAL MURDERS-- Try a refreshing change. Sip from the cup of comedy, parody, and satire, laced now and then with poe...

  • A Good Man to Have in Camp

    Out on a ranch in the foothills, Jim Lander is trying to get his life in order. He's trying to put his divorce behind him so he can develop a relationship with Dusty, a nice young woman who lives in town. Things get complicated, though, when he doe...

  • Blue Springs

    Wilf Kasmire is surprised to hear from his ex-girlfriend, Dawn Jenkins -- and even more puzzled when she asks if she can stay with him “for a while.” The note of worry in her tone has Wilf agreeing -- against his better judgment, but also wonderi...

  • Castle Butte

    Seventeen-year-old Alden Clare has plenty weighing on him: an ailing father, a restless older brother, and an impatient girlfriend. His brother argues with their father and leaves. His girlfriend, Claudette, decides she doesn't want to wait any longe...

  • Dusk Along the Niobrara

    Dunbar, working on a ranch in the Niobrara country in Wyoming, connects the death of a hardscrabble homesteader with the death of an old horse trader some fifteen years earlier. As Dunbar goes to work on a corral project in town and then on fall roun...

  • Great Lonesome

    "Reese Hartley has come to Wyoming to settle on his own land. But his cattleman boss expects his hired men to turn their homestead claims over to him. Hartley resists and is let go. He meets a woman named Muriel. She has come west to look for land, b...

  • Silver Grass

  • Perilous Frontier

    “Double Deceit” by John D. Nesbitt A man named Dunbar comes to Temple Basin where he goes to work for an old rancher who is laid up with a broken leg. The rancher's granddaughter tells the story. After one man turns up dead and another ma...

  • Coldwater Range

    SPUR AWARD WINNING AUTHOR Del Rowland, working for Bill Overlin at the Spoke ranch, begins to doubt the boss's integrity when Overlin and others bully a homesteader named Holt Warren and goad him into a fatal gunfight. Del's curiosity increases as he...

  • Blue Is Not the Word / Buckskin Trail

    Blue Is Not the WordRick Lemoore is drinking beer when he recognizes a backhoe operator named Tragg Tustin, who was said to have left town years earlier with Lynette Cole, a girl both of them had been dating. Seeing Tustin in town again, with a diffe...



  • Bright Skies and Dark Horses

    These eight stories range in length from flash fiction to novella. In “Incident at Blue Nose Creek,” an investigator pursues a suspect for the serial murders of three saloon girls. In “Visitors in Cantera,” the narrator receiv...

  • Diamonds and Doom

  • Rose of Greenwood

    When Tip Creston comes to the town of Greenwood, he learns of the disappearance of a fifteen-year-old Romanian girl ten years earlier. Before long, a neighboring wheat farmer is found dead. Suspicion falls on a rancher who has been carrying on with t...

  • Summer's Lease

  • Under Heaven's Own Blue

  • Riders of the Skull

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

John D. Nesbitt has published 55 books.

The next book by John D. Nesbitt, Riders of the Skull, will be published in January 2025.

The first book by John D. Nesbitt, One-Eyed Cowboy Wild, was published in March 1994.

No. John D. Nesbitt does not write books in series.
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