Molly Murphy
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Series · mystery
Joe Pickett
The Joe Pickett series by C. J. Box has 28 known books (27 published; 1 announced) and is best read in publication order, starting with Open Season (2001). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is The Crossroads. The next announced book, The Missing, is due 23 February 2027.
- Books
- 28 known books (27 novels + 1 collection)
- Published
- 27
- Announced
- 1
- First published
- 2001
- Status
- ongoing
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: Open Season (2001) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series. Announced future books are marked below.
- Book 1:
Open Season
"Open Season" is book 1 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2001, and runs 293 pages. It's the book that opened the series and introduced Joe, his family, and the Saddlestring country the series is set in. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Open Season - Book 2:
Savage Run
Published in 2002, "Savage Run" is the 2nd Joe Pickett novel, and spans 287 pages. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Savage Run - Book 3:
Winterkill
"Winterkill" (2003) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 3, and runs 372 pages. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Winterkill - Book 4:
Trophy Hunt
"Trophy Hunt" is book 4 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2004, and is 352 pages long. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Trophy Hunt - Book 5:
Out of Range
Published in 2005, "Out of Range" is the 5th Joe Pickett novel, and comes in at 314 pages. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Out of Range - Book 6:
In Plain Sight
"In Plain Sight" (2006) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 5.5, and is 305 pages long. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of In Plain Sight - Book 7:
Free Fire
"Free Fire" is book 6 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2007, and spans 352 pages. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Free Fire - Book 8:
Blood Trail
Published in 2008, "Blood Trail" is the 7th Joe Pickett novel, and runs 311 pages. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Blood Trail - Book 9:
Below Zero
"Below Zero" (2009) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 8, and spans 342 pages. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Below Zero - Book 10:
Nowhere to Run
"Nowhere to Run" is book 9 in the Joe Pickett series, and published in 2010. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Nowhere to Run - Book 11:
Cold Wind
Published in 2011, "Cold Wind" is the 10th Joe Pickett novel, and is 388 pages long. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Cold Wind - Book 12:
Force of Nature
"Force of Nature" (2012) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 11, and comes in at 385 pages. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Force of Nature - Book 13:
Breaking Point
"Breaking Point" is book 12 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2013, and runs 367 pages. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Breaking Point - Book 14:
Stone Cold
Published in 2014, "Stone Cold" is the 13th Joe Pickett novel, and spans 400 pages. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Stone Cold - Book 15:
Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country
"Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country" (2014) is a short-story collection connected to the Joe Pickett series, and comes in at 295 pages. It's a short-story collection rather than a numbered entry, gathering a few Joe Pickett stories alongside unrelated Wyoming fiction; it's optional, and best read once the characters are already familiar. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country - Book 16:
Endangered
"Endangered" (2015) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 14, and runs 385 pages. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Endangered - Book 17:
Off the Grid
"Off the Grid" is book 15 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2016, and is 392 pages long. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Off the Grid - Book 18:
Vicious Circle
Published in 2017, "Vicious Circle" is the 16th Joe Pickett novel, and comes in at 417 pages. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Vicious Circle - Book 19:
The Disappeared
"The Disappeared" (2018) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 17, and is 403 pages long. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Disappeared - Book 20:
Wolf Pack
"Wolf Pack" is book 18 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2019, and spans 448 pages. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Wolf Pack - Book 21:
Long Range
Published in 2020, "Long Range" is the 19th Joe Pickett novel, and runs 368 pages. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Long Range - Book 22:
Dark Sky
"Dark Sky" (2021) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 20, and spans 384 pages. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dark Sky - Book 23:
Shadows Reel
"Shadows Reel" is book 21 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2022, and comes in at 384 pages. As with the rest of C. J. Box's series, it's built around a real environmental or Western issue filtered through a tight thriller plot, alongside Joe's family life with Marybeth and his uneasy partnership with the off-the-grid Nate Romanowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Shadows Reel - Book 24:
Storm Watch
Published in 2023, "Storm Watch" is the 22nd Joe Pickett novel, and is 1 pages long. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Storm Watch - Book 25:
Three-Inch Teeth
"Three-Inch Teeth" (2024) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 23, and comes in at 417 pages. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Three-Inch Teeth - Book 26:
Battle Mountain
"Battle Mountain" is book 24 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2025, and runs 351 pages. Like the rest of the series, it follows Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett -- stubborn, chronically underpaid, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people -- through the murders, poaching conspiracies, and political corruption that surround the empty country around fictional Saddlestring.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Battle Mountain - Book 27:
The Crossroads
"The Crossroads" (2026) continues the Joe Pickett series at number 26, and runs 352 pages. It continues the series' running threads -- Joe's family, his partnership with falconer and vigilante Nate Romanowski, and the landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains a character in their own right.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Crossroads - Book 28:
The Missing
"The Missing" is book 27 in the Joe Pickett series, published in 2027, and is 336 pages long. It's one of the more recently announced entries in the ongoing series. Like its neighbors in the series, it pairs a Wyoming game-warden case with C. J. Box's genuine attention to a real environmental or land-use issue, plus the ongoing family and Nate Romanowski threads that run underneath.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Missing
About the Joe Pickett series
Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden — a job that keeps landing him in the middle of murders, poaching conspiracies, eco-terrorism, corporate land grabs and political corruption across the vast, empty country around fictional Saddlestring. Joe is stubborn, chronically underpaid, allergic to political games, and hopeless at holding his tongue around powerful people, which gets him fired, reassigned and shot at with regularity — but it also makes him the game warden who actually goes after the people everyone else is too scared or too compromised to touch. C. J. Box builds each novel around a real environmental or Western issue (wolf reintroduction, public land sales, energy extraction, wildlife trafficking) filtered through a tight thriller plot, with genuine landscape writing that makes Wyoming's high plains and mountains a character in their own right.
Running alongside the case-of-the-book is Joe's family life with his wife Marybeth and their daughters, and his uneasy partnership with Nate Romanowski, a falconer and off-the-grid vigilante whose willingness to operate outside the law gives Joe a dangerous ally he can't quite approve of. The series has earned comparisons to Craig Johnson's Longmire novels for its modern-Western setting, and its blend of procedural plotting, environmental stakes and slow-building found-family warmth has made it one of the best-selling ongoing crime series in the genre, now adapted as the Paramount+ series Joe Pickett.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Joe Pickett series?
There are 27 novels as of The Crossroads (February 2026), plus the short story collection Shots Fired. Book 28, The Missing, is due February 23, 2027.
What order should I read the Joe Pickett books in?
Publication order, starting with Open Season. Joe's family and his partnership with Nate Romanowski build steadily across the series.
Is the Joe Pickett series finished?
No, it's ongoing. C. J. Box has published roughly one book a year since 2001; The Missing (book 28) is due February 23, 2027.
Do I need to read Shots Fired?
No. It's a short story collection mixing a few Joe Pickett tales with other Wyoming-set fiction, best treated as a bonus for fans rather than a numbered entry.
Is the Joe Pickett TV series based on the books?
Yes. Paramount+'s Joe Pickett series adapts C. J. Box's novels, starting with the events of Open Season.
If you like the Joe Pickett series
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