Will I love Open Season?

Another strong series is the Joe Pickett books by C.J. Box.

I think you can tell I like to read in series and by author. There are 26 books in this series! I hope to write as many… This is mystery and murder at times, and although not in, on, or around American Indian lands, these books have almost the same feel, starting with this one.

Rather than a cop, he’s a game warden. Almost the same thing, but dealing with laws around fish & game. Now, Joe has some issues that I liked. Not his emotional drama, but the… show more.

The protagonist, Joe Picket, is a game warden in Wyoming. I learned so much about his job stopping poachers, and about life in rural Wyoming, but the story is also so well written with a warmth and humanity that some crime novels lack.

I loved that he was a father with two young children, not earning very much in the career he loves, with all the stresses of modern life and a difficult and often dangerous job.

There are 26 books in the series, the most recent came out in March 2026.

I have never been to the untamed lands of Wyoming and Montana but after reading this and other books by C J Box, this region certainly moved to the top of my travel list. This author is so adept at transporting readers into his scenes, I felt the biting cold of the wind off the Bighorn Mountains, experienced the chafing of riding my horse up and down the valleys and mountains, heard bullets sing through the air and tasted the bile in my own throat at seeing an animal mutilated.

This is the first entry in this bestselling mystery/adventure series,… show more.