The Master Falconer: A Joe Pickett Short Story

By C. J. Box

From #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box comes a dramatic short story of justice—both old and new—featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.

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 Pickett, a little frontier-style justice may be just what’s called for. An exciting new addition to the series that People hails for “combin[ing] harrowing adrenaline rushes with complex morality, humor, and a landscape described so vibrantly it seems to have a life all its own.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781101532058

C. J. Box

C. J. Box is the award-winning creator of the Joe Pickett series. Born in Wyoming, he worked as a reporter, surveyor, ranch hand, and fishing guide before he began writing fiction. In Open Season (2001), Box introduced Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden and expert outdoorsman who fights corruption on the plains. The novel was a success, winning the Gumshoe Award and spawning an ongoing series that has now stretched to twelve novels, including Force of Nature (2012) and the Edgar Award–winning Blue Heaven (2009). Box co-owns a tourism marketing firm with his wife, Laurie, and in 2008 won the BIG WYO award for his efforts to bring visitors to his home state. Box is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. A lover of the outdoors, he has traveled across the American West on foot, horse, and skis. He lives in Wyoming with his family. 

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

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G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

Publishers Since 1838

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Copyright © 2011 by C. J. Box

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

eISBN : 978-1-101-53205-8

http://us.penguingroup.com

ALSO BY C. J. BOX

THE JOE PICKETT NOVELS

Nowhere to Run

Below Zero

Blood Trail

Free Fire

In Plain Sight

Out of Range

Trophy Hunt

Winterkill

Savage Run

Open Season

THE STAND-ALONE NOVELS

Three Weeks to Say Goodbye

Blue Heaven

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www.cjbox.net

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Man has emerged from the shadows of antiquity with a peregrine on his wrist.

—ROGER TORY PETERSON, Birds Over America

IN THE MIDNIGHT FORESTS OF THE BIGHORN MOUNTAINS, BELOW timberline, all movement and sound ceased with the approaching roar. Elk quit grazing and raised