Louis L’Amour Reading Order

13 books (1997–2022)

Louis L'Amour's Anthologies series consists of 13 books published between 1997 and 2022, likely representing a complete collection. These volumes bring together previously published western stories, essays, and historical pieces curated from L'Amour's extensive body of work and related sources. Read the books in publication order, beginning with Western Movies, to experience how the themed collections evolve across the series. The final entry, G-Men Detective from Fall 1950, rounds out this retrospective look at the American West through various narrative and documentary formats.

Start with Western Movies, the first of 13 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Western Movies 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Best of the American West 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Best of the American West II 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Guns of the West 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Golden West 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	The Untamed West 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Lone Star Law 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Lost Trails 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Lawless West 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Ghost Towns 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Three Classic Westerns 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Trailin' West 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	G-Men Detective - Fall 1950 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (2008–2008)

5 books (1971–1977)

Louis L'Amour's Chantry series comprises five Western novels published between 1971 and 1977. This complete series should be read in publication order, beginning with North to the Rails and concluding with Borden Chantry. The books follow the interconnected stories of the Chantry family across the American frontier.

Start with North to the Rails, the first of 5 books in the Chantry series.

4 books (1951–1952)

This four-book western series by Louis L'Amour was published between 1951 and 1952 as a complete collection. The books follow publication order and should be read starting with The Riders of High Rock, followed by The Rustlers of West Fork, The Trail to Seven Pines, and Trouble Shooter. Each entry stands as part of this finished series featuring the classic gunslinger character Hopalong Cassidy.

Start with The Riders of High Rock, the first of 4 books in the Hopalong Cassidy series.

#	Title
1	The Riders of High Rock 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Rustlers of West Fork 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Trail to Seven Pines 1951Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Trouble Shooter 1952Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

6 books (1954–1998)

Louis L'Amour's Kilkenny series consists of six western novels featuring the same protagonist, published between 1954 and 1998. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with Kilkenny and continuing through The Rider of Lost Creek, The Mountain Valley War, West of Dodge, A Gun for Kilkenny, and concluding with Monument Rock. Each entry builds on the character's story across the span of these adventures.

Start with Kilkenny, the first of 6 books in the Kilkenny series.

#	Title
1	Kilkenny 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Rider of Lost Creek 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Mountain Valley War / A Man Called Trent 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	West of Dodge 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	A Gun for Kilkenny 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Monument Rock 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1947–1992)

This collection of Louis L'Amour's short stories and novellas spans four decades, with two volumes published between 1951 and 1992. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with Riders of the Dawn. These Western tales showcase L'Amour's signature storytelling style across shorter formats.

Start with Riders of the Dawn and read in order.

30 books (1953–2018)

This complete series comprises 29 western novels by Louis L'Amour, originally published between 1953 and 2018, including titles such as Hondo, Kilkenny, Taggart, How the West Was Won, and Shalako. The books should be read in publication order, beginning with Hondo. While primarily categorized as fiction rather than non-fiction, these works showcase L'Amour's signature style of American frontier storytelling across more than six decades of publication.

Start with Hondo, the first of 29 books in the Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures series.

7 books (1984–2019)

The Louis L'Amour Non-Fiction series comprises seven books published between 1984 and 2019, exploring the author's life, the American frontier, and his literary legacy. These works should be read in publication order, beginning with Frontier and concluding with Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures: Volume 2. The series blends autobiography, Western history, and collections of the author's unpublished and incomplete stories, offering insight into L'Amour's research methods and creative process. This complete series is essential for fans seeking a deeper understanding of the acclaimed Western author's work and the historical periods that shaped his fiction.

Start with Frontier, the first of 7 books in the Louis L’Amour Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	Frontier 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	A Trail of Memories 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Sackett Companion 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Education of a Wandering Man 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Martin H. M. Schreiber: Last of a Breed 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Louis l'Amour's Lost Treasures - Mysterious Stories, Unfinished Manuscripts, and Lost Notes 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures: Volume 2 - More Mysterious Stories, Unfinished Manuscripts, and Lost Notes 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

69 books (1953–2019)

Louis L'Amour wrote 69 standalone Western novels between 1953 and 2019, each telling a complete story independent of the others. These books should be read in publication order, beginning with Showdown at Yellow Butte and continuing through titles like Crossfire Trail, Utah Blaine, and Guns of the Timberlands. The series is complete with all 69 novels now available, offering readers a comprehensive collection of classic Western fiction that can be enjoyed in any order despite their intended publication sequence.

Start with Showdown at Yellow Butte, the first of 69 books in the Louis L’Amour Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Showdown at Yellow Butte 1953Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Crossfire Trail 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Utah Blaine 1954Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Guns of the Timberlands 1955Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Heller with a Gun 1955Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	To Tame a Land 1955Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Silver Canyon 1956Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Burning Hills 1956Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Last Stand at Papago Wells 1957Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Sitka 1957Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	The Tall Stranger 1957Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Radigan 1959Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Flint 1960Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	High Lonesome 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Killoe 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Dark Canyon 1963Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Hanging Woman Creek 1964Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Kiowa Trail 1964Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	The High Graders 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The Key-Lock Man 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Kilrone 1966Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	The Broken Gun 1966Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Matagorda 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Brionne 1968Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	Chancy 1968Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Conagher 1969Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Tucker 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Under the Sweetwater Rim 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	The Man from Skibbereen 1973Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	The Quick and the Dead 1973Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Californios 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Where the Long Grass Blows 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	Kiowa Trail and Killoe 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	The Iron Marshal 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	The Proving Trail 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	The Cherokee Trail 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	The ShadowRiders 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Son of a Wanted Man 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Riding for the Brand 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	South of Deadwood 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Where Buzzards Fly 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	Dead End Drift 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	Showdown Trail 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	Bowdrie Passes Through 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	Four Card Draw 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	The Turkeyfeather Riders 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	Too Tough to Brand 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
48	The Louis L'Amour Companion(With: Robert Weinberg) 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
49	The Marshal of Sentinel 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
50	Strawhouse Trail 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
51	Love and the Cactus Kid 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
52	Survival 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
53	Lit a Shuck for Texas 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
54	The First Fast Draw 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
55	The Sixth Shotgun 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
56	Big Medicine 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
57	His Brother's Debt 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
58	Job for a Ranger 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
59	Medicine Ground 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
60	No Man's Man 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
61	That Triggernometry Tenderfoot 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
62	Dawn Riders 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
63	Unguarded Moment 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
64	The Black Rock Coffin Makers 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
65	A Man Called Trent 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
66	Riders of the Tumbling K 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
67	Showdown 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
68	Three Bullets for the Cactus Kid 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
69	Bannon 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

44 books (1939–2016)

Louis L'Amour's Short Story Collections series comprises 44 volumes of Western and adventure fiction published between 1939 and 2016, with the complete series now available. These standalone collections should be read in publication order, beginning with Smoke from This Altar and progressing through titles like Buckskin Run, Law of the Desert Born, and Bowdrie's Law. Each volume gathers previously published stories that showcase L'Amour's mastery of frontier narratives and action-driven tales across diverse settings from the American West to exotic locales.

Start with Smoke from This Altar, the first of 44 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	Smoke from This Altar 1939Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Strong Shall Live 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Buckskin Run 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Law of the Desert Born 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Bowdrie's Law 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Dutchman's Flat 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Man Riding West 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Night Over the Solomons 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Rider of the Ruby Hills 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Trail to Crazy Man 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	West from Singapore 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Lonigan 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Long Ride Home 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Grub Line Rider 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	The Outlaws of Mesquite 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	West of the Tularosa 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Black Rock: A Western Trio 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Valley of the Sun 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	West of Dodge Collection 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Mistakes Can Kill You 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Monument Rock 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Beyond the Great Snow Mountains 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	May There Be a Road 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Louis L'Amour Trail Mix: Volume Two 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	With These Hands 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	From the Listening Hills 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 1 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 2 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Home in the Valley 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 3 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 4 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Big Country, Volume 1 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour Volume 5 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 6 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 7 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	The Frontier Stories 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	Big Country, Vol. 3 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	The Man from Battle Flat 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Glory Riders 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	The Strong Land 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Desert Death-Song 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	We Shaped the Land with Our Guns 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	The Chick Bowdrie Short Stories Bundle 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	Golden Gunmen 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1975–1981)

Louis L'Amour's Talon series comprises three complete western novels published between 1975 and 1981. The books should be read in publication order, beginning with Rivers West, followed by The Man from the Broken Hills, and concluding with Milo Talon. This finished series offers standalone entries that can be enjoyed independently, though reading in sequence provides the intended narrative progression.

Start with Rivers West and read in order.

#	Title
1	Rivers West 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Man from the Broken Hills 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Milo Talon 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

7 books (2000–2006)

The Golden West is a seven-book anthology series edited by Jon Tuska and published between 2000 and 2006, collecting classic Western stories from authors including Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey, and Max Brand. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with the first volume. Each book gathers short fiction that celebrates the themes and characters of the American West, offering readers a comprehensive selection of stories from the genre's most prominent writers.

Start with Stories of the Golden West: Book 1(By: Jon Tuska), the first of 7 books in the The Golden West series.

#	Title
1	Stories of the Golden West: Book 1(By: Jon Tuska) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Stories of the Golden West, Book 2(By: Jon Tuska) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Stories of the Golden West, Book 3(By: Zane Grey,Max Brand,Jon Tuska,Christopher Lane) 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Stories of the Golden West, Book 4(By: Jon Tuska) 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Stories of the Golden West, Book 5(By: Grover Gardner,Zane Grey,Max Brand,Jon Tuska) 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Stories of the Golden West, Book 6(By: Zane Grey) 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Stories of the Golden West, Book 7(With: Zane Grey,Max Brand,Jon Tuska) 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

19 books (1960–1997)

Louis L'Amour's Sackett series spans nineteen completed western novels published between 1960 and 1997, following publication order beginning with The Daybreakers. The series chronicles the adventures and exploits of the Sackett family across different time periods and frontier settings, with each book contributing to the larger family saga. Readers should start with The Daybreakers and proceed through the publication sequence to experience the full narrative arc of this classic western series.

Start with The Daybreakers, the first of 19 books in the The Sacketts series.

#	Title
1	The Daybreakers 1960Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Sackett 1961Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Lando 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Mojave Crossing 1964Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Sackett Brand 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Mustang Man 1966Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Sky-Liners 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Lonely Men 1969Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Galloway 1970Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Ride the Dark Trail 1972Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Treasure Mountain 1972Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	War Party 1973Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Sackett's Land 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	To the Far Blue Mountains 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Lonely on the Mountain 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Ride the River 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	The Warrior's Path 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Jubal Sackett 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	End of the Drive 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible