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Cotton Pickens #5
Wyoming Slaughter
Cotton Pickens is the most unlikely sheriff on the frontier. And when the town of Doubtful, Wyoming, explodes, Cotton will lay down the law…if the law doesn’t lay him down first.
No Whiskey? No Women? No Peace…
It was a law Cotton Pickens never asked for and never wanted to enforce. But due to the vigilance of the Women’s Temperance Society, and the timidity of their businessmen husbands, the town of Doubtful, Wyoming, is going dry. As of January 1st. No exceptions. No turning back.
Doubtful’s hell-raisers will not take this lying down, and Sheriff Pickens is fighting bootleggers and vigilantes when the next boot drops. The righteous women push through an even worse law bound to spark an outright insurrection. The world’s oldest profession and Doubtful’s favorite pastime—dallying with ladies of the evening—is the next vice to be outlawed. With all hell breaking loose, and the National Guard on the way, Sheriff Pickens has enemies everywhere he turns. And for a lawman under siege, survival means fast thinking, straight shooting—and breaking a law or two himself…
No Whiskey? No Women? No Peace…
It was a law Cotton Pickens never asked for and never wanted to enforce. But due to the vigilance of the Women’s Temperance Society, and the timidity of their businessmen husbands, the town of Doubtful, Wyoming, is going dry. As of January 1st. No exceptions. No turning back.
Doubtful’s hell-raisers will not take this lying down, and Sheriff Pickens is fighting bootleggers and vigilantes when the next boot drops. The righteous women push through an even worse law bound to spark an outright insurrection. The world’s oldest profession and Doubtful’s favorite pastime—dallying with ladies of the evening—is the next vice to be outlawed. With all hell breaking loose, and the National Guard on the way, Sheriff Pickens has enemies everywhere he turns. And for a lawman under siege, survival means fast thinking, straight shooting—and breaking a law or two himself…
350 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
56 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
William W. Johnstone
1,040 books1,390 followersWilliam W. Johnstone is the #1 bestselling Western writer in America and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of hundreds of books, with over 50 million copies sold. Born in southern Missouri, he was raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and tutored by his schoolteacher mother. He left school at fifteen to work in a carnival and then as a deputy sheriff before serving in the army. He went on to become known as "the Greatest Western writer of the 21st Century." Visit him online at WilliamJohnstone.net.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 5, 2023
Progressivism has found the town, and not only is liquor banned, but so are the bawdy houses. The town is inundated with bootleggers and vigilantes and the National Guard is called in.
I guess you'd call a libertarian novel.
I guess you'd call a libertarian novel.
April 8, 2019
Wyoming slaughter
This book is utterly and undeniably RUBBISH if anybody is thinking about buying this forget it you will be disappointed to say the least terrible.
This book is utterly and undeniably RUBBISH if anybody is thinking about buying this forget it you will be disappointed to say the least terrible.
October 19, 2019
Horrible
A pale .shadow to the original Cotton Pickens story. Absolutely one of the worst stories I have tried to read. Do not waste your time.
A pale .shadow to the original Cotton Pickens story. Absolutely one of the worst stories I have tried to read. Do not waste your time.
October 12, 2021
This book was all over the place, but it was sure different and kept me wondering what the heck is going on. The journey of Cotton Pickens is sure a weird one as he's a super weird character.
July 8, 2025
#5 in the Cotton Pickens western series.
November 7, 2025
Not worth reading, very boring and way to long, dont waste your time on it, I should have read the reviews before I bought it, it was a waste of money.
December 14, 2012
Cotton Pickens and his deputy Rusty Irons have a problem in this new edition in the humorous western series.
The Women's Temperance Union has forced their husbands, the county supervisors, to turn the county dry, banning all liquor in saloons and the whorehouses. it's up to the pair to close all the saloons down in the town of Doubtful, clean out the bars in the bawdy houses, and those folks swear it will never happen.
The women hire a bunch of arme men to back the pair, something Pickens doesn't want. Also two powdermen are in town with enough dynamite to blow up the town and they're checking out the saloons.
But the Temperance Union doesn't plan to stop there. Next up will be getting rid of the whorehouses, then all the restaurants(after all, men should be eating their wives' cooking at home). When Cotton points out that there are a number of single men in town, himself included, he's advised to find a good woman and get married.
And it's just Cotton and Rusty to do all that and his deputy is threatening to quit.
Nice plotline, but like another recent Johnstone book, this one is a bloated thing 411 pages long. 90-100 pages could have easily been cut. To many times Cotton goes over the same ground, visiting saloons and whorehouses to deliver the same message.
Much to much padding. Not sure who the author behind the J. A. Johnstone house is on this one or if it's the same as the other book mentioned. I suspect so.
The Women's Temperance Union has forced their husbands, the county supervisors, to turn the county dry, banning all liquor in saloons and the whorehouses. it's up to the pair to close all the saloons down in the town of Doubtful, clean out the bars in the bawdy houses, and those folks swear it will never happen.
The women hire a bunch of arme men to back the pair, something Pickens doesn't want. Also two powdermen are in town with enough dynamite to blow up the town and they're checking out the saloons.
But the Temperance Union doesn't plan to stop there. Next up will be getting rid of the whorehouses, then all the restaurants(after all, men should be eating their wives' cooking at home). When Cotton points out that there are a number of single men in town, himself included, he's advised to find a good woman and get married.
And it's just Cotton and Rusty to do all that and his deputy is threatening to quit.
Nice plotline, but like another recent Johnstone book, this one is a bloated thing 411 pages long. 90-100 pages could have easily been cut. To many times Cotton goes over the same ground, visiting saloons and whorehouses to deliver the same message.
Much to much padding. Not sure who the author behind the J. A. Johnstone house is on this one or if it's the same as the other book mentioned. I suspect so.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews