Shot in the Back
About this ebook
From the greatest western storytellers of our time comes a new twist on the legend of notorious outlaw Jesse James—who just might not have died on that fateful April 3, 1882.
1942—Granbury, Texas. A ninety-five-year-old man walks into a recruiting office with the crazy idea to enlist—and an even crazier story. He claims to be the one and only Jesse James, the infamous bank robber allegedly shot by Robert Ford sixty years earlier. Using another man’s corpse to collect the reward, Ford allowed James to slip away and start a new life. Changing his name to Dalton, Jesse worked as a cattle broker in Fort Worth and fathered a pair of twins named Bill and Frank. But when one of the boys turns out to be a chip off the old block—a young outlaw in the making—Jesse has no choice but to school the lad in the fine art of bank robbing so he doesn’t get his fool head blown off. Problem is, once Jesse’s son gets a taste of the outlaw life, he decides it isn’t for him after all. Father Jesse, on the other hand, misses it...
So begins the wildest story the West has never known, proving that some legends are bigger than life—and a lot harder to kill...
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About the author
William 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 becoming a full-time writer.
J. A. Johnstone learned to write from the master himself, Uncle William W. Johnstone, who began tutoring J.A. at an early age. After-school hours were often spent retyping manuscripts or researching his massive American Western History library as well as the more modern wars and conflicts. J.A. worked hard and learned, later going on to become the co-author of William W. Johnstone’s many bestselling westerns and thrillers. J. A. Johnstone lives on a ranch in Tennessee.
