Trek of the mountain man

William W. Johnstone published Trek of the Mountain Man in 2002, one of a long series of westerns about Smoke Jensen.

The trouble begins with a warrant that is years old and with a charge that was long ago dropped, since Jensen was cleared of it. A Texas bounty hunter called Bill Pike either does not know that or does not care, and he still believes that killing Jensen will bring him a reward of ten thousand dollars.

When Pike and his men come looking for Jensen, he is not there to be found, so they take the next best thing: they seize Sally, Jensen's wife, leave a ransom note and head up into the high country. Jensen follows, back into the mountains where he grew up and made his name, and the novel sets a man who knows that ground against a gang of gunmen who do not. It is one of a long series, and it works on its own as a story of pursuit in country that gives one side an advantage and takes it away again when the weather turns.