THE CROSSROADS: C.J. Box’s 26th Joe Pickett Novel Announced (with Details)

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Save the date, because on February 24, 2026, America’s favorite game warden, Joe Pickett, returns for his 26th adventure in The Crossroads, the latest must-read novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box.

Things are fixing to get Western’ around here!

Incredibly, it’s been 24 years since Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett was first introduced in Box’s thrilling debut, Open Season, paving the way for his genre-bending franchise to fill bookstores across the country. Falling somewhere between a modern-day western and crime thriller, nobody has been able to capture readers’ attention like Box, who’s never afraid to throw big action and big twists into the mix. He’s also one of the few authors who has never hesitated to kill off big characters, keeping his fans on edge and flipping pages to see who’ll make it out of the latest book and into the next one.

And while all of those factors create excitement and suspense, nobody has developed a whole family of characters the way Box has with the Picketts. From little girls in Open Season to the adults they are today, readers have watched Joe’s girls grow up with him, riding shotgun for some of their most defining moments—and now, with The Crossroads, it sure sounds like Sheridan, April, and Lucy will all play a bigger role than ever before.

Check out the official details and cover art below!

The Crossroads by C.J. Box

Release Date: February 24, 2026

G.P. Putnam’s Sons

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Game warden Joe Pickett fights for his life as his daughters try to uncover who shot him and left him for dead in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C. J. Box.

Marybeth Pickett gets the call she has always dreaded: her husband Joe is in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head.

Joe was found in his pickup at Antler Creek Junction, a crossroads connecting three ranches. Each road leading to a dangerous family. Each family with a different bone to pick with the local game warden. Marybeth and the new sheriff assume that Joe was ambushed by one of the families, but they have no idea which one since Joe didn’t say where he was going or why.

With Joe unconscious and fighting for his life with Marybeth at his side, Sheridan, April, and Lucy split up and investigate each of families to uncover the truth of what happened to their father, before it’s too late.

C. J. Box is the author of twenty-six Joe Pickett novels, eight stand-alone novels, and a story collection. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and two Barry awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38, the Western Heritage Award for Literature, and two Spur Awards. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He has been executive producer on television series based on his books, including ABC TV’s Big Sky and Joe Pickett on Paramount+.

Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor in addition to running TRBS. He is the author of FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” LETHAL RANGE, OUT FOR BLOOD, GONE DARK, and TED BELL’S MONARCH. For more information, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and BookBub. For even more content and book news, subscribe to The Real Book Spy Substack!