Bounty hunter Luke Jensen has never been my favorite character but here he teams up with Dewey "Mac" McKenzie from the Chuckwagon Trail series in a good western with an old theme. Beans, Bourbon, and Blood by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone is a rather traditional western with a small comunity held in an iron grip by a powerful rancher and his corrupt judge and town marshall. This is supposed tpo be a new series and I think that it will be a good one, not that the Johnstone estate needs more series. Still I am a sucker for westerns and this is one and I will continue reading the work from Johnstone. I thank Pinnacle and Netgalley fro letting me read this advance copy.

This was a great start to this Western series from the Johnstone's. I enjoyed how it used the Western element in a way that I was looking for and glad it was everything that I wanted. The characters were everything that I was looking for and thought they worked in this story. It had that writing style that I was looking for and glad it was so well done.

In William Johnstone's latest Jensen Universe novel, Beans Bourbon and Blood (Pinnacle July 2024) a Luke Jensen Dewey McKenzie Western, Luke Jensen is the bounty hunter son of Smoke Jensen. Rather than join his father's successful ranch, he wanders the West, bringing the worst criminals to justice for the bounty on their heads. He's highly successful at this and it suits his nomadic personality more than staying in one place working a ranch. In this episode, Luke tracks down a con artist who infuriated a US Senator enough that he offered Luke a massive bounty to bring the man to justice. Luke incarcerates the man in Hannigan’s Hill, Wyoming, planning to move on the next day. The Senator tells him to wait there for further instructions which turns into a week, or longer, giving Luke time to befriend Mac McKenzie, the owner of the town's most popular café, who tells him about a rich rancher doing everything legal and illegal to take over the town and surrounding areas, including killing anyone in his way. Luke hates injustice, but might have left it alone except that Mac's life is threatened. Now, Luke can't stand back.

This is another good story, led by a fascinating character who I enjoy immensely. It is perfect for the Luke Jensen portion of the Jensen Universe.

"Beans, Bourbon, and Blood" seemed like an interesting title but I've got to say that it did not seem to have a lot to do with the story. Even with that little bit of criticism, I found the story of Luke Jensen, bounty hunter, and his adventure with bringing a captured swindler to a little out-of-the-way town of Hannagan's Hill to await further instructions amount him fascinating and fun to read.

Jensen is a relative of the more famous Smoke Jensen and the Jensen men, all of them, seem to have a penchant for getting into trouble. Luke is no different. He befriends Mac McKenzie owner and operator of a delightful café, who has some interesting past history in New Orleans. Add in a crusading newspaper couple, a crooked sheriff, a bought off judge, and overbearing strongman named Hannigan, after which the town was named and you have a heck of a story.

Story starts with Luke and his prisoner coming up on a gallows outside of town where a man was hanged and left for many days to actually rot and be picked apart by the birds. Enter stage left the sheriff and his deputies with another prisoner bound for the noose. The young man professes his innocence but there is little that Luke can do other than be on his way to town; although he feels bad about doing it. He proclaims that the only reason he is here is that Hannigan wants his ranch land and he was unwilling to relinquish it.

The story evolves from there with Luke getting involved with a saloon owner, the café owner, another bounty hunter, the newspaper publisher, and others to attempt to right the wrong that is happening in Hannigan's Hill. The denouement comes to a blazing conclusion with the various factions arrayed against each other. There will be blood in the streets and the opportunity to turn a new leaf for many people. The question is who will take the opportunity? "Gotta" read the book to find out but if you like western stories, this is a very good one and one that will hold your attention. I definitely recommend reading this Johnstone book.