Calamity James

By: William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone

Narrated by: Justin Price

The unbelievable, untold story of Jesse James's other brother . . . In this rollicking standalone novel from the bestselling Johnstones, fact and fiction collide in the jaw-dropping story of Jesse James's little-known, disaster-prone brother. They call him Calamity—for a reason.

Calvin Amadeus James, aka Calamity, isn't an outlaw like his notorious brothers Jesse and Frank. He's worse—due to the bad luck that follows him everywhere he goes. Every job he takes—from army scout to gambler to cowboy and rail worker—ends in catastrophe. No matter what he does, Calamity James always seems to be on the wrong side of history . . .

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871? Calamity placed the lantern next to the cow that kicked it over. The gunfight at OK Corral? Calamity stirred up trouble in Tombstone right before it all went down. The fateful saloon shooting of Wild Bill Hickcock? Blame it on Calamity James. Some folks say he's even responsible for Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn—but Calamity swears it ain't true. He's just a magnet for bad luck who's trying to find his good luck charm—a pretty little dancehall girl known as Clumsy Catherine. But somewhere along the way, he foolishly joins the James-Younger Gang with his outlaw brothers. And that's when Calamity's infamous bad luck gets a whole lot worse . . .

©2025 J. A. Johnstone (P)2025 Tantor Media

The characters personalities

I really liked the demeanor of the main character. I wish he was around in today’s world. I would love to see more people in the world today like he is

Too Silly

very lazy writing, this book is trash. Author loves to romanticize the Confederacy, while acting like Black Americans didn't exist during this era unless they were slaves or servants.