Saddle Up for a Series: Why Frank F. Fiore Is Just Getting Started with Jonathan Smyth
- haleyn4
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Some characters are created to solve one case. Others are built to carry a legacy.
With Jonathan Smyth Cowboy Sleuth: The Case of the Screaming Tunnel, bestselling author Frank F. Fiore didn’t just write a novel—he launched a franchise. Smyth isn’t a one-and-done detective. He’s the beginning of a Western mystery universe where justice is tangled in folklore, fear, and the ghosts of America's forgotten corners.
And this is just the first ride.
The Birth of a Cowboy Detective Series
Frank F. Fiore has written across genres—from high-stakes thrillers to historical drama—and knows how to keep readers turning the page. But when he created Jonathan Smyth, something clicked. Here was a character who could exist across multiple books, with each installment digging deeper into the darker corners of the frontier.
Each novel in the series will follow Smyth and his partner Abbott into a new town, a new legend, and a new crimewhere nothing is as it seems.
The tunnels, ghost stories, and haunting folklore? Just the beginning.
Why Smyth Has Series Staying Power
Frank didn’t want another brooding cowboy cliché. He wanted a thinking man’s hero—a sleuth with scars, suspicion, and a slow-burning fire for truth. Smyth doesn’t need to be loud. He’s patient. Strategic. Relentless.
And like all great series characters, he grows with each story.What happened in the Screaming Tunnel will change him.What’s coming next? Will challenge him even more.
What’s Ahead: Clues from Frank
Without spoiling too much, Frank has hinted that future books in the series may include:
A cursed mining town hiding a century-old massacre
A ghostly cattle trail where men go missing every ten years
A desert monastery protecting a secret no lawman dares uncover
Each book will build the mythology of the Jonathan Smyth universe, where folklore collides with forensic investigation—and where justice comes in whispers, not war cries.
The Long Game: Book Series + Streaming Potential
Frank’s not just building for readers—he’s building for the screen. With a streaming adaptation already in discussion, the Cowboy Sleuth series could soon take on a second life as an episodic, serialized show. Imagine a mystery-of-the-week format where each episode tackles a haunting Western legend with Smyth at the center, unraveling what’s real, what’s myth, and what should have stayed buried.
Conclusion: Welcome to the West’s Darkest Secrets
Frank F. Fiore has started something special with Jonathan Smyth Cowboy Sleuth—a long-form exploration of justice in the shadowed corners of American myth. Each story is a ride into the unknown. Each legend is laced with lies. And at the heart of it all, one cowboy detective just keeps asking the questions nobody else will.
And he’s not stopping anytime soon.
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