Author Guide · The American West
Books Written by
Larry McMurtry came from a family of Texas cattle ranchers and spent most of his career taking the cowboy myth apart. In 1985 he published Lonesome Dove, an 800-page cattle drive from the Rio Grande to Montana, and it won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Twenty years later he shared the Academy Award for the Brokeback Mountain screenplay with Diana Ossana, and used his speech to thank the booksellers of the world: his other career was Booked Up, a second-hand bookshop in his hometown of Archer City, Texas, that at its height filled six buildings with about 400,000 volumes. He wrote 32 novels in all, from 1961 to 2014. This guide covers his 14 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 14 key books · 1961–2014 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Larry McMurtry wrote 32 novels between 1961 and 2014, two of them with Diana Ossana. The best known are Lonesome Dove (1985), which won the Pulitzer Prize, The Last Picture Show (1966) and Terms of Endearment (1975). Start with Lonesome Dove; the 14 books below also show how often he came back to the same Texas towns and the same characters.
Where to Start with Larry McMurtry
If you want the defining book
→ Lonesome Dove (1985) — the cattle drive that won the Pulitzer.
If you want something short
→ The Last Picture Show (1966) — a dying Texas town in 1951.
If you want McMurtry away from the West
→ Terms of Endearment (1975) — a mother and daughter in Houston.
If you have read Lonesome Dove and want more
→ Streets of Laredo (1993) — the bleak sequel.
14 Larry McMurtry Books, in Order
Horseman, Pass By
His first novel, published when he was 25. Seventeen-year-old Lonnie Bannon watches his grandfather’s ranch come apart when the cattle are found to have foot-and-mouth disease and the herd must be destroyed, while his step-uncle Hud takes what he wants. It was filmed as Hud (1963), with Paul Newman.
Leaving Cheyenne
Two friends, the rancher Gid and the cowboy Johnny, and Molly, the woman they both love, across some forty years in North Texas, told in three sections in their own voices. It was filmed as Lovin’ Molly (1974).
The Last Picture Show
Sonny and Duane, two high-school boys in the small town of Thalia, Texas, in the early 1950s, as the town’s only cinema prepares to close. Peter Bogdanovich filmed it in 1971; McMurtry co-wrote the screenplay with him and they were nominated for an Academy Award. It is the first of five novels about Duane Moore.
All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers
Danny Deck, a young Texas writer, sells his first novel, marries badly and drifts between Houston, San Francisco and Hollywood. It is the most autobiographical of the Houston novels, and Danny returns, rich from television, in Some Can Whistle (1989).
Terms of Endearment
Aurora Greenway, a widow in Houston, her suitors, and her daughter Emma, whose marriage and children take up the last part of the book. James L. Brooks wrote and directed the 1983 film, which won five Academy Awards including Best Picture; McMurtry did not write the screenplay. Aurora returns in The Evening Star (1992).
Lonesome Dove
Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, two retired Texas Rangers running a livery business in a border town, drive a herd of cattle from the Rio Grande to Montana. It won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The 1989 CBS miniseries with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones was written for television by Bill Wittliff.
Texasville
Thirty years after The Last Picture Show, Duane Moore is an oilman deep in debt after the oil bust, and Thalia is preparing to celebrate its centennial. Bogdanovich filmed it in 1990 with much of the original cast.
Anything for Billy
Billy the Kid, seen through Benjamin Sippy, a Philadelphia writer of dime novels who comes west and falls in with him. The novel turns the outlaw legend back on the people who sold it.
Buffalo Girls
Calamity Jane in her last years, writing letters to a daughter who may not exist, while the old frontier becomes a travelling Wild West show. It was made into a CBS miniseries in 1995 with Anjelica Huston.
Streets of Laredo
The direct sequel to Lonesome Dove. Call, now old, is hired to hunt down Joey Garza, a young bandit robbing trains along the Mexican border. It was adapted as a CBS miniseries in 1995.
Dead Man’s Walk
Gus and Call as young Texas Rangers, on a disastrous expedition across the plains and into New Mexico. It is first in story order of the four Lonesome Dove books, though it was written ten years after the original.
Comanche Moon
Gus and Call as Texas Rangers in the 1850s and 1860s, in the last years of the war with the Comanche and their war chief Buffalo Hump. The last of the four to be written, it fills the gap before Lonesome Dove.
Duane’s Depressed
Duane Moore, in his sixties, parks his pickup, starts walking everywhere and moves into a cabin outside Thalia, to the bewilderment of his family, and eventually sees a psychiatrist. The third novel after The Last Picture Show; two more followed.
The Last Kind Words Saloon
His last novel. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday drift through a small plains town called Long Grass alongside the cattleman Charles Goodnight, before heading for Tombstone. A short book in which the legends do very little.
In What Order to Read Larry McMurtry
The Lonesome Dove books have two orders. By publication: Lonesome Dove (1985), Streets of Laredo (1993), Dead Man’s Walk (1995), Comanche Moon (1997). By story: Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon, Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo. Start with Lonesome Dove: it was written first and the prequels assume you know Gus and Call.
The Duane Moore books run The Last Picture Show (1966), Texasville (1987), Duane’s Depressed (1999), When the Light Goes (2007) and Rhino Ranch (2009). The Houston novels, from Moving On to The Evening Star, share characters but can be read in any order, and the four Berrybender Narratives (2002–2004) are one continuous story.
A reading path
1. Lonesome Dove (1985)
2. The Last Picture Show (1966)
3. Terms of Endearment (1975)
4. Streets of Laredo (1993)
5. Duane’s Depressed (1999)
Everything Else Larry McMurtry Published
Beyond the 14 key books: 27 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other novels
14
14 books · 1970–2009
- 1970Moving OnHouston novel; a marriage and the rodeo circuit
- 1978Somebody’s Darlinga woman film director in Hollywood
- 1982Cadillac Jackan antiques scout on the road
- 1983The Desert Rosean ageing Las Vegas showgirl
- 1989Some Can WhistleDanny Deck meets his grown daughter
- 1992The Evening Starsequel to Terms of Endearment
- 1994Pretty Boy Floydwith Diana Ossana
- 1995The Late Childsequel to The Desert Rose
- 1997Zeke and Nedwith Diana Ossana
- 2000Boone’s Licka Missouri family heads west
- 2004Loop Grouptwo women drive from Los Angeles to Texas
- 2006Telegraph DaysRita Blanca, Oklahoma Panhandle, 1876
- 2007When the Light Goesfourth Duane Moore novel
- 2009Rhino Ranchfifth and last Duane Moore novel
The Berrybender Narratives
4
4 books · 2002–2004
- 2002Sin Killerbook one
- 2003The Wandering Hillbook two
- 2003By Sorrow’s Riverbook three
- 2004Folly and Glorybook four
Essays, history and memoir
9
9 books · 1968–2012
- 1968In a Narrow Graveessays on Texas
- 1987Film Flamessays on Hollywood
- 1999Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queenmemoir and essays
- 1999Crazy Horseshort biography
- 2000Roadsdriving America’s highways
- 2008Booksmemoir of a bookseller
- 2009Literary Lifememoir
- 2010Hollywoodmemoir
- 2012Custerillustrated biography
The years · 1936–2021
Quick facts about Larry McMurtry
- Known for
- He wrote Lonesome Dove, the Pulitzer-winning western that was meant to puncture the myth of the cowboy, and the novels about small-town Texas behind The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment.
- 1936
- Born in Wichita Falls, Texas
- 1971
- Opens Booked Up, his first bookshop
- 1985
- Lonesome Dove
- 2006
- Oscar for Brokeback Mountain
- 2021
- Dies in Archer City, Texas
- Born
- 3 June 1936, Wichita Falls, Texas
- Died
- 25 March 2021, Archer City, Texas, aged 84
- Education
- North Texas State (BA 1958), Rice University (MA)
- Pulitzer Prize
- Fiction, 1986, for Lonesome Dove
- Academy Award
- Adapted Screenplay, Brokeback Mountain, with Diana Ossana (2006)
- Bookseller
- Booked Up, from 1971; Archer City branch from 1988, about 400,000 volumes
- Honours
- National Humanities Medal (2014)
The red mark is 1985: Lonesome Dove, which won the Pulitzer Prize the following year.
How Larry McMurtry Writes: Against the Myth, From Inside It
McMurtry grew up among cattlemen and thought the cowboy myth was hollow, a story his father’s generation lived by even as their way of life ended. Many of his novels take one piece of it apart: the outlaw in Anything for Billy, the Wild West show in Buffalo Girls, the ageing lawman in Streets of Laredo, Wyatt Earp in The Last Kind Words Saloon. He called Lonesome Dove “the Gone With the Wind of the West”, and readers took it as the great western rather than an argument against one.
His prose is plain and fast, carried by dialogue. Comedy and sudden death sit side by side, and major characters can die abruptly, without build-up. He returned to the same places and people across decades: Thalia, modelled on his hometown of Archer City, appears from The Last Picture Show to Rhino Ranch, and Gus and Call span four books written over twelve years.
He was as much a novelist of Houston kitchens as of the trail: Terms of Endearment and The Evening Star are domestic comedies about a mother and daughter. For writers who share his landscapes and his eye for small towns, see Authors like Larry McMurtry.
Watch
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana on The Last Kind Words Saloon
McMurtry and his writing partner Diana Ossana talk about The Last Kind Words Saloon, his final novel, at the Miami Book Fair in November 2014.
Frequently asked questions about Larry McMurtry’s books
How many books has Larry McMurtry written?
He published 32 novels between 1961 and 2014, two of them (Pretty Boy Floyd and Zeke and Ned) written with Diana Ossana, plus essays, Western history and memoirs including Books (2008), Literary Life (2009) and Hollywood (2010). This page lists 14 key novels; the rest are in the bibliography above.
What are Larry McMurtry’s books in order?
The 14 key novels are Horseman, Pass By (1961), Leaving Cheyenne (1963), The Last Picture Show (1966), All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers (1972), Terms of Endearment (1975), Lonesome Dove (1985), Texasville (1987), Anything for Billy (1988), Buffalo Girls (1990), Streets of Laredo (1993), Dead Man’s Walk (1995), Comanche Moon (1997), Duane’s Depressed (1999) and The Last Kind Words Saloon (2014).
Where should I start with Larry McMurtry?
With Lonesome Dove (1985). If you want something shorter, read The Last Picture Show (1966); for the non-western McMurtry, Terms of Endearment (1975).
What is Larry McMurtry’s most famous book?
Lonesome Dove (1985), which won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and became the 1989 CBS miniseries with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones.
What order should I read the Lonesome Dove books in?
Publication order is Lonesome Dove (1985), Streets of Laredo (1993), Dead Man’s Walk (1995) and Comanche Moon (1997). Story order is Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon, Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo. Most readers start with Lonesome Dove, because it was written first and the prequels assume you know Gus and Call.
Did Larry McMurtry win a Pulitzer Prize?
Yes, once: the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, for Lonesome Dove. The television miniseries was written by Bill Wittliff, not by McMurtry.
Did Larry McMurtry write Brokeback Mountain?
He co-wrote the screenplay. He and Diana Ossana adapted Annie Proulx’s short story and shared the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in March 2006. In his speech he thanked booksellers, “from the humblest paperback exchange to the masters of the great bookshops of the world”.
Which Larry McMurtry books were made into films?
Horseman, Pass By became Hud (1963), Leaving Cheyenne became Lovin’ Molly (1974), and The Last Picture Show (1971), Terms of Endearment (1983) and Texasville (1990) were filmed under their own titles. Lonesome Dove, its sequel and prequels and Buffalo Girls became television miniseries.
Was Larry McMurtry really a bookseller?
Yes. He opened Booked Up in the Washington, DC, area in 1971 and in 1988 a much larger branch in Archer City, Texas, which at its height took up six buildings and about 400,000 volumes. In 2012 he auctioned about two thirds of the stock.
Is Larry McMurtry still alive?
No. He died on 25 March 2021 at his home in Archer City, Texas, aged 84.
Footnotes
- Obituary: Larry McMurtry — The North Texan (UNT), 2021
- Obituary Note: Larry McMurtry — Shelf Awareness, 2021
- Larry McMurtry loves the West but knocks the cowboy off his high horse — NPR, 2014
- Telegraph Days — Publishers Weekly
- The Last Kind Words Saloon — Kirkus Reviews
- Larry McMurtry — Fantastic Fiction
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The West is mostly a very beautiful place.”
— Larry McMurtry, interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered (May 2014)
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