Booklist has called Johnny D. Boggs "among the best western writers at work today." He won the prestigious Spur Award from Western Writers of America in 2006 for his novel Camp Ford, and in 2002 for his short story "A Piano at Dead Man's Crossing." In 2012, West Texas Kill was awarded the Spur Award for Best Original Paperback. His novels Ten and Me and The Hart Brand were Spur finalists in 2000 and 2007, and he won the Western Heritage Wrangler Award in 2004 for his novel Spark on the Prairie. He was also awarded True West Magazine's Best of the West Award "Best Living Fiction Writer," 2008. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Lisa Smith; son, Jack Smith Boggs; and basset hound, June.