Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, child death, and animal death.

The protagonist of Three-Inch Teeth and the series, Joe Pickett, is a game warden in fictional Twelve Sleep County in Wyoming. Joe frequently wears the Game and Fish Department uniform of a red shirt and blue jeans, which he has tweaked “with a pronghorn antelope shoulder patch” on the shirt (59). Joe often wears a battered cowboy hat and boots. He usually travels around the county in his green Ford pick-up truck with his dog, Daisy. Joe is 51 years old in Three-Inch Teeth, the 24th book in the series. 

The moral heart of the novel, Joe tries to abide by the rules and is a perfectionist. With a binary view of the world, Joe is quick to hand out tickets for trespasses and violations. However, as the series has progressed, Joe’s tendency to view the world as strictly divided between good and bad has relaxed. Joe now sees that the actions and motivations of humans, including his own, can be more complex. For instance, Joe colluded with law enforcement authorities to send Cates to prison on less-than-watertight charges. He understands that having Cates put away was more important than the means by which he was put away.