Texas Rangers Books In Order

Publication Order of Texas Rangers Books

Texas Rangers series are set of novels written by American bestseller author Elmer Kelton. The series narrates the adventures of Rusty Shannon who is recruited to the Texas Rangers after a tragedy as well as Andy Pickard, a man who is rescued by Rusty during a Comanche war party.

Elmer Kelton began the publication of Texas Rangers series in 1999 when the debut novel The Buckskin Line was published. The second book Badger Boy was released in 2001. The series consists of nine original books with Texas Standoff making the last stand of the series.

The Buckskin Line

During the 1840’s a red haired kid who family has been brutally murdered is captured by a Comanche war party headed by a great warrior known as Buffalo Caller. The boy is then rescued by Mike Shannon, a Mexican war vet riding with a ranging company of Texan who is dedicated to protecting the settlers against the Indian attacks. The boy is adopted by the Shannon family who raises him as one of their own. In 1861, the boy’s adoptive father was waylaid and killed, and the boy is Rusty Shannon follows his adoptive father footsteps, riding to join other Texan Rangers. Texas is now in the torment of disunion, and the Union sympathizers are now termed as traitors. One of such traitors is Lon Monahan who the family is a friend of Rusty. Lon Monahan’s worst enemy of all time is Colonel Caleb Dawkins, a retired Army officer and a Confederate enthusiast is focused on enlisting the Monahan boys and kick Lon and the entire unionist out of Texas. However when the youngest of Monahan tries to escape Texas, Dawkin and his followers hang him and his father as well. Rusty Shannon is tormented, both of his families now lie dead, and at the same time he is haunted by his adoptive father killer, he thinks he knows the killer and intends on killing him. Also, his newly found friends have been murdered; his duties as a ranger contrast with his sense of justice and he is about to meet with the Comanche warrior whose band is accountable for the death of his family and his captivity of 20 years ago: Buffalo Caller.

The first book in Texas Rangers series by Elmer Kelton is novel worth your efforts. The backdrop is fascinating, set during the years of Texas Civil War. It revolves around historical facts of the Great Comanche Raid of 1840 and the resulting Battle of Plum Creek and goes forth in time to the cry of the Texas Rangers facing great opposition from both Comanche in the Brazos and the white settlers as well. Kelton does a lot in this installment to ensure that the readers get a sense of the land of the 19th century.

The Plot is exquisite: after surviving the Comanche attack during his childhood years, Rusty is adopted by Mike Shannon. After some unknown assailant kills his adoptive father, Rusty becomes a Texas Ranger to avoid a confrontation with the one man that he is convinced that he murdered his father, Mike Shannon. He becomes friends with Monahan family who are settlers in the Brazos River area. As the Civil War rages, the settlers in Texas a faced with a choice- to remain loyal to the Union at their risk, to follow their state into the Confederacy and war or to try to avoid the two situations altogether. Confederate zealots the likes of Caleb Dawkins make a choice much difficult, especially when Rusty Shannon falls in love with the beautiful Geneva Monahan while Buffalo Caller and his band bring forth some added dimension of terror.

Badger Boy

The events of the second installment in Texas Rangers series takes place after the Civil War is over while Texas is slowly yielding to the Union soldiers rapidly spreading across the state and even far into the menacing Comanche country. Rusty Shannon, the proud member of the ranging company protecting the Texas settlers from the Indian attacks, finds that the Rangers are being disbanded. As a result of the disbandment, he returns home on the Red River anticipating living a farmer’s life as well as marrying his girlfriend he left behind, Geneva Monahan. However, Geneva gets married to someone else after Rusty Shannon long absence, and the country is full of hostiles not only with the Indians but also with the Confederates, army renegades, and the overbearing Union soldiers.

Rusty years of captivity at the hands of Comanche come back haunting him when in pursuit of the Indian attackers he takes a prisoner Badger Boy, a white boy taken from his parents by the Comanche.

The setting of the second installment takes place at the end of the Civil War on the Texas frontier. The settlers have for years been fighting off the Indian raids as well as sacrificing for the Confederacy. Ex-confederate soldiers and the Union conquerors are trickling home from war. The author Elmer Kelton takes advantage of this setting to weave the main plot and many fascinating subplots.

The Way of the Coyote

The civil war is over, and the federal officials and the union soldiers have taken control of Texas while Rusty Shannon is on his way to his home on the Colorado River. As a young boy he was a captive of the Comanche, then a proud member of a ranging company dedicated to protecting the white settlers from Indian attacks. Now his fate is intertwined to that of the young man accompanying him, Andy Packard, a man, recently rescued from Comanche captivity referred to as Badger Boy by his captors. Texas is turmoil, overrun by lawmen, murderous outlaws, nightriders, ex-confederates, and the dangerous Comanche bands. In this turbulent times and place, Rusty Shannon tries to resume his pre-war life. His good friend Shanty is burned out of his home, his home confiscated while the son of the girl he used to love is kidnapped by the Comanche’s. In this third book, Rusty will stop at nothing to ensure that justice is served.

Elmer Kelton is a master of American West literature; he has woven a satisfying and a true tale of the Texas life during and at the end of the civil war.