GA - Texas Rangers - (vonG)

A Khureshian audiobook release

1 : The Buckskin Line
by Elmer Kelton

A Comanche war party raids settlements and steals horses. A young warrior named Buffalo Caller kills a young couple, then abducts their red-haired little boy. The boy is rescued by a volunteer defender of the white settlers named Mike Shannon, who raises the boy as his own and calls him Rusty.

The Buckskin Line follows Rusty Shannon, who becomes a young man during the turbulent, lawless period of secession and the Civil War, as he seeks to avenge the murder of his foster father, crosses paths again with Buffalo Caller, and becomes one of the frontier defenders who will, in time, become known as The Texas Rangers.

2 : Badger Boy
by Elmer Kelton

The Civil War is over and Confederate Texas is reluctantly yielding to Union military peace-keepers and regulations imposed by Washington. David "Rusty" Shannon is the member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Comanche depredations. He learns that the rangers are being disbanded. He makes his way home to his farm on the Colorado River, and discovers that the land around his home is filled with hostiles-Indians, Confederates, and conscription-dodging renegades. Rusty's youth as a captive of the Comanches returns to haunt him when, in pursuit of Indian raiders, he finds the wounded Badger Boy, a white child who was orphaned and kidnapped by a Comanche warrior, and raised as an Indian for 5 years. Rusty takes on the task of nursing the boy back to health and trying to reunite him with relatives, if any have survived.

3 : The Way of the Coyote
by Elmer Kelton

Young Andy Pickard, known among the Comanches as Badger Boy, is now a teenager, and has been learning to live with the Texans from whom he was stolen years before. His divided loyalties between the Comanches and the whites lead to another kidnapping. Five-year-old Billy Gifford is taken by a warrior named Fights With Bears. Andy must save his honor by trying to recover Billy. Rusty Shannon must defend his home against men who hold a grudge from the Civil War, and can do anything to him while hiding behind the badge of the State Police, as Texas suffers the pain of Reconstruction. Lives hang in the balance as people on both sides of the conflict learn something about the devious Way of the Coyote.

4 : Ranger's Trail
by Elmer Kelton

Rusty Shannon has left the Rangers and feels the need to settle down. He has brought up Andy Pickard, once a captive of the Comanches, now in his twenties and eager to see more of the world. Rusty's dream of marrying Josie Monahan and living the life of a farmer seems like Paradise, compared to the Civil War and the evils of Reconstruction. His dreams and plans, and the lives of the Monahans, are shattered by tragedy, and Rusty seeks revenge. By his side are Andy and an old friend from Ranger days, Len Tanner.

5 : Texas Vendetta
by Elmer Kelton

In post-Civil War Texas, Andy Pickard, once known to his Comanche "family" as Badger Boy, is now in his mid-twenties and riding with the Texas Rangers. While delivering a prisoner for trial, he becomes entangled in a feud between the Landon and Hopper families. Andy works to help Jayce Landon, while at the same time keeping the boy Scooter Tennyson from being pulled into a life of crime. Lives are at stake, loyalties tested, and the worst aspects of human nature are exposed, in Texas Vendetta.

6 : Jericho's Road
by Elmer Kelton

Ranger Andy Pickard is assigned to the Texas-Mexico border, along with Len Tanner and Farley Brackett, to help stop rival cattle barons, Texan Jericho Jackson and Mexicano Guadalupe Chavez, who rob each other, and any ranchers in their path, driving the stolen animals across the border. Caught in the crossfire is rancher Big Jim McCawley and his family. A showdown is looming, and the only hope for avoiding bloodshed is the Texas Rangers.

7 : Hard Trail to Follow
by Elmer Kelton

Andy Pickard felt ready to settle down, until the violent death of a good friend sends him on the road again, to bring a killer to justice. His trail takes him away from Bethel Brackett, but reunites him with old friends Rusty Shannon and Len Tanner. The bank-robbing fugitive he seeks may not even be the killer, but justice must be served. For many reasons, it's a hard trail to follow.


8 : Other Men's Horses
by Elmer Kelton

Donley Bannister shot and killed Cletus Slocum for stealing and crippling one of his best horses. He ran, leaving his wife Geneva behind. She sets off to find him, with Ranger Andy Pickard on her trail, hoping she'll lead him to Donley. Cletus' brothers are on the road, too, seeking revenge. Along the way, Andy discovers that the innocent and devoted Geneva may have made the mistake of marrying the wrong man, and that her husband may be a moral man in some ways, but he has no difficulty with taking other men's horses. Bad choices and dangerous mistakes put Andy's future and his life at risk as he travels a lonely trail to bring a wanted man to justice.

9 : Texas Standoff
by Elmer Kelton

Ranger Andy Pickard and new partner Logan Daggett become involved in an investigation of killings and stolen cattle, and find themselves in the middle of a 4-way fight, among two powerful cattlemen, a group of masked vigilantes called "regulators", and a hired assassin. Old resentments, mixed loyalties and misplaced trust feed the flames of battle. Andy and Logan may lose their jobs, even their lives, before their work is done.