Lone Star Rising - Elmer Kelton

In Lone Star Rising, Elmer Kelton ("A Texas Legend," according to Texas Governor Rick Perry), brings together the first three books of his acclaimed Texas Ranger saga.

The Buckskin Line introduces Rusty Shannon, the red-haired Comanche captive rescued and adopted by Mike Shannon, who is a member of a Texas "ranging company" that protects settlers from Indian raids. In the throes of the War Between the States, Rusty joins the Rangers and searches for the renegades who killed his adoptive father.

In Badger Boy, the Rangers are disbanded and Rusty returns to his home on the Red River only to discover that the girl he loves has married another. In a time of personal turmoil as well as the post-war uphheaval in Texas, Rusty's childhood returns to haunt him as he rescues Andy Pickard, called Badger Boy by his Comanche captors.

Andy and Rusty ride together in the newly reformed Rangers in The Way of the Coyote, in a time when Texas is overrun with outlaws, Confederate raiders, Ku Klux Klansmen, and marauding Comanches.