Monday, December 26, 2011

A Ranger’s Trail-Darlene Franklin

A Ranger’s Trail


Darlene Franklin

Moody, Feb 1 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9780802405876



In 1874 Mason County, Texas, German cattlemen accuse Anglo ranchers M.B. Thomas and Allen Roberts of stealing their herd. The court trial led to six cowhands being fined while Derrick Denning was freed due to insufficient evidence. The Anglo ranchers are outraged that they have to pay any remittance while their German counterparts, still irate over the secession thirteen years ago, feel an injustice occurred.



However, the Denning celebration ends when someone assassinates him. The Germans say good riddance to a thief and other dead alleged rustlers while the Anglos led by former Ranger Scott Cooley counterstrike against their adversaries. The Texas Rangers including Buck Morgan arrives in Mason County to end the viscous range war and find out who made Leta Derrick a widowed single mom. Buck sets up a trap but Leta’s teenage brother Andy springs it. Shots leave Buck’s cousin dead and Andy as the prime suspect. Buck prays for a miracle for the extended Denning family and to end the frontier justice range war that is devastating his home town.



The fourth Morgan Family saga book (see Lone Star Trail by Darlene Franklin; The Captive Trail by Susan Page Davis; and Long Trail Home by Vickie McDonough) is a great entry that uses the real deadly Mason County “Hoo Doo” range war to tell a vivid Texas Trail tale. Buck is a great protagonist who prays for a peaceful solution but knows none is coming as each side remains resolution their Godly righteousness. Using real Mason County range war persona, while fast-paced with the romance deftly kept in the background, fans will relish Darlene Franklin’s second excellent entry in a powerful nineteenth century epic.



Harriet Klausner



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