ReviewsIn 1873, Sergeant John Green was shot and killed by a Ranger under his command, Cesario Menchaca. Death of a Texas Ranger: A True Story of Murder and Vengeance on the Texas Frontier by Cynthia Leal Massey delves into this incident with meticulous research and an enjoyable style. . . .Massey, a Texan, does a remarkable job capturing the essence of post-Civil War Texas and of fitting together the many pieces of the mystery surrounding the death of Texas Ranger Sergeant John Green., Massey's book is a great example of fine writing and mystery solving. . . .Death of a Texas Ranger became much more than just the story of a killing. She draws the reader into the time and place by sufficient background of that portion of Texas History, and then develops the characters sufficiently so that the reader becomes caught up in their lives. . . .Massey has provided Wild West history with an excellent treatment of a tragic even in Texas history. We all appreciate a mystery and its solution by an excellent writer. Death of a Texas Ranger is such an example, and we suspect there may be other mysteries that we hope she will solve - and write about.
SynopsisDeath of a Texas Ranger is the thrilling, action-packed story of the murder of Texas Ranger John Green by Cesario Menchaca, one of three Rangers of Mexican descent under Green's command. Immediately word spread that the killing may have been the botched outcome of a contract taken out on Menchaca's life by the notorious Gabriel Marnoch, a local naturalist who had run up against the law himself. But was it? Much more than just a story about a tragic frontier killing, it is the story of an era. The events leading up to the murder and Green's son's decades' long quest for justice for his father's killer exemplify the chaotic frontier society in Texas after the Civil War, a time fraught with political turmoil and cultural clashes. Amidst that chaos, the virgin landscape of Texas was a magnet to those interested in the natural sciences in the nineteenth century, an era often referred to as the Age of Darwin. The clash between the seemingly pastoral landscape with its offerings for science and the brutal history of the region ties this very readable regional history into the larger American story., Death of a Texas Ranger is the thrilling, action-packed story of the murder of Texas Ranger John Green by Cesario Menchaca, one of three Rangers of Mexican descent under Green's command. Immediately word spread that the killing may have been the botched outcome of a contract taken out on Menchaca's life by the notorious Gabriel Marnoch, a local ......