In Person

Fans of true crime, Texas history, and adventurous tales well-told will welcome the arrival of a new book called Texas Ranger Tales by Mike Cox (Republic of Texas, $16.95 paper). Tales covers roughly 100 years of ranger history, beginning with a strange saga regarding the corpse of Samuel Walker, grandfather of the Colt revolver, the gun that perforated the western frontier like no other, and ending with the post-World War II story of the Phantom Killer of Texarkana, which was the subject of the movie The Town That Dreaded Sundown. (The Killer, who stalked the local lovers' lane, was never caught, despite the fact that the rangers dispatched an entire company to Texarkana for the effort.) Twenty-six other true ranger tales fill the spaces in-between.

Cox is a veteran reporter, bookman, author of six other Texas history books, and affable spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety and their elite and legendary law enforcement agency, the Texas Rangers. As such, he not only knows of what he writes, but he does so with a great deal of sagacity and passion. And, as demonstrated in his handling of media relations during the recent Republic of Texas standoff at Fort Davis, he's a master of the kind of understated wit and irony that Texas history buffs know and love. Having said that, it must be also stated that although the publishers of Texas Ranger Tales is an outfit called Republic of Texas (!), they have no relation to that other organization -- the coincidence is just one of those odd quirks of fate.

Mike Cox will read and sign his books at Barnes and Noble at the Arboretum on Thursday, May 29, at 7:00pm. -- Jesse Sublett