Texas Rangers book series in reading order

by Jon Land

by Jonas Ward

by Larry McMurtry

J.T. Edson, full name John Thomas Edson, was an English writer of Westerns, escapist adventure and police-procedural novels, with 137 Westerns to that name. Edson was born on 17 February 1928, lived near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire from the 1950s, stopped writing in 2005 because of ill health, and died on 17 July 2014. The catalogue lists 143 books from Slaughter's Way (1965) to Texas Teamwork (1997). Floating Outfit, Calamity Jane, Waco, Ole Devil, Rockabye County and Bunduki are among the series, and Dusty Fog and the Texas Rangers feature in the subject records.

Jon Land is an American thriller author whose Caitlin Strong novels follow a fifth-generation Texas Ranger. The Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea books pair a Palestinian detective with a chief inspector of the Israeli police. Land is an emeritus board member of International Thriller Writers and sits on its marketing committee, and was a screenwriter for the film Dirty Deeds. The catalogue lists 55 books from The Doomsday Spiral (1983) to Icefall: The Rise of the Nine (2026), with Blaine McCracken, Jared Kimberlain and National Parks Thriller among the other series.

Texas Rangers and romantic suspense define the catalogue of Angi Morgan. Morgan published 22 books from Hill Country Holdup (2010) to Her Hot Pursuit (2021). Her series are Texas Rangers: Elite Troop, Texas Brothers of Company B, West Texas Watchmen, Bodyguards in Heels and Texas Family Reckoning. Kidnapping, witnesses, policewomen and government investigators appear among the subjects. The Sheriff, The Cattleman and The Ranger are mid-run titles.

Elmer Kelton

74 books• 9 series

Elmer Kelton (April 29, 1926 - August 22, 2009) was an American writer of Westerns, born in Andrews County, Texas. Kelton graduated from the University of Texas in 1948, edited farm and ranch news at the San Angelo Standard-Times until 1963, and was associate editor of Livestock Weekly from 1968 to 1990. Kelton's novels won seven Spur Awards and three Western Heritage Awards, and Kelton received the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement. The catalogue holds 74 books from Hot Iron (1956) to Law of the Land (2021), including the Texas Rangers, Texas Tradition and Hewey Calloway series.

Zane Grey

144 books• 13 series

Zane Grey, born Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939), was an American author of adventure novels and stories in the Western genre who presented an idealised American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was Grey's best-selling book. Adaptations of Grey's novels and stories number 112 films, two television episodes and the television series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. The catalogue opens with Betty Zane (1903), followed by The Spirit of the Border (1906), The Last of the Plainsmen (1908), The Last Trail (1909) and The Heritage of the Desert (1910). Outlaws, cattle stealing, Mormons and fishing appear among the subjects, and series include the Ohio River Trilogy, Ken Ward and Jim Traft.

Larry D. Sweazy writes westerns and mysteries, has won multiple awards, and also works as a freelance indexer. The 22 catalogued books span 2004 to 2024. The Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series includes The Rattlesnake Season (2009), The Scorpion Trail (2010) and The Gila Wars (2013). Sweazy also writes the Marjorie Trumaine Mystery, Sonny Burton, Lucas Fume, Trusty Dawson and Hallie Mae Edson series. The Buffalo Trace (2024) is the newest title.

Christian romance and romantic suspense make up the catalogue of Margaret Daley, and the subject tags also mark inspirational fiction and the Love Inspired line. The catalogue holds 110 books from A Matter of Pride (1983) to Into the Danger (2021). Family for Keeps, Sadie's Hero and The Power of Love all appeared in 2002, and Gold in the Fire (2004) and Light in the Storm (2005) came soon after. Series include Strong Women, Extraordinary Situations; Fostered by Love; Guardians Inc.; Lone Star Justice; Men of the Texas Rangers; Caring Canines; Alaskan Search and Rescue; and Heart of the Amazon. Widows, bodyguards and missing persons recur in the tags.

Rebecca Winters is one of the names used by Rebecca Brown Burton, a United States romance writer who lived from February 14, 1940 to February 15, 2023. Burton wrote more than 175 romance novels as Rebecca Burton, as Rebecca Brown Burton and, for Harlequin, as Rebecca Winters. The catalogue lists 167 books, beginning with The Loving Season (1979) under the Rebecca Burton name and ending with A Big Sky Cowboy (2023). Tags cover contemporary and western romance, ranchers, twins and veterans, and series include Lone Star Lawmen, Wind River Cowboys and Montanari Marriages.

Jonas Ward is a pen name, one of at least 6 used by William Robert Cox, an American writer of pulp and paperback westerns and mysteries who lived from 1901 to 1988. The Jonas Ward catalogue holds 24 westerns from One Man Massacre (1958) to Buchanan's Stage Line (1986). Tom Buchanan is the recurring hero, in titles such as Trap for Buchanan and Buchanan's Gun, and Texas Rangers appear among the subjects.

Delores Fossen writes romantic suspense and Western romance, much of it set in Texas. The catalogue counts 183 books, from Unbridled (1998) and Saddled (2001) to Crossfire Creek Takedown (2026). Series include Lawmen of Silver Creek Ranch, Appaloosa Pass Ranch, Sweetwater Ranch, Wrangler's Creek, Coldwater Texas, Lone Star Ridge, Last Ride, Texas, Marshals of Maverick County and several Hard Justice lines. Sheriffs, pregnant women and amnesia recur across the subjects.

Rita Herron writes romantic suspense, with subjects that include serial murders, police, twins, missing children and ranchers. Series include Detective Ellie Reeves, Nighthawk Island, Slaughter Creek, Cold Case, Badge Of Justice, Heroes Of Horseshoe Creek, Bucking Bronc Lodge, Demonborn and Manhunt. Fiction titles include Thief of Hearts (1997), Send Me a Hero (1998), Her Eyewitness (1999) and Forgotten Lullaby (2000). Midnight Ridge (2026) is the newest title.

The westerns of Dusty Richards fill a catalogue of 58 books from 1992 to 2025. Noble's Way (1992) opens the list, followed by By the Cut of Your Clothes and From Hell to Breakfast (both 1994). Lawless Land and Servant of the Law date from 2000, and The Abilene Trail from 2003. Rambling Down the Range (2025) is the newest title. Series include Byrnes Family Ranch, Brandiron, Frank Brothers, O'Malleys of Texas, Texas Badge Mysteries, Battling Harrigans of the Frontier and Rodeo Riders. Ranch life, cattle drives, outlaws, sheriffs, Texas Rangers and Arizona appear in the subject tags.

Kathryn Casey

21 books• 2 series

Kathryn Casey works both sides of the crime shelf: true crime case studies and mystery novels. Twenty-one catalogued books run from Evil Beside Her in 1995 to Bone Cold in 2024, with Texas murders, the Texas Rangers and criminal profilers as recurring subjects. She Wanted It All, published in 2005, is the best known of the non-fiction, recounting how Celeste Beard married an Austin multimillionaire and then persuaded her lover Tracey Tarlton to kill him. The Sarah Armstrong and Detective Clara Jefferies books make up the fiction.

Linda Warren, born Linda Pearl Siegert on 2 July 1945, is an American author of contemporary romance novels. Subject records cite Texas, western romance, romantic suspense, single mothers and police. The catalogue lists 56 books from Branded (1992) to A Texan's Christmas Baby (2021), with Swept Away (1993) and Deep in the Heart of Texas (2000) among them. Texas Rebels, Hardin Boys, Willow Creek, Texas, McCain Brothers and Belles of Texas are the listed series.

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Dave Robicheaux, a Louisiana detective, is the figure most associated with James Lee Burke, who also writes the Holland family novels around Billy Bob, Hackberry and Weldon Holland. Burke's 49 catalogued books stretch from Half of Paradise (1965) to The Hadacol Boogie in 2026, a span of six decades. Hard-boiled crime in Louisiana and Texas is the core subject. Median length is 387 pages, with the 2000s as the peak decade.

Larry McMurtry

48 books• 10 series

Larry McMurtry (Larry Jeff McMurtry, June 3, 1936 to March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist and screenwriter. Most of McMurtry's fiction takes place in the Old West or in contemporary Texas, and the early novels Horseman, Pass By (1961), The Last Picture Show (1966) and Terms of Endearment (1975) trace the decline of small-town Texas life. Screen adaptations of McMurtry's work received 34 Oscar nominations and 13 wins. The catalogue lists 48 books from 1961 to Thalia (2017), including the Lonesome Dove and Berrybender Narratives series and non-fiction.

Mary Burton grew up in a Southern family that loved telling stories, and that interest led to an English degree from Hollins University in Virginia, completed in 1983. The catalogue lists 48 Burton books, from A Bride for McCain (2000) to Trust No One (2026). Burton's series include Criminal Profiler, Morgans of Nashville, Forgotten Files, Texas Rangers and Senseless Duo. Subjects on the books cover romantic suspense, historical romance, serial murder investigations and police work.

Diana Palmer is the pen name of Susan Kyle, born Susan Spaeth on December 11, 1946, an American novelist publishing romance since 1979. Kyle spent sixteen years as a journalist under the name Susan Spaeth before turning to fiction, and has also written as Diana Blayne, Katy Currie and Susan Kyle, with a science fiction novel as Susan S. Kyle. The catalogue lists 199 books from 1979 to 2026, opening with titles such as Dream's End and Sweet Enemy and reaching Blaze of Glory (2026). Wyoming Men, Soldiers of Fortune, Men of Medicine Ridge and Morcai Battalion are among the series, and Long, Tall Texans is a listed grouping. Diamond Girl became a 1998 television film. Subjects name ranchers, cowboys, Texas, Wyoming and western romance.

Attica Locke

6 books• 3 series

Attica Locke, born in Houston, Texas in 1974, is an American fiction author who also writes and produces for television and film. The six catalogued books run from Black Water Rising (2009) to Guide Me Home (2024), divided between the Highway 59 novels and standalone titles. Subjects include lawyers, murder, investigation, the Texas Rangers, African American police and the petroleum industry, with Texas recurring across the listing.

Matt Braun was an American novelist of the American West, born in 1932 and died in 2016. Braun wrote fifty-six books, most of them westerns, with more than 40 million copies in print. Luke Starbuck, the Brannocks, Ash Tallman and the Gunfighter Chronicles are the series, and outlaws, gamblers, Texas Rangers and the Comanche recur in the subjects. The listing holds 54 titles from Black Fox (1972) onward, at a median of 277 pages.