The Texas Ranger and the Professor by Susan Payne

           Cultural anthropologist Jessie Reeves, driven to prove a woman can perform field work as well as any man, is compelled to travel to harsh terrains, completing rigorous studies without running home scared. To that end, she accepts the services offered by the Texas Rangers in the form of Captain Ben Edwards, a man on the brink of closing out his tour with the Rangers before returning to civilian life.  

After ten seconds of first meeting in a dusty train station, they realize life might not be as clear cut. In order to accomplish their goals, without murdering the other, they must find common ground in the areas of strongly held ideas about human nature in general, gender roles in particular.

Just as they reach a certain degree of mutual respect, an attack by a Comanche raiding party sets off a series of events which forever alters their lives.

 Our Review:  as with her previous novels, author Payne offers the same detailed research readers have come to expect, bringing realism to each novel, each character. In the case of The Texas Ranger and the Professor, she paints a vivid portrait of Native American cultures common to the American southwest in the late 1800’s, including the biases and abuses employed by the various segments of white society: military, politics, and organized religion.   

 On a scale of 1-5, The Texas Ranger and the Professor deserves a 3.

                     Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews