I just love it when mysterious characters from one book finally get their own stories. Brody, the title character here, was just such a character in Lang’s previous book, Matthew, which strained credulity. Fortunately, Brody is written more closely to the standards of the gritty Wild West and is much more enjoyable.

Brody is a man in black, a Texas Ranger who helped Matthew track and defeat the bad guy in the previous book. He’s short on words and large of heart, and has a scar on his chin. As the saying goes, what’s not to like?

At the end of the last book, Brody had found a lead to where Matthew’s youngest brother might have been taken after he was kidnapped. Brody intends to follow the lead and stops by Matthew’s ranch to tell him where he’s going. Matthew isn’t home, however, having gone on a trip with his new wife.

Olivia, Matthew’s forceful and outspoken sister, has long admired Brody, especially since he’s an excellent tracker. When she learns he’s going to hunt for her brother, she decides to go with him, much to Brody’s chagrin. As he tells her, he works alone, always.

But Olivia doesn’t take no for an answer, and catches up with Brody and browbeats him into taking her with him. Her brother Benjy would much rather see her face when he’s rescued than the forbidding, but handsome Brody’s. After she saves him from a bad guy’s attack, grudgingly, Brody takes her with him across the Rio Grande into Mexico and danger. There they meet a minor war lord who is itching to become a bigger player. Keeping the persistent Olivia safe becomes harder and harder as the war lord takes a fancy to her, especially since Brody reluctantly realizes he’s attracted to her himself.

Olivia is one of those great female characters who’s a take-charge, capable woman who could walk for miles across the prairie and who has no problem shooting bad guys or stealing what she needs to get her objective done. As Brody says at one point, if she’d been a man, she’d be him. If I were out in the Wild West, I’d want either or both of them with me.

War veteran Brody, whose entire family has been killed, badly wants to return Matthew and Olivia’s brother to them. He joined the Texas Rangers because he believes in law and order, and knows someone has to keep the peace which means someone has to be able to track and shoot without second guessing himself. He doesn’t speak much because he hasn’t had anyone close to speak to.

Chatty Olivia and laconic Brody are one of those couples who aren’t an automatic match. But Lang makes all the right moves to bring them together believably.

Some of the high drama, particularly in Mexico, comes straight out of the old Western dime novels. Therefore, the story goes from realistic to tall tale and back again, sometimes in such rapid succession as to make a reader reel.

Considering how many plot holes Matthew had, however, this second book is much more consistent and enjoyable. After crossing Lang off my anticipation list, I’m reinstating her on the strength of this latest book.