"I went into lots of fights by myself, and I came out by myself, too " said Captain Manuel T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas of the Texas Rangers. In this lively biography, Brownson Malsch describes Gonzaullas's career, first as a major in the Mexican Army and then as an agent of the U.S. Treasury Department, before he joined the Rangers in 1920.

Although trained as an "old-style" Texas Ranger, Gonzaullas was an early advocate of scientific crime-detection methods and was instrumental in setting up the state's first modern crime-detection facility. His many cases included the Santa...