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Texas' Unwritten Law
Hardcover
Mystery & ThrillerHistorical Fiction
Publisher: Thin Blue Books
Published: Dec 5 2026
Pages: 228
Weight: 1.25
Height: 0.75 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
There is an amazing, heartwarming bond that can be formed between a child and a grandparent. But what if your grandpa dies before you are born, and your father never speaks of him throughout his life? What if you are 50 years old before the subject is finally raised, only to realize that you know absolutely nothing about your grandfather-not even his name? This happened to the author, Rusty Barron, in 2015, when his 16-year-old daughter asked about her ancestors. Slightly embarrassed but determined, this first-time author began his research.
Texas' Unwritten Law started with discovering a story published in the 1910 Houston Post about a murder in the Houston Heights. A 14-Year-Old Heights girl went missing on Christmas Eve. Clues started to emerge that one man was responsible for her disappearance, and her rage-filled father delivered some Texas frontier justice in the streets. Two Barron brothers-Rusty's grandfather and his grandfather's oldest brother, who were carpenters in the Houston Heights-were at the center of this tragedy. What happened to this little girl? Was the murder justified? From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, jurors found justification for a killing to be just as important as evidence of guilt. If the act was done to protect one's family, the jurors would find the defendant not guilty, and as a result this legal defense became known as The Unwritten Law.
Texas' Unwritten Law traces Rusty Barron's family roots back to Alabama to see where it all started and his story brings to life his ancestors' rise from wood haulers to respected carpenters in the Houston Heights. However, the murder and the shocking trial that follows uncovers family secrets that have gone untold for 125 years, until now. This debut historical fiction novel by Rusty Barron is based on a true story.
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