Lucky Billy

A myth-busting novel about America's most infamous
and beloved outlaw, Billy the Kid, from a critically acclaimed
historical novelist

According to legend, Billy the Kid killed twenty-one men, one for
every year of his short life; stole from wealthy cattle barons to give
to the poor; and wooed just about every señorita in the American Southwest.
In Lucky Billy, John Vernon digs deeply into the historical record to
find a truth more remarkable than the legend, and draws a fresh, nuanced
portrait of this outlaw's dramatic and violent life.

Billy the Kid met his celebrated end at the hands of Pat Garrett, his
one-time carousing partner turned sheriff, who tracked Billy down after
the jail break that made him famous. In Vernon's telling, the crucial event
of Billy's life was the Lincoln County War, a conflict between a ring of
Irishmen in control of Lincoln, New Mexico, and a newcomer from England,
John Tunstall, who wanted to break their grip on the town. Billy
signed on with Tunstall. The conflict spun out of control with Tunstall's
murder, and in a series of revenge killings, an obscure hired gunman
called Kid Antrim became Billy the Kid.

Besides a full complement of gunfights, jail breaks, and bawdy
behavior, Lucky Billy is a provocative picture of the West at a critical
juncture between old and new. It is also a portrait of an American icon
made human, caught in the middle, more lost than brave, more naïve than
principled, more of an accidental survivor than simply the cold-blooded
killer of American myth.