BILLY (THE KID)
Pueblo, Colorado,1932. Bootleggers thrive in a town where the sheriff is on the take and you can kill a man with impunity. In this thrilling narrative, a once-famous outlaw finds himself thrust into the middle of a bootleg war against his will. At stake is nothing less than the life of his best friend and his last chance at true love with the town beauty. But is the legendary gunman who he claims to be, or is he just a retired dentist with a vivid imagination? Peter Meech reimagines the figure of Billy the Kid in a remarkable story told with verve, humor, grit and grace.
Now available as an Audiobook.
Editorial Reviews
"Like a vintage dime novel, Peter Meech imaginatively engages the reader with a once-upon-a-time version of Billy The Kid's life and legacy."
--Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove.
"Some story ideas are so good you just hope the writer doesn't mess them up, and then there are the ones you read and just wish you'd written them--Billy (the Kid) is both. Peter Meech's masterful handling of this Western is nothing short of dead on."
--Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of The Walt Longmire Mysteries
"Vividly imagined, cleverly plotted, and superbly written, Peter Meech's Billy (the Kid) provides definite and exhilarating proof that a new master of the Western--and the novel--just rode into town. What a wonderful and wonder-filled book!"
--Christopher Knowlton, author of Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West
"Peter Meech's novel Billy (the Kid) explores two of my favorite themes--the passing of the Old West and the mythology that surrounds it--and does so in a beautifully written tale of Depression-era bootlegging that also really catches my interest. This is a great debut from a man who knows how to spin a yarn."
--James Reasoner, New York Times bestselling author of the Wind River western fiction series.
"Peter Meech turns Billy the Kid into someone we can all root for--he's humble, awkward at times, and full of heart. Packed with historical details certain to thrill the avid western reader, Billy (the Kid) will forever change how you remember this outlaw gunslinger."
--Ginger Gaffney, author of Half Broke
"Peter Meech has created a witty, adroitly written tale of the not-so-old but still Wild West in the early 20th century with fascinating detail of the times."
--Lucia St. Clair Robson, New York Times bestselling author of Ride the Wind and Walk in My Soul
"The Old West collides with the New West in this gripping 'alternative history' of one of the most notorious gunfighters of all time."
--Stephen Aron, PhD, UCLA History Professor, founder of the Institute for the Study of the American West
“Meech’s story may be a fiction, but it’s told with charm, wit, a smattering of bloody realism, some of the longest sentences this side of Robinson Crusoe, and a complete lack of quotation marks. It’s also thoroughly enjoyable.”
--New York Journal of Books.
Jaipur Literature Festival
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