To Hell on a Fast Horse Updated Edition

“So richly detailed, you can almost smell the gunsmoke and the sweat of the saddles.”—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author

From Spur Award-winning author Mark Lee Gardner, his classic dual biography of Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett, detailing Garrett’s riveting chase of the notorious bandit—now updated with a new afterword covering new developments in the Billy the Kid story.

Billy the Kid—a.k.a. Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and William Bonney—was a horse thief, cattle rustler, charismatic rogue, and cold-blooded killer. A superb shot, the Kid gunned down four men single handedly and five others with the help of cronies. Two of his victims were Lincoln County, NM, deputies, killed during the Kid’s brazen daylight escape from the courthouse jail on April 28, 1881. After dspensing with his guards and filing through the chain securing his leg irons, The Kid danced a macabre jig on the jail’s porch before riding away on a stolen horse as terrified townspeople—and many sympathizers—watched. For new sheriff, Pat Garrett, the chase was on . . .

To Hell on a Fast Horse recreates the thrilling manhunt for the Wild West’s most iconic outlaw. It is also the first “dual biography” of the Kid and Garrett, two larger-than-life figures who would not have become the stuff of legend without the other. Drawing on voluminous primary sources and a wealth of published scholarship, Mark L. Gardner digs beneath the myth to take a fresh look at these two men, their relationship, and what they would come to mean to a public enamored of a violent national past.

This gripping dual biography separates fact from fiction, revealing the true story of the Old Wests most famous rivalry:

An Epic Chase: Follow Sheriff Pat Garretts thrilling, months-long manhunt for Billy the Kid across the harsh landscapes of the New Mexico Territory. The Lincoln County War: Go inside the bloody feud that transformed a young cowboy into a cold-blooded killer and set the stage for the Wests most legendary showdown. True Crime History: Meticulously researched from primary sources, this is the definitive story of two larger-than-life figures whose legacies are forever intertwined. Wild West Outlaw: Separate the man from the myth with a fresh look at Henry McCarty, a.k.a. William Bonney—the charismatic rogue and superb shot behind the legend of Billy the Kid.