Billy Pinto's War

An American Legends Collection  


The novel is rife with gun-smokin’ action, and Hud is the perfect, back-country narrator for this story of social injustice. His wizened, grizzled point of view flirts with the possibility of a tragic flaw in the evasive character of Billy Pinto.

Hands-down a gripping read!—Historical Novel Society  


In 1904, sixteen-year-old Billy Pinto watches as the three men accused of murdering his Shoshone mother are set free because the judge and prosecuting attorney don’t believe they can successfully try white men for killing an Indian. Stunned by the court’s decision, Billy decides to take justice into his own hands. He ambushes the three killers outside of town, then impulsively kidnaps the judge’s granddaughter before fleeing into the remote San Pedro Mountains.  


With Billy’s actions setting off a massive manhunt, it falls to San Pedro County Sheriff Hudson Pratt to locate Billy before he’s cornered in the high country by a growing army of bounty hunters. With an aging mountain man and his surly dog as guides, Pratt sets out to rescue the kidnapped child—and to stop the rising tide of bloodshed that threatens to plunge San Pedro County into a full-fledged Indian war.


MICHAEL ZIMMER - Winner of the 2015 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Western Novel for The Poacher’s Daughter