This Old Bill

by Loren D. Estleman

A Three-Time Golden Spur Award-winning Author A Novel Based on the Life of Buffalo Bill Cody The life of Buffalo Bill Cody was as epic and exciting as the story of the West itself. Cowboy, Pony Express rider, Indian fighter, Union soldier, scout for General George Custer, slayer of Tall Bull and Yellow Hand - he saved Wild Bill Hickok's life, and beat the paths that made way for the railroad and the nation. Now, in his final hours, old Bill Cody faces the last great challenge of his life . . .

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

440 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1984

About the author

Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.

Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estleman is a wonder. This novel based on the life of Buffalo Bill Cody, is an entertaining portrayal of a larger-than-life man who didn’t know the meaning of excess. Not a biography, the book is a series of scenes, often no more than snapshots. They start in 1854 with his boyhood, when Cody witnessed the murder of his abolitionist father in Kansas, and ends with his own death in Denver in 1917.

The novel teems with figures from frontier history: Wild Bill Hickock, Sitting Bull, George Armstrong Custer, Gen. Nelson Miles, and Texas Jack Omohundro. Queen Victoria, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia make appearances. We also get to know the man’s long-suffering wife Louisa and their children, as well as his several business partners, who both used and abused his trust...

Read my review at my blog.

[Ted Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS OLD BILL is a treasure of stories involving the legend of "Buffalo Bill" Cody along with snippets of western lore involving Annie Oakley, "Wild Bill" Hickok, Sitting Bull and many other famous figures from the Wild, Wild West. Author, Loren Estleman explained in his Postscript: "This Old Bill is a fable, distilled from fact and fiction, based on the life of William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody and his love for tall tales". A quick read worth the time for lovers of the Old West genre.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. It was a fictional account of his life based on the real events. I wish there had been pictures though, I always enjoy seeing them.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike Estleman's normal writing, this is less a single narrative than a series of somewhat connected vignettes from the life of "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Few figures in the old west more totally encompassed and experienced the time period, and Loren Estleman has written a sort of biography of the man drawing on the many stories and rumors of his life.

Since Cody was fond of telling tales and would give a different version of many events depending on who listened, the story of his life is difficult to get exactly straight. Complicating matters is his long-running Wild West show that was wildly successful, crowned with a tour of Europe before dignitaries, major figures, artists, and assorted 19th century celebrities, including a command performance at Windsor castle for Queen Victoria.

The tale is ultimately somewhat sad, because the man's wild and fascinating life necessarily had a high cost on his health, and after the European tour things were never quite the same for Cody. He eventually did some film work but was in debt and in bad shape by then.

This Old Bill is a fine collection of stories, some almost incredible, but some lives were truly incredible, and in the end, when it comes to the Old West, I side with the newspaperman from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: print the legend.

[Lryrob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the author was a good writer. He was good at describing things. It was interesting getting a feel for that time period and the people of that era. I enjoyed the book.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really find with some of these western bjio's that there is a real element of fantasy. It is sometimes hard to decide what is the truth about these wjild boys.