Age 14: Orphan

Age 15: Inmate

Age 16: Outlaw

Age 17: Killer

In 1870s New Mexico, the territory is at a crossroads. The indigenous population is being driven out—and driven down—by the white settlers migrating west after the Civil War. The center of power isn’t the governor but rather the Santa Fe Ring, a group of wealthy politicians, businessman, and landowners who exercise power through organized crime, theft, graft, and murder. Their main source of income is a mercantile store in Lincoln known as the House.

After escaping jail, William Bonney—a.k.a. Billy the Kid—is a seventeen-year-old orphan who’s been on the run for the better part of two years. All he wants is to belong—to find a place he can call home and people he can call family.

He’d have been better off alone.

Billy falls in with a gang of ruthless rustlers and murderers who work as muscle for the House. But when Billy crosses one of the members, the gang sets out to kill him.

Billy narrowly escapes, finding refuge under the tutelage of John Tunstall, an English immigrant new to the territory who has his sights set on opening a business in Lincoln—and he’s intent on competing directly with the House. But when Tunstall is murdered, any positive effect the mentor had on Billy is eradicated, leaving the Kid with only one thing on his mind …

Revenge.

From orphan to outlaw to killer, this is the untold story behind the legend of Billy the Kid.

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Life as a New York City police officer is nothing like what you see on television. Of course, it can be fast-paced and action-packed. But unlike the soy boys you see running around with fake guns on the silver screen, NYPD cops are responsible for their actions. Crash a car, lose a prisoner, or get mouthy with the wrong supervisor, and there will be consequences.

The penalties are severe and designed to make you think twice before stepping out of line. Suspension to the loss of vacation days, you can also find yourself working in another borough. The NYPD is well stocked with an army of bureaucratic sycophants who do the department’s bidding. After a while, you realize you’re a cog in a machine that views you as disposable. A hero one day, a goat the next; you can never train enough for a job that can kill you.

Lazy coworkers, combative criminals, and a close call with an HIV infection can make you think twice about your career choice. To survive in this chaotic environment, you have to be able to laugh in the line of duty.

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Examining murder from an insider’s perspective, Matt Murphy—a former senior deputy district attorney and current ABC News Legal Analyst—discusses cases from his career, how they strained his personal life, and how he found peace seeking justice for victims and their families.

Part taxonomy of murder, part prosecutor’s handbook, and part personal memoir, The Book of Murder goes through a dozen cases and his recollections of his twenty-six years in the Orange County DA’s office (seventeen in the Homicide Unit). Refreshingly honest about the toll such work takes on one’s private life, Murphy weaves his personal narrative throughout his casework in a way that humanizes the people entrusted with the duty of seeking justice on behalf of the public. As he does so, he lays bare the decision-making a prosecutor goes through in building a case to ensure justice is met while telling captivating tale after captivating tale of the world’s worst crime.

See how a prosecutor looks at—and lives with—the very worst crime. The insider’s perspective that Murphy gives on the notorious cases of Skylar Deleon, Rodney Alcala, “Dirty John” Meehan, and many others is a vital read for true-crime fans everywhere

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