Desmond Barry's first novel, The Chivalry of Crime, is the story of one of America's most compelling figures, the outlaw gunslinger Jesse James. Bringing real and invented characters together in a dramatic and moving story, The Chivalry of Crime mingles the life of an imaginary boy with a factually faithful account of the lives of Jesse James and Robert Ford, the man who killed James, in the days when shootists were legends. Joshua, a young, idealistic friend of Ford's, is determined to get a gun of his own - a desire that puts his own life in jeopardy and reveals the painful realities masked by America's most cherished myths.The title is a quote from a Kansas City Times editorial that condemned Jesse James for robbing a bank but celebrated his style for showing that after the Civil War, there were still unbowed men of blood in the south. Violent, lyrically written and heart-rending, The Chivalry of Crime is a brilliant debut.