I wonder if this isn’t the same historian that wrote a very good book on the life of Billy the Kid” I read it as a boy and was impressed with how he was able to meld history with a novelist’s eye. I always remembered the ending of his tale which had a eerie, almost mystical, feel to it.
As an adult I went to Ft. Sumner to participate in a sports car race at the old Army Air Base of UFO fame. One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to the cemetery of OLd Ft. Summner to see the Kid’s grave and relive that book’s ending.
There are three other titles listed in the front of this one; he’s got a nice wikipedia page, shows more titles, including his most famous work, “A Night To Remember” about the sinking of the Titanic. Lord lived until 2002, and actually was born in 1917, that is, the end year covered in this book “The Good Years”. The relative who had this was over 20 years older than Lord.
“The Saga of Billy the Kid” was written by one Walter Noble Burns, perhaps it was that one?