Legs befriends local attorney Marcus Gorman, the narrator of the story. Legs (1975) tells the story of the rise and fall of Legs Diamond, a gangster living on the edge.

Albany is clearly close to the author's heart. It's a lot to absorb in one volume, but generally the writing is good, loaded with period detail and deeply a descriptive setting.

The books totally immerse the reader in Albany, New York circa 1928-1938, and many characters appear, or are at least referred to, in all three stories. Three separate novels in this collection, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Ironweed. Now, in 1938, Francis is back, roaming familiar streets and trying to make peace with ghosts of the past and present. Years ago he left Albany after killing a scab during a workers’ strike, and again after he accidentally-and fatally-dropped his infant son. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Ironweed, Francis Phelan, ex-ballplayer, part-time gravedigger, and full-time drunk, has hit bottom. Full of Irish pluck, he works the fringes of Albany sporting life with his own particular style-until he falls from underworld grace. The second novel in the Albany cycle depicts Billy Phelan, a slightly tarnished poker player, pool hustler, and small-time bookie, as he moves through the lurid nighttime glare of a tough Depression-era town. Legs evokes the flamboyant career of the legendary gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond, who was finally murdered in Albany, and his showgirl mistress as they blaze a trail across the tabloid pages of the 1920s and 1930s. Legs inaugurated William Kennedy’s celebrated cycle of novels set in Albany, New York. Ironweed, William Kennedy is making American literature.”- The Washington Post Book World “With Legs, Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, and.

Ironweed by william kennedy