Sutton is a novel by the New York Times best-selling author of The Tender Bar, J.R. Moehringer. The story follows Willie the Actor Sutton as he is released from prison after spending forty years on and off behind bars. Sutton tells his memoirs to a reporter and a photographer working for a newspaper that gets an exclusive take on his story. As the reporter and the photographer take Sutton to various points of interest around New York City, Sutton recounts the significance of the location to the reporter and the photographer.

As the novel and the story unfolds, Sutton faces his past, including the people that were involved in his life and the crimes that Sutton was responsible for committing over the years. As the reporter and the photographer put together various clues gleaned from police and FBI files, they conclude that Sutton's story is often quite different from the records.

By the end of his life, Sutton is finally able to publish a few books. The book that he is never able to publish is the one that he wrote while he was in prison. In spite of thinking he would die on Christmas day following his release, Sutton ends up living eleven more years. When Sutton dies, he takes to his grave the truths about his life, his crimes, and his one true love - Bess.