Three Men in a Grave

On A genealogical research vacation in the Arkansas Ozarks, Rick and Mandy Raines discover a tombstone in an old churchyard marking the final resting place of three men who died on the same day in 1916. Before they can do much more than ponder that mystery, an old mountain man resting on the church steps volunteers his knowledge of the people and the series of events that led to the unusual burial.
The aged storyteller spins a yarn of the Hunter and Maddis families, ordinary Ozark folk who were joined by marriage and the craft of moonshining. A more or less honorable profession in the late nineteenth century, the moonshiners supplied themselves as well as their customers down the mountain with “white lightning,” often a great personal risk. In great detail he tells them of the whiskey trade, of government agents and feuding families, and a love story that came to a tragic end with the three men in the grave.
His knowledge seems a little too personal for something that happened so long ago, but Rick and Mandy are caught in his spell until morning light reveals an even greater mystery.
FRED L. FUNK once again takes a bit of true family history and creates a fascinating story of love, family intrigue, and murder.