During the War of 1812 death makes a visit to the Whitaker and Collins families. The spirits of Micager Whitaker of The Clear Fork and Vardy Collins of Newmans Ridge, old soldiers of the late Revolution, leave forever the hollows and ridges of southwest Virginia and Upper East Tennessee. On their deathbeds each man selects a son to carry on a search for two men--men who had something to do with the drowning deaths of little Samuel Whitaker and Enoch Collins. Micager chooses Oxendine and Vardy selects Shoddy.
Once they link up, Shoddy and Ox go on a frenzied hunt for answers to the mystery of how their brothers died--and who might have been involved. On their way to finding out, they meet a surveyor and a Tennessee ridgemanite, they join the army, Ox marries and unexpectably both men find themselves fighting with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.
Once mustered out, they begin a new search, one that takes them into the high black mountains of eastern Kentucky. Eventually, they find out the secret of what happened and who did it. They are dumbfounded when the mystery is finally revealed.
J. R. Hatmaker weaves an intricate tale of love and war--and murder. Shoddy and Ox is a spellbinding novel that leaves the reader with a better understanding of the period and a satisfying and delightful ending. The Coalwood Misfits and The Kindred Gathering are other books of The Clear Fork Series.
