Joe Manning Lived Here

About the Book

Joe Manning owned a good-size ranch outside of a small town in Virginia, and he was plowing one day close to his house. He was getting ready to plant a garden patch for the family to use for their livelihood. Three men came along the road. All three had sidearms and one man had a rifle. He shot Joe in the back while Joe was trying to get to the house to get his rifle and defend his family. Then they killed his wife and young daughter, burned the house down around them, and left Joe in his yard bleeding to death. Joe, who cared deeply about people, was the first person in the community to volunteer to help everyone who was in need. Joe, with his wife at one time or another, had entertained in their home all the people in the area. Who could have shot poor Joe Manning in the back twice and destroyed his family and house? What is going on around here? This has always been a nice area of the country. I wonder who is behind all this killing. Why would they kill his wife and daughter, and why would they have burned down his nice house? This is really a mystery. I wonder if Joe will survive. The doctor does not think so. I wonder what the sheriff is doing about it. He does not seem to have a clue. Will anyone else have to die before we find out who the culprits are?

About the Author

I was a coal miner in West Virginia. I went into the coal mines because, first of all, there were basically no other jobs. I wanted to learn a lot about electricity, and the mines were better than college, which I could not afford. I spent eighteen years in the coal industry, and then the major coal firm shut down all operations. I discussed with my wife the options and decided, since I loved to design things, that I needed an education in drafting. I contacted a local college and found I had to enroll in a full semester and that the classes included English. I survived the first part of English and grammar. The second half of the semester was writing short stories. The professor would give us a title and we would write a short story. She loved the first one I wrote. She read it to the class, and they seemed to like it. After about fifteen different stories, my grade point average came up because I received an A+ on all my stories. The professor told me that I should think seriously about writing books, that I had the talent for it. After a few years doing nothing about writing, my wife became very ill. I was in the house most of the time taking care of her. I finally sat down at the computer with an idea. I found that it was really fun. I love to watch a story emerge that anyone could read and hopefully enjoy. I want some literature that my thirteen-year-old granddaughter could read and feel good about.