Mike Flinn

Hard Times and the Raccoon's Tale Mike Flinn

A mysterious discovery along the Raccoon River leads a deputy sheriff and a Des Moines TV reporter on a quest for answers. A visit by a mysterious older man, whose story of hard times and lawless men, keeps them guessing right up to it's strange end. For most Americans, the Great Depression started with the stock market crash of 1929. But for America's farmers, it sarted long before that. Throughout the 20's, overproduction and falling demand led to low prices for farm commodities. Add to that the dust bowl and extreme weather of the 30's and you have a disaster for rural America. Iow farmers, Gus Chambers and his French wife Lorain, were fortunate to have found a farmhand who would work for what little wages they could offer in those hard times. But this man, who called himself John Deere, or simply JD, had many secrets. Secrets that are revealed as the old man's story is told.