Summer can be a hectic time for farmers and this summer fills the bill.

Fourth of July is this coming weekend and Lawrence (Shaver) Ketch would like to be done with first crop hay. Not only is there a family picnic, but also the Five on the Fourth Road Race that he uses to measure progress year to year. The picnic goes as planned, but he’s a scratch at the race. Someone else bales him out on the hay. Why? Who is the stranger on his porch when he and his wife, Connie, return home after the fireworks? Shaver’s brother, JJ, and good friend, Steve (Gulp) Hardy, have romantic interests that are at times distracting. A new owner at one of the bars he patronizes has a son with strange ideas. A longtime nemesis keeps showing up. Then JJ won’t let Shaver into his own cornfield. What gives? A mysterious death suggests murder, but all of the likely suspects have alibis. Through it all Shaver continues his diet of interesting meals and constant suggestions to his beautiful wife.

John Pearson is the sixth generation to farm on a family farm in southern Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin he worked in New York City and Anchorage before returning to Wisconsin. His wife, Janis, and three dogs, Pepper, Dottie and Lucky, keep him company.