Shelby Ferguson Novel

"Joe Edd Morris's (bestselling author of The Lost Page) obvious talent shines through from start to finish." -Publisher's WeeklyLand Where My Fathers Died is the story of a young man's search for identity, love and his place in the world.While incarcerated six years for a murder he never committed, Jo Shelby Ferguson lost his only family in a highway accident. Upon his release from the Mississippi state penal farm, a trunk, the only earthly possession left to him, yields several bundles of old letters. Upon reading the first letter, he discovers they are written by his great-great-great grandmother. The story unfolds in the chronologically- arranged missives of their family's plight to Mexico with General J. O. Shelby of Missouri following the collapse of the Confederacy, of their trials and tribulations and ultimate destruction by the Juaristas.With only forty dollars in his pocket, an old Navy Colt pistol and the name Hacienda Michopa in his grandmother's abrupt last letter, Jo Shelby strikes out for Mexico, hitchhiking by various conveyances as he follows the same route of his namesake in search of the only family he hopes against hope still remains.

"Joe Edd Morris tells a poignant tale of a young man's search for identity... This beautifully-upbeat and enduring novel is recommended for all ages." -The Library JournalIn Land Where My Fathers Died, the first book of the Shelby Amateur Sleuth Series, twenty-four-year-old Jo Shelby Ferguson, just out of prison for a crime he didn't commit, embarks on an adventurous pilgrimage to Mexico in a successful search for the roots of his confederado kin, the only family he has remaining.Inherit the Land is the story of Jo Shelby Ferguson's return from Mexico to the Mississippi Delta and of his reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Athen, the daughter of the landowner Jo Shelby believes illegally possesses land that belongs to his family. Athen learns of his designs, which includes returning part of the land to the Negroes farming it. Sparks fly. She leaves him. Her two nefarious brothers abduct him and leave him in the middle of the night-bound, gagged and hooded in a cotton field.Miraculously, Jo Shelby frees himself. With the aid of an aged attorney, and after considerable legal mining of ancient county land documents, the attorney discovers a cloud on the land title dating back to 1885 when the property was lost in a crap game ... while the old colonel Calvin T. Ferguson, owner of the land, was still alive in Mexico.A dramatic, emotional court battle ensues. The plantation blacks, also aware of Jo Shelby's ultimate plans, fill the courtroom. Athen strides in with her family. With the aid of his aging sidekick, Jo Shelby serves as his own attorney. A climactic pivotal moment occurs when he faces Athen on the witness stand and discovers she is on his side. Months later, the judge rules that a "material fact was possibly concealed when the deed changed hands." There was a cloud on the title. Jo Shelby has sixty days to find the original will.In the final scene, he is on a bus returning to Mexico to find the will. Unexpectedly, when the bus stops at Indianoloa, Athen, boards the bus: "I thought it might prove interesting, us headed in the same direction for once. Besides, I couldn't let you go traipsing off to Mexico where some señorita might grab you." She is unaware of Jo Shelby's Mexican girlfriend.Look for book three, The Will, and more adventure.

"Joe Edd Morris tells a poignant tale of a young man's search for identity... This beautifully-upbeat and enduring novel is recommended for all ages." -The Library JournalReceiving word a legal judgment could revert ownership of a plantation to him and his family if he can find the will, Jo Shelby Ferguson returns to Mexico with Athen, his childhood sweetheart whose father owns the plantation, in search of the will. In Mexico City, Athen meets Carmin, Jo Shelby's Mexican girlfriend from his previous trip to the country in search of his family roots. Carmen insists on joining the search. Triangular sparks fly. Jo Shelby is abducted from his great-aunt's La Hacienda Tierra del Puente. A daring recapture ensues. The will is serendipitously discovered, immediately followed by a Mexican standoff with Athen's brothers who had followed her to Mexico to find the will first.