The title story, The Mystery of Jacob Engles, was inspired by a real family mystery. Family history information abruptly ended with the author's paternal grandfather, George Ewing Ogle. But there seemed to be an understanding that the real great-grandfather was likely to be a man by the name of Jacob Engles, who went off to the Civil War in 1864 and was gone for decades. Lacking real answers, the author weaves a moving tale, accounting for the missing years, explaining how the family became Ogles, and telling how Jacob Engles ended back in the hometown to find his family. The other ten short stories in this collection were written over the period of sixteen years, and most were also inspired by real people.