Publisher's Synopsis
In the forty years that Doc Rayburn had been practicing medicine, he had been responsible for bringing almost half the population of Pontotoc Ridge, Mississippi into this world. Many for the price of a couple of chickens. At sixty-five, he still stood an erect six and a half feet. He had been in the habit of wearing nothing but surgical greens for so long the people of tiny Pontotoc Ridge no longer noticed, but a stranger might mistake his unkempt appearance and quiet manner for a lack of sophistication (that's a fifty-cent word for "brains"). Nothing could be further from the truth. The man knew more words than Webster. It was just that he never used two words when one would do. He was a brilliant physician, but his passion was woodworking. The two things he was most proud of were his grandkids, and the oversized mahogany desk and chair he had built for his office - though not necessarily in that order. Billy, Doc Rayburn's grandson, is an adventurous and impulsive kid who, in the tradition of famous side-kicks helps Doc gathers the pieces of the puzzle that lead Doc Rayburn to the mystery's solution. But not before considerable grumbling on Doc's part. Billy seems to do his best to add amateur detective to Doc's list of accomplishments.
