it: "Hohman doesn't really exist, but the sights, sounds and events Mr. Shepherd described happening there grew out of his experiences growing up in and around real-life Hammond, Ind." Title and structure of the book The title of the novel is a play on words, primarily the motto "In God We Trust", which became a common motto in the 19th century in the United States, and was used on American coins frequently after 1864. "In God we trust, all others pay cash" was a common phrase in America in the early decades of the 20th century meaning that neither credit nor checks will be accepted as payment. Shepherd specifically denied that the work is a collection of short stories. As he said on his radio show shortly after the book was finished: I did something today that you don't do very often in your life. I delivered to my publisher - I delivered to him the completed, edited, done manuscript of a novel I have been working on for over three years, Skip. Handed it in. And you have no idea what a fantastic feeling that is! And I mean a novel. I mean a novel -novel! [emphasis in original] Shepherd's publisher, Doubleday, also promoted the book as a novel. Eugene Bermann, however, does not consider the work a novel as it does not have either an overriding theme or consistent characters. Michael Sragow, writing for Salon.com, called the book "memoirlike". Most of the stories in the novel are domestic in nature, discussing life in the home. They do not, however, focus on the family. They are rather stories which focus on an "amusingly old-fashioned society". Contents There are 31 chapters in the book. The stories in the book are told by the fictional character Ralph, who has returned to his home town of Hohman as an adult and remembers or relates these stories to his friend, Flick, who runs the bar in which Ralph spends the day. The longer stories are linked by one- or two-page chapters in which Ralph and Flick discuss their childhood or the present state of Hohman. These exchanges trigger Ralph's reminiscences. The 2010 Broadway Books reprint of the 2000 Doubleday paperback version of the book lists the following longer stories: "Duel in the Snow, or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid" "The Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message, or The Asp Strikes