Down on his luck, a farmer raffles off a dead mule. While preparing a Sunday dinner, a woman finds her lost diamond in a chicken gizzard. A litter of orphaned baby possums finds a home. Just like his blue jeans after an adventure in Dead Horse Canyon, Kirk Neely's tales are caked with red clay.

Neely, a much beloved pastor from Spartanburg, writes about the ordinary -- casseroles and sweet tea, black bears and beagle dogs, WD-40 and Duct Tape, Tabasco Sauce and fatback. Accompanied by striking pen and ink sketches by his nephew, Emory Cash, these stories will make you laugh out loud; others will bring a tear to your eye.

A Good Mule is Hard to Find should be a fixture in every mountain cabin and every beach house. Steeped in Southern charm and down-home lore, this volume promises to be a keeper.