They are often described as nostalgic or memoirs, Shepherd described them simply as fictional stories about childhood,[4][5] a view seconded by scholars Penelope Joan Fritzer and Bartholomew Bland.

[6] However, drawn as they were from his radio storytelling, Shepherd wove elements of real life into his tales (such as names of some of the characters being found in his high school yearbook,[7] having a younger brother Randy,[8] and Hammond being home to a Warren G. Harding Elementary School, a Cleveland Street, and a Hohlman Avenue)[9]) and certainly took artistic license in exaggerating any real-life events that may have served as seeds for his yarns.

As Mark Skertic put it for the Chicago Sun-Times: [the city of] "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.

"[10] The title of the novel is a play on the motto "In God We Trust", a foundational belief of the American Founding Fathers adopted by both the nation's coinage and paper currency in the 19th century.

[11] The tacked-on "all others pay cash" became a popular witticism in America in the early decades of the 20th century, [12] commonly seen as a form of "crackerbarrel philosophy" repudiating credit and checks[13] as payment found on signs and carved placards hanging in bars, restaurants, and retail stores past its middle decades.

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..."[14] While Shepherd's publisher, Doubleday, promoted the collection of stories as a novel,[15] Shepherd biographer Eugene Bermann, however, observes the work lacks either an overriding theme or consistent characters to be regarded as one.

Another short story, "The Grandstand Passion Play of Delbert and the Bumpus Hounds", was drawn from Shepherd's second book of them, Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories.