  Context: Solar flares release a large fraction of their energy into
non-thermal electrons, but it is not clear where and how. Bremsstrahlung X-rays
are observed from the corona and chromosphere.
  Aims: We aim to characterize the acceleration process by the coronal source
and its leakage toward the footpoints in the chromosphere. The relations
between the sources reflect the geometry and constrict the configuration of the
flare.
  Methods: We studied solar flares of GOES class larger than M1 with three or
more hard X-ray sources observed simultaneously in the course of the flare. The
events were observed with the X-ray satellite RHESSI from February 2002 until
July 2005. We used imaging spectroscopy methods to determine the spectral
evolution of each source in each event. The images of all of the five events
show two sources visible only at high energies (footpoints) and one source only
visible at low energies (coronal or looptop source, in two cases situated over
the limb).
  Results: We find soft-hard-soft behavior in both, coronal source and
footpoints. The coronal source is nearly always softer than the footpoints. The
footpoint spectra differ significantly only in one event out of five.
  Conclusions: The observations are consistent with acceleration in the coronal
source and an intricate connection between the corona and chromosphere.
