Cold Storage, Alaska

Miles McCahon has carved out a life for himself in the tiny fishing town of Cold Storage, Alaska, as a physician’s assistant. He’s the closest thing to a doctor the community has, even if they ignore his advice. Miles’ life is about to change--his brother Clive is getting out of prison after serving seven years for dealing coke.

But Clive’s former business partner wants the money that Clive squirreled away before going to prison. The local state trooper wants Clive out of his turf, and somehow along the way an ugly, earless and bad tempered dog has adopted Clive, and Clive believes the dog is speaking to him.

When Clive arrives in Cold Storage, he buys a tumbledown old bar and turns it into a saloon and church. Because of local zoning laws, there can only be as many liquor licenses as churches, so on Sundays Clive preaches to anyone who shows up at the bar.

The town is populated by a host of quirky characters, and the plot could be out of a novel by Donald Westlake or Carl Hiaasen. It’s funny, with a lot of local color; the author says he wrote it as a tribute to the old film screwball comedies. There’s another in the series, “The Big Both Ways,” that I’m looking forward to reading.