Cold Storage, Alaska

December 2, 2013
At the start of Straley’s offbeat prequel to 2008’s The Big Both Ways, Clive McCahon (aka the “Milkman”) is released from Washington’s McNeil Island Penitentiary and heads for his hometown of Cold Storage, Alaska, after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence for drug dealing, but his problems are far from over. Aspiring Hollywood screenwriter Jake Shoemaker, his violent partner in crime, wants the large sum that Clive has squirreled away, and Jake won’t take no for an answer; Miles, Clive’s straight-arrow brother and the town’s sole medical professional, resents his return; tenacious state trooper Ray Brown doubts that Clive has gone straight; and animals have begun to talk to him. Further complications ensue when Clive opens a combination bar/church, hires a colorful band called Blind Donkey with a fascinating female bassist, and faces a wronged former employee of Jake’s. While there’s little actual mystery, most readers will enjoy spending time with the eccentric residents of Cold Storage.