Adam's Zoo — Izzy Auld

“I can't stop him from leaving town,” Mom wailed into her cell phone. “Arlo's dead from an overdose and now Adam blames himself. Oh, Harriet, he'll wind up a worthless drifter. I can't lose both my boys. They could be Cain and Abel, the way they tried killing each other. I had to hit hot-headed Adam up the side of the head with the snow shovel to bring him to his senses.”
“What in the world were they mad at?”
“Arlo was so jealous. He shot up Adam's Zoo, and Adam paid him back. Now my youngest is dead and Adam is leaving. What will happen to me?”
Adam flees to Las Vegas, where he rescues an old guy on the crap end of a mugging. Brother John promptly offers Adam a job as bodyguard; his cover -- church organist in a pretty pink wedding chapel on The Strip. Lucas John, whose testimony put drug lord Cletus Jackson behind bars, was offered sanctuary with the federal protection witness program. Lucas refused, though. Now the self-ordained preacher and Adam are on the run, hiding out in the typical small nondescript churches that tend to get themselves in trouble.
Adam imagines these troubles to be fiscal. Or perhaps human, as in fighting over church governance. However, the problems in the Tucson church stem from two biddies battling over who's in charge of arranging flowers, and also running the women's society. Cousins, one dowager is wealthy, the other poor; one is envious, the other jealous. Turns out, both bedded the same man, and both had a baby by him, causing seismic friction at church.
The full-time pastor is shot dead, and the two biddies with their grown sons are murder suspects. As amateurs on the drug scene, their bumbling reaches mammoth proportions as Adam and his pals seek to ferret out the culprit. Adam gets embroiled, Brother John gets targeted, and mayhem among the church brethren and sistern is the order of the day.
Meanwhile, Adam falls hard for Vanna Solano, and fights his own green-eyed jealousy monster in the form of Vanna's best friend, Juan. Adam also befriends Brad Gifford, a trucker whose run includes “drug alley,” I-19, the corridor between Tucson and Mexico. Adam fingers the biddy and son behind the drug ring in a spectacular finale.