Chee-Chalker: a newcomer to Alaska and the Klondike; an Indian word meaning one who is inexperienced or has no knowledge; a tenderfoot.

Bill Norton might be new to Ketchikan but he’s no tenderfoot. In fact, he’s one of the sharpest FBI agents this side of the Yukon—savvy, tough and resourceful.

Norton’s come to this rough-and-tumble town to look into a case of a missing person—his own boss—who vanished investigating a heroin smuggling operation. What Norton finds is a string of corpses, a gallery of rogues, and a fleet of fishing boats that specialize in red herrings. He also finds himself warming up to the heart-stopping halibut heiress Elaine Halloway.

But is Elaine mixed up in the heroin trade … or a victim of it? To find the truth Norton will have to make living men sweat—and dead men talk. Because every body fished out of the icy waters has a story to tell, and it will take all of Norton’s CSI-like skills to squeeze it out of them.