M*A*S*H Goes to Maine by Richard Hooker

 This is the original sequel to M*A*S*H, written by Richard Hooker, before William E. Butterworth went crazy on the series and created a dozen or so "zany" adventures starring our favorite characters. The story picks up a year or so after Hawkeye has returned to Crabapple Cove and he is working at the VA hospital in Spruce Harbor, Maine for a bunch of fools and other bureaucratic types. He decides he needs to strike out on his own, but first must pass his thoracic surgical boards, so he moves to the big city just long enough to study and master heart and lung operations, then returns and opens up his own hospital and clinic, where he convinces Duke and Trapper and Spearchucker to join him in putting this tiny town on the medical map.

The humorous side of the book deals with broad sketches of the native Maine characters, and giving the medical mal-practitioners their long overdue comeuppance, but there is a more serious side explored when Hooker tells several tales of Hawkeye's surgical adventures, which are probably taken from Hooker's own experiences as a doctor.

Another good, quick read, which may make you crack a smile, let loose a chuckle, or wipe away a tear.