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It might surprise ardent fans of W. Bruce Cameron that the main character of his novel _The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man_ is not a dog. Cameron is best known as the author of _A Dog’s

Purpose_, which tells the story of a dog over the course of several reincarnated lives. The book, which spent 63 weeks on the_ New York Times_ bestseller list, spawned a series and a film

adaptation written by Cameron and his wife, Cathryn Michon, that went on to become the most successful international live-action dog movie of all time. Throw in Cameron’s best-selling_ Puppy

Tales_, a middle-grade book series, and _Lily to the Rescue_, a chapter book series for young readers, and Cameron is the veritable ruler of a literary dog dynasty. “People talk to me all

the time about there being a ‘Bruce Brand,’” Cameron says. “I tell them I’d rather have a ‘Bruce Dessert,’ but apparently as an author I was supposed to write nothing but books from the

point of view of a dog. Which I love doing almost as much as I love dessert, I’m happy to tell you. But I wanted to show that it’s possible to write books with dogs _in_ them as opposed to

being _about _them.” Enter Jake, the lazy but lovable basset hound in _The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man_, which is the first book of Cameron’s Ruddy McCann series. Jake belongs to the main

character, Ruddy McCann — a former college football star who is now a repo man and part-time bouncer in Kalkaska, Michigan. Ruddy and Jake share a simple life of repossessing cars, but when

Ruddy starts hearing a voice in his head claiming to be the recently deceased father of the girl he’s falling for — and that voice is demanding that Ruddy find his murderers — that simple

life becomes very complicated. “I love dog characters — and Jake is very much a ‘character,’” Cameron says. “But I think a novel with humans in it can be interesting as well. Some of the

best novels ever written have humans in them! So, with _The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man_, I decided to stretch my wings and my imagination a little and see if people liked it! And they

must, because invariably, when I do a book event, I’m asked when I’m going to write the next book in my _Repo_ series.” To develop the character of Ruddy, Cameron didn’t have to stretch his

wings or imagination all that much. In his 20s, he worked as a repo man in northern Michigan, and feeling Ruddy-esque or “invulnerable,” Cameron says, he would walk up people’s driveways in

the middle of the night and drive off in their cars. “Being a repo man means, as Ruddy himself would tell you, having ‘nerves of stupidity,’” he says. “But the very first time I tried it, I

was dumb enough to leave my own car within eyesight of the dwelling. When I returned, the owners were waiting to greet me with pistols. We had a lively conversation. After that, I decided to

always meet the people and get a read on their personalities before I risked my life to take away their Chevettes.” "As soon as I let my voice be free from worrying about what the

market would think, it was _funny_. I hadn’t realized that I was aching to write humor. And that, ironically, is when I began to achieve some success.” _Repo Man_ is chock-full of these

personalities. They include bright-eyed, but dim-witted Jimmy with the Hollywood good looks; Claude and Wilma, who spend most of their time thinking up get-rich-quick schemes when they’re

not at each other’s throats; and Janelle, clad in tight jeans and fake jewelry, who has the hots for Ruddy. “Kalkaska was the perfect location for the Black Bear, a saloon where the same

oddball characters hang out every night,” Cameron says. “Kalkaska hasn’t changed much in the past few decades, which is what I wanted: a slow-moving small town. And as much as I make fun of

that part of the country, I was born there and have spent a lot of my life there. It’s in my blood.” Cameron began his writing career with a newspaper humor column, eventually becoming an

internationally syndicated columnist. His column “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter” became a _New York Times_ best-selling book and a People’s Choice award-winning television

series starring the late John Ritter.