Snatched — Pamela Burford

A humorous romantic suspense novel that's fresh, quirky, and surprising! Find out why Snatched has been described as "Janet Evanovich meets the Coen Brothers."

Is an uncomplicated divorce and a fresh start at forty too much to ask? Apparently it is for Lucy Narby, whose life goes from blah to bizarro when competing kidnappers lock horns in her kitchen. And really, does the victor have to be that hot? If this is the Stockholm syndrome, it sure didn't take her long to catch it!

Lucy's kidnapper calls himself Will but looks suspiciously like former child TV star Ricky Baines, whose acting career was cut short when he himself was snatched and held for ransom 25 years ago in a notorious cold case that remains unsolved. Will's gang includes an aging French bombshell, an outlandish Irish giant with a mysterious past and a thing for Will's sister, and long-lost Cousin Hal -- a charming fellow who neglects to mention that he happens to be the twisted sociopath who kidnapped Will when he was still America's favorite little star. Hal spent the past quarter century in the slammer for an unrelated murder, and now he's out and determined to locate the $2 million ransom Will's family paid. Someone else dug up the cash while Hal was behind bars, and that sort of thing tends to make twisted sociopaths a tad grouchy.

Fortunately (or not), Lucy's bigamous ex is on the case. But so are a gay private eye in a fat suit and a bad-tempered parrot with an ax to grind, so no worries. Everyone has a secret and no one is who he seems when Kidnap Fever strikes.