Property of Blood - Magdalen Nabb

On a roll with Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, Property of Blood offered a much easier plot than The Monster of Florence - Olivia Brunamonti, American model-turned-Florentine-aristo-cum-designer, is kidnapped by dastardly Sardinians.

The novel provides gripping account of the "kidnappee's" experience, blindfolded and temporarily rendered deaf so as to be unable to identify her captors, Olivia finds herself striking up a friendship with one of the kinder members of the gang - à la Stockholm syndrome.

Guarnaccia brings his usual common sense approach to tracking down the kidnappers and the victim. He also manages to persuade the family to cooperate with the police - no mean feat given Italy's range of anti-kidnapping laws which kick in as soon as the kidnapping is reported, freezing the victim's assets and forcing the families to negotiate through police channels. Fascinating.

However, when, eventually, a ransom is demanded of Olivia's family we see two very different reactions from her son and her daughter....

Amazon.co.uk link: Property of Blood - Magdalen Nabb