“I loved Zapped . . . Good writing with humour and a dab of irony . . . had me hooked right from the opening chapter.” —Jenni Buhr, Goodreads review “Verburg is a must for fans of the ‘smart cozy’. . . a wonderful cast of characters I hope to meet again soon.” —Sandra J. McGibbon, Amazon review A posh waterfront lawn party. To Cape Cod inventor Pam Nash, it’s the perfect VIP launch for Zappa, her new “Taser for pacifists.” To Pam's daughter Ashley, it’s the perfect way to celebrate turning 21—and lose whoever's been texting her death threats. To Haggis Mack, the rock bagpiper Ashley's divorcing, it's a shot at clawing back his marriage. To soup-chef Lydia Vivaldi and her Wampanoag partner Mudge Miles, it's a catering offer they can't refuse. To Quansett's most famous recluse, artist-author Edgar Rowdey, who loathes parties, it can't end soon enough. Sunshine and seafood, champagne and cake, military brass and venture capitalists—what could go wrong? Lydia spots the grim answer floating face down beside the Nashes' dock. Did Ashley’s stalker hit the wrong target? As rumors, dark secrets, and violence ripple through their village, Edgar Rowdey is forced to switch from bystander to sleuth. CJ Verburg is an award-winning playwright and director and the author of best-selling books including two international literature anthologies. She wrote her first prize-winning play at 16 and her second, a rock musical, in 1968. Alongside a career in publishing, she helped found the Provincetown Playwrights' Lab and headed theater companies in Provincetown, Bourne, and Cotuit. Meanwhile, as a freelance science editor and writer, she worked on projects from Powers of Ten (Scientific American Library) to Ghosts in the Mind's Machine (Norton). She instigated and produced most of Edward Gorey's original "entertainments" on Cape Cod, adapted Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle as a workshop for the Barnstable Comedy Club, and directed the unofficial U.S. debut of Peter Shaffer's The Gift of the Gorgon at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, among other projects. She's currently working on new plays and short and long fiction, including a historical saga set in the 1850s.