Books like Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen

Grange, Florida—home to strange miracles—from a weeping fiberglass Madonna to Road‑Stain Jesus—quietly awaits a new legend when JoLayne Lucks unexpectedly wins the state lottery. Her triumph attracts two more hopefuls, Bodean Gazzer and his sidekick Chub, who scheme to claim the $28 million jackpot for a rogue militia poised to disrupt national order. The stakes spike when JoLayne’s ticket is stolen amid a violent assault; her forest follows the danger, devastated by strip‑mall developers. Determined to protect her cherished woods, she enlists Tom Krome, a city‑slicked investigative journalist disillusioned by heaving tabloids, to help recover her prize and uncover the graver plot. Their partnership thrusts them into a bizarre, media‑fueled showdown that tests both their wits and the strange civic myths of Grange.

First publish date: 1997