Nantucket Red Tickets

September 1, 2017
Current crimes and a cold case enliven a police chief's holiday season.Even though New York- and California-bred Henry Kennis has been Nantucket's chief of police for several years, he's still viewed as a relative newcomer on "the Rock," especially by the families who've lived on the island for generations. And for the working people who can barely meet expenses while the superrich off-islanders are pouring in to build bigger and bigger mansions, the annual holiday lottery of red tickets--offering $5,000 in prizes donated by local businesses--is a coveted opportunity to brighten up the holidays. In the days before the holiday and the ticket drawing, a missing Santa Claus, stolen Toys for Tots that supposedly contain treasures, and a series of drug buys keep Kennis and his staff hopping, along with the discovery that someone may be rigging the red tickets. Kennis is also trying to help blend his family--his son and daughter--with his girlfriend and her son in the new home they're renting. Just when he thinks he's succeeded, and even his family issues are working out, the daughter of the town crier gets food poisoning, recently exhumed skeletal remains start looking more and more like those of a murder victim, and the island's very own Scrooge maneuvers to avoid the consequences of a 20-year-old crime. But with the help of Kennis--the shrewd, street-wise cop who writes poetry on the side and is willing to break the rules to get the best results for the most people--fans can keep wishing for an outcome worthy of Dickens and the holiday season.In the fourth installment of this seabound series, Axelrod (Nantucket Grand, 2016, etc.) and his protagonist bring an amused, judicious, and ultimately tolerant eye to the foibles large and small of a mixed Santa's bag of characters.

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September 11, 2017
Scrooge lives in Axelrod’s enjoyable fourth mystery featuring Nantucket police chief Henry Kennis (after 2016’s Nantucket Grand). In 1997, Jackson Blum, an ambitious Nantucket entrepreneur, gun in hand, is about to bury his dead business partner, Ted Coddington. But did Blum kill him? Twenty years later, as Christmas approaches, Henry is staring down at a just-unearthed skeleton as forensics pursues its secrets. But Henry has other things to worry about, including the apparent rigging of the upcoming Red Tickets holiday raffle, growing opioid dealing, his son’s being accused of cheating on a poetry exam, and his daughter’s popularity crisis. Blum is now a mean, heartless fellow, cruel to struggling employees and family, and a classic Christmas bah-humbugger. The truth behind Coddington’s death, when it emerges, leads to a wildly sentimental finale. Nantucket’s many charms fill the pages, though readers who’ve never visited the island might lament the lack of descriptions of the lovely streets and beaches and historic buildings that Axelrod names.