Nantucket Counterfeit

July 2, 2018
Fans of traditional mysteries will welcome Axelrod’s entertaining fifth outing for Nantucket police chief Henry Kennis (after 2017’s Nantucket Red Tickets). Despite having lived on Nantucket for a decade, Henry is still considered an outsider by island residents, many of whom are frightfully rich and tend to treat the police as they would a particularly dim-witted member of their household staff. Called to the home of Horst Refn, the artistic director of the Nantucket Theater Lab, Henry finds the man’s strangled body stuffed in the basement meat freezer. Who would want to kill Refn? Just about everyone, it turns out. “Suspects and motives—they’re everywhere, like ticks in the moors,” muses the wryly observant Henry. The narrative flows along at a good clip, with eddies of philosophy and humor. The witty dialogue perfectly matches the multifaceted characters. That Henry believes in an “old school low-tech version of police work” allows the reader to readily follow the clues. Those fond of CSI gadgetry will have to look elsewhere.

August 1, 2018
It's a good thing the Nantucket Island police chief loves to solve puzzles, because he finds himself investigating another doozy.Chief Henry Kennis, a poet and LAPD veteran, is slowly adjusting to Nantucket society, with its sharp contrasts between the working class and the often vulgar rich who plant their mansions all over the island. He's folded his two children into a family unit with his girlfriend, author Jane Stiles, and her son, though the presence of both exes on the island provides constant opportunities for drama. Someone sets the cat among the pigeons by murdering Horst Refn, the Artistic Director of the Nantucket Theatre Lab, a man so widely hated that Kennis expects a hard time winnowing down the suspects. Even Jane comes under suspicion when a neighbor describes someone who looks like her running from the scene. Refn has been seducing and then blackmailing members of the upper crust, at least one of whom has been witnessed fighting with him. Although Kennis likes to use his keen sense of observation to solve crimes, he's not above using the skills of a computer-savvy officer who turns up some shocking news. Because Refn, or whoever he really is, is using the name of a dead man, the myriad suspects from his current life may well be joined by more from his mysterious past. Alibis abound, but closer scrutiny shows that many are bogus. The Theatre Lab's current production is a murder mystery whose plot uncomfortably echoes real life. Just when Kennis thinks he's discovered the killer, new information pops up that proves him wrong. Hacking his way through a tangle of conflicting stories is a tough job, but the introspective detective is up to the task.The fifth in Axelrod's clever series (Nantucket Red Tickets, 2017, etc.) casts a cynical eye on Nantucket's decidedly diverse denizens. Only the most careful readers, undistracted by his satire, will figure out whodunit.

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