Steven Axelrod - Henry Kennis Collection

Steven Axelrod - Nantucket Sawbuck: A Henry Kennis Mystery
Published January 7th 2014

When Nantucket homeowner Preston Lomax is killed in his McMansion, everyone on the island could be a suspect. Lomax lived large, owed money, and the word was spreading he was planning to stiff them all and disappear. Chief of Police Henry Kennis, a newcomer from California, finds himself investigating with help from the State Police. Together they solve the case—or so it appears. But Kennis can’t shake the feeling that they’ve missed something.
Kennis soon discovers scandals and intrigues behind the scenes in one of America’s most exclusive resort locations. This glamorous setting hosts an eclectic cast of local characters— oddball journalists, surfing carpenters, drug dealers, wealthy homeowners, and their slacker children. Kennis uncovers a truth that lies somewhere between the bad blood and the good neighbors and realizes that the real answer hits painfully close to home.



Steven Axelrod - Nantucket Five-Spot: A Henry Kennis Mystery
Published January 6th 2015

Henry Kennis, Nantucket island s poetry-writing police chief who will remind readers of Robert B. Parker s Jesse Stone and Spenser, works a second challenging case in Nantucket Five-spot. At the height of the summer tourist season, a threat to bomb the annual Boston Pops Concert could destroy the island s economy, along with its cachet as a safe, if mostly summer-time, haven for America s ruling class. The threat of terrorism brings The Department of Homeland Security to the island, along with prospects for a rekindled love affair Henry s lost love works for the DHS now. The terrorism aspects of the attack prove to be a red herring. The truth lies much closer to home. At first suspicion falls on local carpenter Billy Delavane, but Henry investigates the case and proves that Billy is being framed. Then it turns out that Henry s new suspect is also being framed for the bizarre and almost undetectable crime of framing someone else. Every piece of evidence works three ways in the investigation of a crime rooted in betrayed friendship, in delity, and the quiet poisonous feuds of small town life. Henry traces the origin of the attacks back almost twenty years and uncovers an obsessive revenge conspiracy that he must unravel now alone, discredited and on the run before further disaster strikes.



Steven Axelrod - Nantucket Grand: A Henry Kennis Mystery
Published May 3rd 2016

During a long winter and short, chilly spring, a series of disturbing incidents rock the small resort island of Nantucket. A Land Bank executive dies in a suspicious hunting accident, a prominent local family's historic summer cottage burns down in an arson fire, and a teenage girl lies comatose from a drug overdose. When spring turns to summer and the tourists flood the island, the mysterious cycle of violence spins faster. A young Jamaican boy is found dead in the harbor, a sex-for-drugs pornography ring is exposed, and a beloved local hero is murdered in cold blood. Could all of these events be part of the same sinister conspiracy? Poetry-writing Police Chief Henry Kennis, back for his third case in NANTUCKET GRAND by Steven Axelrod, doubts it. But his new girlfriend, Jane Stiles, an author of cozy mysteries, is certain that all these terrible events are connected. In one of her books, they would all be related. Henry scoffs, but as the cords pull tighter, drawing him into a scandal that would change Nantucket forever, he begins to realize that Jane might be right, after all. But is it already too late? The case comes to shattering conclusion as a vengeful father, a damaged beauty, a ruthless billionaire, and a stone-cold killer converge on the 150-foot luxury yacht that gives the book its title. Henry, putting his own life at stake, must take desperate action to set things right and save the world-his world-the little comma of scrub pine and dune grass he has come to call home.