Nantucket Sawbuck: A Henry Kennis Mystery

Ostentatious and totally corrupt, Preston Lomax, owner of a McMansion on the Massachusetts resort island of Nantucket, has plenty of enemies in Axelrod's engrossing first novel, all of whom would love to see him dead. These include his drunken sons, Eric and Danny; his unloved daughter, Kathleen; his two-timing wife, Diana; and carious unpaid drug dealers, bookies, and call girls. It comes as no surprise when Kathleen finds Lomax murdered and his mouth stuffed with "Nantucket Sawbucks" (local slang for $100 bills). Nantucket police chief Henry Kennis, who recently arrested Eric and Danny in a barroom brawl and stopped Diana for speeding with married housepainter Mike Henderson in her car, investigates. Numerous other crimes involving housebreaking, illegal drugs, and teen suicide distract the chief, and many suspects and bystanders are unflattering stereotypes not likely to endear the author to his home island's Chamber of Commerce. Nonetheless, this is a promising start for a new author. (Jan.)