Nantucket Penny - (Henry Kennis Nantucket Mysteries) by Steven Axelrod (Paperback)

About the Book

"The old Nantucket tradition of throwing a penny off the ferry to ensure your eventual return resonates for locals and visitors alike. But that ritual takes a sinister turn when, one by one, people start to disappear and the telltale pennies are found at the scene of the kidnappings. Someone is trying to send a frightening message. The race is on to save the missing people, and in order to stop this chilling crime wave, Chief Henry Kennis will have to delve into their personal histories and the scandals of the past"--

Book Synopsis

It's wedding season on Nantucket, and two unwelcome guests are crashing the party...

When people begin disappearing from the island, Nantucket Police Chief Henry Kennis is baffled. The victims are not random--they're all Nantucket High School alumni. And the only clues left behind are pennies dropped at the sites of the kidnappings. There's an old island tradition of tossing a penny from the ferry as you depart to ensure your eventual return... Has someone come back to the island with a sinister grudge to settle?

Sippy Bascomb and Doug Fraker were childhood best friends--bonded as fellow victims of bullying at the hands of their classmates. The two men hadn't seen each other in years, but when Sippy comes across Doug's blog airing grievances from the past, the two reconnect and hatch a plan to return to the island. Both seek revenge, but Doug wants their tormentors to face a tribunal and appoints himself judge, jury, and executioner...

When Henry's fiancée joins the missing, he enlists the aid of former intelligence agent Mitch Stone, a native who has returned to the island hoping for a peaceful retirement. The two men know they must find where their friends are being put on trial for their childhood crimes--before their deadly sentences can be carried out.

Review Quotes

"Patterns in disparate actions and revenge are the themes that carry this thriller from a series of vignettes involving many of the island's year-round residents to an exciting culmination of the intertwined plots." -- Booklist