Nantucket Countefeit

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"Life imitates art far more than art imitates life," said Oscar Wilde. In Nantucket Counterfeit by Steven Axelrod, Police Chief Henry Kennis thinks the current play performed by the Nantucket Theater Lab seems to be imitating life. The playwright Blair Hollister has written a show entitled Who Dun It. When much hated artistic director Horst Refn is found stuffed in a freezer, it's up to Kennis to sort through the many suspects to determine who dun it.

And there are plenty of suspects. Nantucket's wealthy residents are reluctant to speak about anything personal and feel they are above the law, so Kennis struggles with interviewing them. When he does speak with them, he is sure many of them are lying some of the time.

Through his team's research, they discover Refn was blackmailing many people on the island and making a good living from it. But more importantly Horst Refn, was really not Horst Refn, but Barry Pomeroy. Prior to becoming Refn, Pomeroy participated in several scams to defraud many people of money as well as blackmailing others.

In addition counterfeit bills were found at the scene of the crime and those lead Kennis in several directions. As he begins to draw closer to arresting his suspect, several other things fall into place almost leading to Kennis arrest the wrong person and causing the death of another.

This is the fifth book in the series, but it can be read without having read the others in the series. Henry Kennis is a witty character who writes poetry to the chagrin of his ex-wife. A thoroughly enjoyable mystery.