Swan Song

Ed Kapenash is the Nantucket chief of police. The book starts with his retirement party, which is interrupted when Ed receives news of Triple Eight burning down and Coco’s disappearance. Ed is subsequently pulled back in for one final case, as he decides to lead the investigation. The case becomes his “swan song”—a final note to go out on. His dedication to the investigation shows his commitment to his job and his involvement in the Nantucket community, as the island has been his home for decades.

Ed is thus the main protagonist of the present timeframe, which focuses on the investigation. In the chapters about the events of the summer, he is less prominent, appearing only at the Richardsons’ infamous parties.

Ed mirrors Hilderbrand herself. Just as the case is Ed’s “swan song,” so too is this novel Hilderbrand’s last about Nantucket. Thus, Ed’s retirement is her retirement, too. The definitiveness of the decision to leave the island out of her future fiction is marked by Ed’s death at the end of the book. Ed’s fond reflections in his last moments on all that Nantucket has given him are a way for Hilderbrand to pay tribute to the influence Nantucket has had on her work as well.