Nick Polo Books In Order

Publication Order of Nick Polo Books

The Nick Polo book series is a successful series of thriller, crime fiction, detective fiction, and mystery stories. It is written by a renowned American writer named Jerry Kennealy. The series consists of 12 books in total, released between 1987 and 2020. Every book of this popular series features the chief protagonist in the role of Nick Polo. He is described as a private investigator hailing from San Francisco. Nick is smart, slick, and hardworking. He never fails in any of his investigations and rests only after putting the culprits to justice. Other essential characters mentioned by Jerry Kennealy in this series include Ronald Dettman, Uncle Pee-Wee, Johnny Aiello, Jack Slate, Victor Mardesa, Angelo Baroni, Sr., Jane Tobin, Scratchy, Father Tomasello, Anna, Ogodie Khan, Paul Bernier, Mrs. Damonte, and several others. Jerry Kennealy has set the plots in other locations in addition to San Francisco, including Canada, London, Miami, etc.

Nick Polo is shown dealing with cases related to smuggling, murder, pornography, and kidnapping. Each of the novels of the series achieved success in far and wide places and entertained a large number of readers in all the places of their release. Nick is depicted as a detective, who does not mind bending the rules sometimes to get to the criminals or do things that would help him to reach the criminals. Because of his determined service to people with high connections, Nick Polo makes connections in the high society, most of whom become his indebted friends.

A successful book written in the Nick Polo series by author Jerry Kennealy is entitled ‘Polo’s Ponies’. It was released by the Speaking Volumes publication in 2013, after its original release in 1988. The book opens by mentioning the discovery of a dead body. The marks of the hooves of a horse on the victim’s body made it clear as to what weapon was used to commit the crime. It was the second killing of its kind in a span of a few days that sent the entire city into fear and shock. Nick Polo goes to meet his date at a race court. When he returns after visiting the men’s room for a long time, his date asks him if he is alright. Also, she asks him to do his pant’s zip. The reason why Nick Polo is not looking in his best shape is that he has just witnessed the dead body of one of the employees of his Uncle Pee Wee in one of the stalls of the washroom. The victim is a small-time hood, who went by the name Johnny Aiello. Such a shocking discovery is enough to make any man forget to zip up.

Nick also appears to be in discomfort because the police have arrived to arrest Solo as Johnny’s murderer, the poor horse who is notorious for his aggressive behavior at times. Later, when Nick Polo goes to meet a client in relation to another case, he discovers another body. This time, the client has been brutally murdered. Once again, there are prints of a horse’s toes on the client’s body, hinting that he has been killed by one of the horses owned by him. As Nick’s investigation of both cases brings him closer to the main culprit, he manages to prevent himself from being caught every time. But, Nick is not going to rest until he has solved both the mysteries and made the real murderer pay for his crime. Even though the odds are against him, he knows that he has his investigative skills and determination by his side to do whatever it takes to catch the culprit and bring him to justice.

Another excellent novel written by penned by Jerry Kennealy in this series is known as ‘Polo in the Rough’. It was released by St Martin’s Press in 1989. The lead characters featured in this book include Jack Slate, Vanilla, Nick Polo, etc. Initially, it is mentioned he Nick Polo has begun his new task as a bodyguard. It appears to be an easy job for him as he is only required to roam around Pebble Beach for several hours every day and then spend the evenings free from any work. The time for which Nick remains on the beach is spent as a personal security guard to a writer, who goes by the name Jack Slate. Jack is looking forward to playing in an illustrious golf tournament in Carmel-by-the-Sea, while Nick thinks of just watching it. There have been several death threats hurled at Jack Slate for his work in investigative journalism. This is the reason why he has hired the services of Nick Polo to be by his side whenever he steps out of his home and guard him.

The current manuscript that he is working is believed to a hot one and has put his life at risk. Later, Jack Slate dies in an accidental plane crash long with a stranger, who is later found to be an FBI agent. Nick’s job profile undergoes a sudden change after Jack’s death. Now, he has to find out whether Jack’s death was an accidental one or someone has his hand in it. Jack’s lawyer, who had gotten him acquainted with Nick Polo, asks Nick to gather the explosive manuscript that Jack was working on before it gets snatched by someone else. Nick sees it as a rather simple job, but a delightful obstacle stands in his way in the form of a beautiful lady named Vanilla.

Jerry Kennealy is a reputed writer of mystery and crime fiction stories. He is particularly well known for writing the Nick Polo detective mystery series. Kennealy was born in San Francisco, California in 1938. He is an ex-policeman from the San Francisco police department. After leaving the police work, he became a private investigator and then used the extensive investigative knowledge to write his books. When Kennealy was working in the police force, he used often turn up whenever anyone called for help or at the scene of a burglary, etc. This line of work got him acquainted with regular people, who helped him to create characters in his novels. During his PI career, Kennealy came across many interesting cases.

With his knowledge and expertise in detective work, Kennealy was able to give himself an authentic and unique perspective. It was in 1987 that he took to writing for the first time and came up with the debut Nick Polo novel. Besides the Nick Polo books, Kennealy also achieved success with other standalone thriller novels of his career. A few of his books have received nominations for the Shamus Award. The PWA has awarded him Kenealy a lifetime achievement prize for one of his books, The Eye. In addition to writing under his original name, he has penned some of his books under the pseudonyms of James Brant and Paul Boray. Other achievements of his writing career include being a proud member of the MWA and PWA.