Artscape (Ike Schwartz Series, 1) - Softcover

Ramsay, Frederick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1464208549 ISBN 13: 9781464208546

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2017

Synopsis

With a Foreword by Frederick Ramsay

"Ramsay nicely mixes town and gown, sophisticates and rustics, thugs and masterminds. Ike Schwartz seems destined for a bright future." ―Publishers Weekly

Ike Schwartz is the new sheriff of Picketsville, Virginia. He's also trying to shake the demons of his past, the memories of a day that went horribly wrong in Switzerland.

Aside from its Civil War history, Picketsville's one claim to fame is Callend College―a private women's school on the edge of town. The college is most notable for housing half of the billion dollar Dillon art collection, a treasure secured in an underground bunker originally built in the 1950s as a super bomb shelter. Its alarm system is state of the art.

But is it? Could a determined and ruthless group get away with stealing the paintings and statuary and then ransom it back for millions? The fanatics have a plan that will spell bad news for the new college president, for Sheriff Schwartz, and for a pair of college students caught in the local Lover's Lane at just the wrong moment.

About this title

About the Author

Frederick Ramsay was raised on the east coast and attended graduate school in Chicago. He was a writer of mysteries set in Virginia, (the Ike Schwartz Mysteries) Botswana Mystery series, Jerusalem Mystery series and stand-alones (Impulse, Judas: The Gospel of Betrayal). He was a retired Episcopal Priest, Academic, and author.

Review

Frederick Ramsay uses a deceptively easy going pace in setting up this thriller, then gradually ratchets

up the tension as the stakes grow increasingly higher...The mixture of CIA and FBI expertise, along with country sheriff initiative makes for an exciting read. -- Sally Powers, I Love A Mystery Newsletter

Small-town sheriffs come in all shapes and sizes, but Ike Schwartz, who dominates Ramsay's solid debut, is both engaging and extravagantly overqualified for the job. Ike retreats to his hometown of Picketsville, Va., and wins the job of sheriff after a personal disaster in a botched CIA operation. In quiet Picketsville, Ike's biggest worries are domestic squabbles, speeding tickets and an occasional problem with a Callend College student. It's Callend's superb art collection, valued at half a billion dollars and protected by a state-of-the-art security system, that changes all that. Funded by terrorists, and using a disaffected federal agent, mobsters plan to hijack the collection and hold it for ransom. The smoothly planned operation goes off with several hitches, including a killing and the taking of hostages. Callend president Ruth Harris, who believes Ike to be the stereotypical small-town sheriff, is screaming for "higher" authorities to take charge. Laid-back but decisive, Ike does that, calling on his experience, his country roots and old allies as he matches wits with the savvy professionals who committed the crime. While Ike emerges as the most fully developed character, several secondary characters stand out as well, as Ramsay nicely mixes town and gown, sophisticates and rustics, thugs and masterminds. Ike Schwartz seems destined for a bright future. -- Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1464208549
• ISBN 13: 9781464208546
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256