Artscape (Ike Schwartz Mysteries (Paperback)) [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Frederick Ramsay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ike Schwartz Mysteries (Paperback) | Publication Date: June 1, 2006

Ike Schwartz thought he could return to his hometown and ditch the demons that pursue him. More than anything, he wanted to blot out the pain and anger that came when his wife of less than a month was gunned down in a CIA foul-up. So he buried himself as sheriff in rural Picketsville, Virginia, a community indistinguishable from any of the hundreds of small towns that hang like beads on Interstate 81 running from Pennsylvania down to Georgia.
Aside from its Civil War history, Picketsville's only real claim to fame is Callend College, a private women's school located just within its corporate limits. The college is notable, in turn, for housing one half of the billion dollar Dillon art collection, carefully secured in an underground bunker originally built in the late 1950s as a super bomb shelter.
It's bad news for both Dr. Ruth Harris, the newly hired president of the college, and for a shadowy group whose services have been contracted by Middle Eastern fanatics--The New Jihad--when the collection is scheduled to be removed to New York. The plan is to steal the half billion dollars worth of fine art and statuary, and ransom it back for millions.
With the closure of the facility imminent, the operation must be moved forward, which, in turn, creates unanticipated risks and problems. And everyone dismisses Ike Schwartz as a stereotypical rural sheriff. He is, however, a man with uncommon skills, a tough hide, and a notable past--all of which make an arresting first novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Not quite mystery, not quite espionage, this occasionally awkward hybrid still manages to juggle its various tangents well enough to keep the pages turning. When Sheriff Ike Schwartz is called in to investigate the theft of a multimillion-dollar art collection from a local college, the trail is almost cold, college officials having deemed local law enforcement incapable of handling anything more than drunken students and traffic violators. But Schwartz is no rube. A former CIA agent, he is better prepared than most to handle matters, and it doesn't take him long to find out that a former FBI agent is involved in the crime and that the thieves are merely henchmen for folks who want the art for something other than its black-market value. A romance for Ike adds spice to the mix, as does the unraveling of the events surrounding Ike's quitting the Company. Ramsay tries to get cozy with a few too many characters here, but Ike's personal story is appealing enough to get readers over the occasional bumps in the road. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; US ed edition (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590582853
• ISBN-13: 978-1590582855
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and received his doctorate in Anatomy from the University of Illinois. After a stint in the Army, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine where he taught Gross and Micro Anatomy and Embryology. Collaborated and did independent research in the immunological system and its relation to cancer. He is the author of several scientific research and general technical articles.
During this time he also pursued studies in theology and in 1971 was ordained an Episcopal priest. After leaving the University, he served two congregations in the Baltimore area full time and several part-time.
He is now retired from full-time ministry and writes fiction.
His first novel, Artscape, was published by Poisoned Pen Press and launched July, 2004. His second, Secrets, (Poisoned Pen Press), was published in August of 2005 and Impulse, July 2006, was cited by Publishers Weekly as one of the one hundred best books 2006. He is the author of the Ike Schwartz mysteries, A series beginning with Predators set in Botswana, and a stand alone, religious historical fiction-Judas the Gospel of betrayal.
He is an iconographer, an accomplished public speaker and once hosted a television spot, Prognosis, on WMAR-TV, Baltimore. He currently lives in Surprise, Arizona with his wife and partner, Susan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong crime thriller, July 27, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artscape (Ike Schwartz Mysteries) (Hardcover)

While CIA operative Ike Schwartz was vacationing with his wife in Europe, he was asked to pick up a package, a simple assignment that ended with the death of Ike's wife, his expulsion from Switzerland and his leaving the CIA. He returns to his hometown Picketsville, Virginia where he is elected the county's sheriff. It is an easy job and for three years, he does little more than answer domestic disturbances and gives out traffic tickets.

One day he is called out to Callend College, a private woman's school, because a $50 million dollar art collection was stolen from an underground vault protected by one of the most sophisticated security systems in the world. The terrorist group the New Jihad has contracted out to the Mafia the job of exchanging the art for diamonds. One of the thieves is an ex-FBI agent, who wants out of the operation when a security guard is killed and two college students are taken hostage. Though Harry works from the inside and Ike uses all his skills and resources, there is little chance that both men will achieve their goals.

Frederick Ramsay's debut novel is well worth reading because he has a fresh voice that will resonate with readers who like crime thrillers with lots of action and interesting characters. The theft of the artwork brings Ike out of his three-year limbo and he starts a relationship with the college president. The ex-FBI agent is as much a hero as Ike even though he gets no credit for helping the authorities. Let us hope that there will be more novels starring Ike, an intelligent tactician who endears himself to the reader.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A standout first novel in a crowded field, July 15, 2004

By 

Emerson D. Champion (Pasadena, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artscape (Ike Schwartz Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Ike Schwartz is the Sheriff in the sleepy town of Picketsville, Virginia, home to Callend College and a 500 million dollar art collection stored in a former super-bomb shelter with its state of the art alarm system.

Ike's days are fairly routine, until the day the unthinkable happens: the art collection is stolen. The ransom: 50 million dollars in untraceable diamonds, or the collection will be burned. The thieves have already burned one painting to prove they aren't kidding.

Can Ike get the collection back before any more paintings are destroyed? There are twists and turns along the way, things hiding just beneath the surface, and much is not what it seems.

Artscape is a taut, fast-moving crime story. The characters are well developed, the plot moves along without dragging, and there are a number of delightful twists that I never saw coming.

One thing I especially liked is that this is a book for an adult audience that uses believable, everyday language without resorting to the 4 letter profanities so common in film & cable TV.

If you like any of the crime fiction authors such as Patricia Cornwell or John Sanford, you will love Artscape. Highly recommended.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Debut, July 21, 2004

By 

Cynthia Chow (Kaneohe, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artscape (Ike Schwartz Mysteries) (Hardcover)

It?s not often that you find a novel that manages to incorporate an academic mystery, a romance, art theft, and even international espionage all in one thriller. Discovering one that done well and flows seamlessly together is even rarer, but that?s what you?ll find in Frederick Ramsay?s first mystery featuring Picketsville, Virginia Sheriff Ike Schwarz.

A former CIA agent, Ike retreated to his small hometown following the tragic assassination of his wife in a botched agency mission. Content with the petty crimes, drunken brawls, and domestic squabbles he encounters it?s a whole different story when the local women?s college?s entire valuable art collection is stolen in an elaborate and complex burglary that leaves behind bodies but few clues. The college president, thirty-something Ruth Harris, was raised by activists and immediately pegs Ike as a bigoted, simple-minded, incompetent rural sheriff and demands that he call in high authorities. Ike agrees, but his experience and skills as a former agent leave him more than prepared to dual with the thieves who have a secret agenda and are more involved with the college than it first appeared.

Ike Schwartz emerges as an extremely complex and likeable character whose subtle wit and intelligence see him through the tragedy that disrupted his life. Although Ruth?s knee-jerk liberalism makes her an irritating character at first, her relationship with Ike provides entertainment as the two spar and gradually realize their attraction for one another. Ramsay?s other characters are similarly engaging, especially a former federal agent whose late wife?s medical bills forced him to help plan the theft and who later develops a bond with one of the hostages. The plot moves along swiftly and concludes with a twist that is both surprising and tragic. This looks to be the beginning of a promising series and the reappearance of Ike Schwartz can?t happen soon enough.