Stranger Room (Ike Schwartz Mystery) [Paperback]

Frederick Ramsay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ike Schwartz Mystery | Publication Date: June 1, 2009

The elderly Jonathan Lydell III is proud of his family history. He is related to the Virginia Lees (both Light Horse Harry and Robert E. Lee) and to the Custis family (and thus to George Washington). But these connections donat seem to matter to the current generation. In fact, they seem utterly disinterested in family, history, or position. But for Lydell, family history is the only real thing leftathat and his antebellum house.
Lydell is committed to restoring the home to its antebellum configuration, complete with a stranger roomaan attached room with its own entrance, separately locked and kept for use by unknown travelers. Found in many family homes in the 1800s, the room was intended to protect the family from unsavory guests.
Nearly 150 years ago, an inexplicable murder took place in the locked stranger room of the Lydell house. The murderer was never caught. As far as Lydell is concerned, this brutal history just adds to the rich character of the house. But when a new, identical murder is committed in the same room, not even sheriff Ike Schwartz and FBI agent Karl Hedrick can explain it. Why would history repeat itself? What could explain these identical murders? Could the Lydell family history hold the key? The fourth novel in the Ike Schwartz series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two locked-room murders, nearly 150 years apart, confound Sheriff Ike Schwartz of Picketsville, Va., in Ramsay's suspenseful fourth regional mystery (after 2007's Buffalo Mountain). Schwartz discovers that both crimes, with sinister undertones of Poe, occurred at the antebellum-era Lydell mansion. The estate's owner, Jonathan Lydell IV, is distraught to find his renovated stranger room (a guest room with its own outside entrance) soiled by death and the intrusion of law enforcement. While Schwartz and acting deputy Karl Hedrick (on loan from the FBI) contend with Lydell's condescension and racism, they're soon distracted by a growing meth epidemic, vandalism and even another death in Picketsville. Ramsay skillfully weaves historical fact into his story, all the while blending brisk action with excellent characterization. Schwartz has matured throughout the series, and readers will eagerly await his next adventure. (Aug.) ""
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

A “stranger room” was an addition attached to the main house but with a separate entrance, allowing travelers not wishing to stay at an inn to stop without disturbing the privacy of the family home. In Picketsville, Virginia, two murders a century and a half apart in the same stranger room offer Sheriff Ike Schwartz much to unravel. Mr. Lydell, owner of the house, lives in the past, where people knew their place, and seem unconcerned by the deaths, even though one of the victims was his daughter. The unraveling of the mystery is done at a leisurely pace, allowing time for romances among the characters and for plenty of sometimes awkwardly introduced asides on prejudice, race relations, southern small-town mores, and Civil War history. All in all, this is an engaging enough small-town mystery with plenty of local ambience. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590586484
• ISBN-13: 978-1590586488
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,138,205 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

3.0 out of 5 stars pretty good mystery with some faults Ill go into., May 11, 2010

By 

clifford "akitonmyers" (Portland, OR, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stranger Room (Ike Schwartz Mystery) (Paperback)

Im going backwards in this series. I started with Ramsay's book 'Choker'. Both 'Choker' and 'Stranger Room' have the same flaws and the same strengths in my mind.

First, Ramsay has a few story lines going on here. I didn't feel like any of them were explored to the extent that would have made them satisfying. Though Ramsay does an adequate job of telling them, the struggle to unearth the mysteries here are not very challenging. They all sort of unfold without passion.

The book gets its name from the primary mystery. If you have read a lot of old Agatha Christie books along with her contemporaries, you will have come across the locked room mystery. Every author of that period seemingly had to write at least one. This one has a very 2 dimensional old family with a 100% despicable old man who hates every one as the primary suspect.

The second mystery deals with an old deputy from the police force that Ike has taken over. That deputy is intent on taking control of the town again and Ramsay manages to get in a few altercations before ending things quickly. Nothing original here.

The third mystery isn't really a mystery but a couple of short asides that deal with Ike and his lady friend & other short episodes involving the deputies on the force.

I would give the stories here 1 star. They are pretty bad and unfold with no passion from the author.

The second thing I did not like at all was the multiple first person's here. I think the book must have jumped into the mind of a dozen characters. All of them were very very very similar. The only time they were at all different was when Ramsay would make a caricature of a character like with the prime suspect of the locked room mystery here.

Its obvious Ramsay wants to have a huge rambling soap opera style series of books that explores the lives of the townsfolk. I applaud the effort. Ed McBain did this with his 87th Precinct series perfectly. Ramsay should take a few notes.

Why I am giving this book 3 stars instead of 1 and gave 'choker' 4 stars instead of 1, Ramsay has a gift as a writer. His prose slides painlessly off of the page. Its a pleasure to read. If only his stories were up to his writing...

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical knowledge takes a dangerous turn in this gripping mystery, December 12, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stranger Room (Hardcover)

Elder Jonathan Lydell III is proud of his Southern history connections - connections which don't seem to matter to the current generation. Nearly 150 years an unexplained murder took place inside the Lydell's locked stranger room - and the murderer was never caught. When an identical murder is committed in the newly restored room, historical knowledge takes a dangerous turn in this gripping mystery.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous investigative tale, August 17, 2008

By 

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

This review is from: Stranger Room (Hardcover)

In 1864, The Staunton Spectator newspaper reported that a traveler Mister Franklin Brian was found murdered in the stranger room attached to the Bolton home of Captain Jonathan Lydell, Now a century and half later, elderly Jonathan Lydell IV informs the local sheriff department that someone murdered guest Anton Grotz in his restored antebellum mansion's stranger room with the key inside sealing shut the room.

Picketsville, Virginia Sheriff Ike Schwartz with the able help of FBI loaner acting deputy Karl Hendrick investigates the apparent modern day locked room homicide; they find a connection to the cold case Civil War era killing and eerily Poe. As they dig deeper while working other crimes, Jonathan displays his outrage that the cops are turning his estate into a crime scene as he overtly displays his racism and his superiority, but fails to deter Ike or Karl from performing their job.

Using the STRANGER ROOM historical concept of a place attached yet totally separated from a house as the basis for a contemporary locked room police procedural, Frederick Ramsay provides a fabulous investigative tale. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Jonathan and his bed and breakfast employee Mrs. Antonelli fail to rouse the guest and never slows down. The cast is solid especially the "Old Virginian" Jonathan with his don't call me Jon instead call me Mr. attitude. Fans will appreciate this strong regional police procedural (see SECRETS and BUFFALO MOUNTAIN for Ike's previous Virginia cases).

Harriet Klausner