Countdown: 2 (Jesse Sutherlin Mysteries, 2) - Softcover

Ramsay, Frederick

3.76

21 ratings by Goodreads

9781464210594: Countdown: 2 (Jesse Sutherlin Mysteries, 2)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1464210594 ISBN 13: 9781464210594

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2018

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

It's 1928, Jesse Sutherlin now has his own family and has made a success at the sawmill below Virginia's Buffalo Mountain working for JG Edwards. The country's economy is booming. And then David Privette, the sheriff who succeeded Dalton P. Franklin with whom Jesse had a run-in or two in Copper Kettle, arrives with surprising news - the body of Jesse's father has just been discovered in the pit at Smith's West Oxford Street ice house operation. How could this be? In 1918 a man had brought the family the news that Sutherlin, Sr., had died of the Spanish flu while seeking work up in Norfolk, Virginia.

Sheriff Privette doesn't take a deep interest in this cold crime, but Jesse is not letting it go. The body has been found with a money belt fat with fifty dollars, a small fortune. Twenty of the seventy dollars that Sutherlin Sr. was carrying is missing. So is his heirloom watch given to him for "thirty years' service in the AM and O Railroad which is now the Norfolk and Western. It was gold and big as an onion." What happened to the money and to "the Onion"? Was all this the work of a thief? Who was the man who showed up at the Sutherlins' door? There's not much to work with. But that won't stop Jesse who investigates as the 1928 boom progresses relentlessly toward 1929.

"Eight years after Copper Kettle we drop in on Jesse Sutherlin and his wife Serena, plagued by murders old and new beneath the advancing shadow of the Great Depression. Plot, characters, voice all still at that same gold standard Ramsay set from first book to this, his last." --Dana Stabenow, bestselling author of the Kate Shugak Series

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"The cast is delightful, especially Jesse's wife, Serena, a 'sweet mountain girl' who's smarter and tougher than he is and who can't resist letting him know. And a sheriff who hates criminals because they make him work. This has always been an underappreciated series, but this volume is good enough to set off plenty of blips on readers' radar screens." (starred review)--Don Crinklaw "Booklist "

"The late Ramsay's second and last adventure for Jesse Sutherlin brings his hero home from the Great War to a world unknowingly on the brink of further disaster...Ramsay's final salute to his hero, completed by his friend and admirer Dana Stabenow, is a fitting conclusion to a career spent chronicling the exploits of hardworking folks in rural America."--Kirkus Reviews

"Unforgettable characters lift Ramsay's sequel to 2017's Copper Kettle, set in 1928 in Floyd, Va....While unraveling the mystery is fun, the novel's real pleasure lies in experiencing life - with all its kindnesses, sorrows, and triumphs - through the eyes of Jesse and his astute wife, Serena. Readers new to Ramsay (1936-2017) will want to read his earlier books after finishing this."--Publishers Weekly

"This novel is a sequel to Ramsey's mystery Copper Kettle and occurs eight years later. ...He brings his characters to life while providing a rich and thorough picture of the pre-Depression years and a masterful command of the social customs and history of the era. This well-researched novel is lavished in historical detail. The mystery of Jesse's father's death is not disclosed until this novel's climax, which made the book a page-turner until the end."--Historical Novel Society

About the Author:

Frederick Ramsay had published fourteen books that range from historicals (The Jerusalem Mysteries), to Africa (The Botswana Mysteries), to police procedurals (The Ike Schwartz Mysteries). In addition, his stand-alone Impulse was named one of the Best 100 Books of the Year in 2006 by Publishers Weekly. He was a retired Episcopal Priest, Academic, and author.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.