Secrets - Softcover

Book 2 of 10: Ike Schwartz

Ramsay, Frederick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590582861 ISBN 13: 9781590582862

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2006

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"A thought-provoking examination of serious pastoral issues and a thoroughly entertaining mystery that succeeds on all levels without recourse to bombast or carnage." �Publishers Weekly

The Reverend Blake Fisher was ambitious and na�ve, a combination that led to his exile to Picketsville, Virginia, where his bishop has named him the new vicar. He's off to a poor start what with a corpse in the sanctuary, his gun stolen, his congregation in open rebellion, and the local law breathing down his neck. Then the Vicar's secretary, Millicent Bass, an incorrigible gossip and snoop, follows Waldo to an early grave.

For Sheriff Ike Schwartz, two murders and the unexplained presence of the FBI in his town wreak havoc with keeping the peace. They don't do his romance with the president of Callend College for Women any good either. Ruth Harris is threatened by the murders on the one hand, and on the other by her faculty, who dismiss Ike as just another country cop. If only they knew how overqualified Ike actually is....

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Review

The murder in the vestry will turn a dozen lives upside down... Ramsay follows his solid debut, Artscape (2004), with an even better sophomore effort, in which Picketsville, Va., sheriff Ike Schwartz looks into the murder of church organist Waldo Templeton at the struggling Stonewall Jackson Memorial Episcopal Church. The little congregation's vicar, Blake Fisher, recently appointed by outside authority, is at odds with its entrenched cadre led by the church secretary, Millicent Bass. Millicent is determined not to let Blake have the upper hand even though he's nominally her boss. The normal tensions that might be expected by such an appointment are exacerbated not only by Waldo's murder but by other circumstances that Ramsay skillfully limns as he explores the conflicts and the growths (healthy and malignant) that evolve from it. Schwartz proves as adept at navigating the philosophical/religious waters as he is at handling the more conventional aspects of crime solving. The result is both a thought-provoking examination of serious pastoral issues and a thoroughly entertaining mystery that succeeds on all levels without recourse to bombast or carnage. --Publishers Weekly(Aug.) I'icketsville, VA, has barely recovered from the theft of Callend College's fabulous art collection (Artscape) when the Episcopal Church secretary discovers the church or-ganist's corpse at the altar. Enter series protagonist Ike Schwartz, the laid-back, smarter-than-he-looks sheriff who can't figure out why anyone would want to kill a bad musician. But secret and not-so-se-cret pasts abound, as further murder testi-fies. Why, for example, does the FBI have an interest in the deceased? And how can a newly spiritually energized priest over-come the stigma attached to his previous post? Solid plotting and familiar characters make this a pleasant diversion. Ramsay lives in Surprise, AZ. --Library Journal Praise for Artscape "Ramsay nicely mixes town and gown, sophisticates and rustics, thugs and masterminds. Ike Schwartz seems destined for a bright future." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon graduating from Washington and Lee University in Virginia, he received his doctorate from the University of Illinois - Westside Medical Campus. After a stint in the Army, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, teaching Anatomy, Embryology and Histology; engaged in research and also served as an Associate Dean. During this time he also pursued studies in theology and in 1971 was ordained an Episcopal priest. He is the author of several scientific and general articles, tracts, theses, and co-author of The Baltimore Declaration. He is an accomplished public speaker and once hosted a television spot, Prognosis, on the evening news for WMAR-TV, Baltimore. He is also an iconographer with works displayed around the world. He lives in Surprise, Arizona, with his wife and partner, Susan. Secrets is his second novel.

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