ARTSCAPE

Artscape
by Frederick Ramsay
260 pages
ISBN: 1-59058-122-9
Poisoned Pen Press
July 2004
$ 24.95


Ike Schwartz is a likeable guy who was successfully working for the CIA when he met the love of his life. While on his honeymoon in Europe, the CIA contacts him about an easy job. Reluctantly, Ike agrees to retrieve the information the CIA wants. Unfortunately, this sure thing, though seeming to be simplistic, manages to kill his new wife. In anger and frustration, Ike quits. So Ike becomes the sheriff of Picketsville, Virginia where the most excitement in town usually involves small thefts or parking tickets.

In Picketsville is an exclusive college which home to a notable art collection which was established by the Dillon family. Half of the collection is not on display but stored at the college. When it is displayed, trucks come in to collect it and move it to Cleveland for the public viewing. The bunker, where these art works are kept, is guarded and has the newest security, belongs to the college so there is a lease agreement for the art work and to financially benefit the school.

During a board meeting, the Board of Trustees has decided to move the collection from the college and to have it displayed in a new gallery in New York permanently, so as not to need the storage bunker anymore. The plan is to sell off the art work, whereas before, the bunker was leased to the school. Ruth Harris, president of the school, is completely shocked at this loss for her school. The move to New York is to happen in three weeks.

No one thinks of telling the sheriff of these events, and prior to the move, the entire collection is stolen. When the theft is discovered, no one chooses to contact the local sheriff until many hours have passed and the crime scene has already trampled over by the college security. Whoever stole the art is obviously a professional, as the security was the up-to-date and had numerous technologies used throughout the bunker. The art is “art” napped and is being held for ransom. If the ransom is not paid, the art will be burned.

Anticipating the local law enforcement to be incompetent, the college as well as the thieves, discovers that Ike’s training, expertise, intelligence, patience, and luck make him the most likely one to find the art.

The pacing of this novel is a perfect match for the reader. While expecting a small town sheriff to be laid back and incompetent, the systematic development of the theft and the relationships between people is expertly written.

Frederick Ramsay, though unknown now as an author, is definitely a name that everyone needs to watch for with new books. I hope to see more of Ike Schwartz in future writing.

As I was researching this author, I couldn’t find anything so I requested information from the publisher. Surprisingly, two weeks later this wonderful summary came from Poisoned Pen.

Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised on the campus of the McDonogh School where his father, a respected teacher researcher and scientist, taught for many years. He graduated 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. While at the University, he taught 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.Leaving academia, he tried his hand at a variety of vocations. At one time or another, he served as Vice President for Public Affairs at the Shepherd and Enoch Pratt Hospital, worked as an insurance salesman, a towman and line supervisor at Baltimore's BWI airport, a community college instructor, and substitute teacher at an elementary school. Finally, yielding to pressures from within, he accepted a position as Rector of an Episcopal church. Over the next fifteen years he served two parishes in Maryland and in May of 2000, he was recognized by the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, as a recipient of the Outstanding Ordained Ministry award.

He is now retired from full-time ministry and writes fiction.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 and his works are displayed around the world.He lives in Surprise, Arizona with his wife and partner, Susan.