WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT ARTSCAPE

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, July 2004.

Artscape is the annual art festival of Callend College, in Picketsville, Virginia.  It is also the name given to the plot to steal half a billion dollars' worth of art stored in a specially-built bunker on the campus grounds.

The protagonist, Ike Schwartz, is a former CIA agent, now the Sheriff of Picketsville, whose wife was killed in a CIA foul-up in Zurich three years ago. He still has not recovered from the event, and is sort of hiding out from the world, figuratively speaking, in the little town where he grew up.  Of course the thieves, and most others, including - initially at least - the college President, Dr. Ruth Harris, and M. Armand Dillon, the owner of the collection, expect that he is a bumbling hayseed not up to the task of finding out who is behind the theft and recovering the art collection.  One body is found, and two kidnap victims are feared to be next. 

Also involved is Harry Grafton, another man recovering from the death of his wife and the downward spiral his life has taken, a former FBI agent who left the Bureau when his drinking got out of control.

Ramsay spins a masterful tale full of suspense of the nail-biting variety.  His characters, both male and female, are well-drawn, and the portrait of small-town life realistic.  This is a first novel, and a very good read.

Recommended.

Ike Schwartz has returned to the sleepy Virginia community of Picketsville, to recover from a disastrous CIA foul-up, in which his new wife was killed.  He becomes sheriff for the community which is the home of Callend College, which houses the half billion dollar Dillon art collection.  In the 50's with the threat of the cold war, a large underground bunker was constructed as a bomb shelter.  the shelter now houses the valuable art collection. A group calling itself, The New Jiahad, steals the artwork and leaves behind, one person dead and two kidnap victims.  Now it is up to Ike to try and piece together the clues and come up with the criminals.  This will not be an easy task for Ike as everyone considers him a "country bumpkin".  But Ike has a vast network of past associates to call on for the help he will need. 

Ramsay provides the reader with an excellent story and insight into sophisticated alarm systems.  I particularly enjoyed how Ike calmly let peoples feeling of his inadequacies as police officer "roll off his back". 

This was certainly a book that, for me, was hard to put down.  I am looking forward to the next book.

 

Thrilling. Exciting. Suspenseful. Fast-paced. Tightly written. All the action a reader could want. Artscape is all of these – and more. Frederick Ramsay keeps his myriad story lines clean and clear, and then weaves them all together for a bang-up ending.

Former CIA agent Isaac Schwartz is now a sheriff in rural Picketsville, Virginia. The intricately planned theft of a $500,000,000 art collection stuns the small college where it was housed. An unexpected murder leads to hostage taking. The art collection is threatened with immolation if the thieves' demands are not met. Schwartz is an easy protagonist to like. He is forceful and sure of his abilities. Not about to let anyone push him around. Knows when to accept help when it's needed. And is willing to listen to other people's points of view. His adversary, the President of the college, makes a good foil for him. The author strikes a blow against male dominance in the workforce. Women readers will cheer – men will wax apologetic.

It's hard to believe Artscape is a first novel. Ramsay is a doctor, also an educator, an Episcopal priest, a one-time Associate Dean, and he has hosted a TV spot in Baltimore. He turned to writing and has produced a first-rate adventure. I hope to see more of Sheriff Ike Schwartz.

 

"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."

 

Coming in out of the cold isn't easy for any CIA field operative, but Ike Schwartz has accomplished it.  He's now Sheriff Ike Schwartz in Picketsville, a little corner of rural Virginia, far from his old cohorts and the foul up that cost the life of his new bride.  Nothing ever happens in Picketsville and never did all the time Ike was growing up there.

Picketsville is home to the Dillon art collection, housed in an underground bunker on the campus of Callend College, an all women college with a heavy emphasis on art and art history.  All that is about to change.  The Dillon family is moving the collection to a showy new gallery in New York, and that's bad news for the college's new president, Ruth Harris.  No art means a loss of prestige but even more devastating a loss of funding that means the end of the college as it currently exists and perhaps its ultimate demise. And all this will happen in just three weeks. No one tells Sheriff Schwartz about these plans but someone does tell Vito Donati, who has been planning to steal the art collection.  Donati's plans are speeded up, including recruiting a disenchanted former FBI agent in serious financial difficulties.  Donati makes him an offer he can't refuse.

Circumstances are conspiring to make Sheriff Ike's quiet little town a hot bed of activity that will pit two ideologically disparate people -- Ike and Ruth -- into a conflict that will change their lives dramatically.

Frederick Ramsay uses a deceptively easy going pace in setting up this thriller, then gradually ratchets up the tension as the stakes grow increasingly higher.  The interaction between Ike and Ruth is intellectually stimulating and pertinent to the story, but does tend to go on too long and take away from the investigation.  The mixture of CIA and FBI expertise, along with country sheriff initiative makes for an exciting read.  I really enjoyed this book.