Secrets: An Ike Schwartz Mystery

Description

Praise for Secrets... "A thought-provoking examination of serious pastoral issues and a thoroughly entertaining mystery." -Publishers Weekly The Reverend Blake Fisher was ambitious and naive, 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.... Frederick Ramsay was raised on the east coast and attended graduate school in Chicago. He is a writer of mysteries set in Virginia, (the Ike Schwartz Mysteries), Botswana (Predators, Reapers), Jerusalem (Judas, The Eighth Veil), and a stand-alone (Impulse). He is a retired Episcopal priest, academic, and now author who lives in Arizona with his wife of thirty years, Susan. www.frederickramsay.com

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 did his 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. 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.

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