Frederick Ramsay

"The author combines a Tom Clancy-like knowledge of ground-to-air missiles with a Robert Ludlum-like spy adventure to leave the reader awaiting the next Ike Schwartz." -Library Journal STARRED review Nick Reynolds, his pilot's rating barely a month old, drops off the radar one night over the Chesapeake Bay. Investigating agencies call it another tragic pilot-error accident. No trace of the plane is found. But Charlie Garland, Sheriff Ike Schwartz'...

Ike Schwartz, Sheriff of Picketsville, Virginia, and his fiancee Ruth Dennis, the President of a local university, cannot find peace and quiet at home after a trying year of academic and local politics. So, they elect to seek asylum on Scone Island, a rocky island four miles off the coast of Maine. Its lack of electricity, reliable water supply, and phone service guarantee their seclusion and peace. The fact that a suspicious accident resulted in...

The smoking remains of a car belonging to sheriff Ike Schwartz are found just outside Picketsville, Virginia. Since leaving the CIA, the sheriff has made many enemies at home and abroad. Is this a cop killing, or domestic terrorism? While the Picketsville sheriff's department mounts a manhunt for the responsible party, Ike's old CIA colleague, Charlie Garland, who has been monitoring Ike's life, joins the hunt.

Murder by witchcraft? Private investigator and former beauty queen Madeline Maclin thought she'd seen it all in her small North Carolina town of Celosia. Yet Evil Turns, fifth in the lively series by Jane Tesh, opens with a young man's body covered in strange occult symbols found in a local vineyard, putting Maddy on notice that there is more than one witch in the neighborhood. Years ago, a group of women in town formed Darkrose Coven, a practice...

In January 532, mobs ruled Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. Against a backdrop lit by raging fires, John, Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, must find those who would use the Nika Riots to dethrone the emperor. But are the ringleaders still in the city-or even alive? Porphyrius, the famous charioteer, may know more than he tells about the disappearance of two men under imperial guard. What of the brothers with a distant claim on the throne?...

Sheriff Privette doesn't take a deep interest in this cold crime, but Jesse is not letting it go. His father's 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 when he was reported dead of the Spanish flu in 1918 is missing. His heirloom watch given to him for "thirty years' service in the AM and O Railroad which is now the Norfolk and Western is also missing....

It's 1920. Jesse Sutherlin has returned to Buffalo Mountain a war hero, having after survived the trenches of World War I. Not only did he fight the enemy, reaching the rank of officer, he went a few rounds with some of his fellow soldier who viewed him as a hillbilly. Jesse is glad to be home. But his view of the world and of himself has changed. What next? He can't shake his training as an officer to follow the old lifestyle. He applies for a job...

"The dark humor, a small community in a regional mystery, and a strong supporting cast of believable characters will appeal to Margaret Maron's readers." -Library Journal STARRED review Towns like Gainesboro, North Carolina, may be small but go big on local traditions. When funeral director and part-time deputy sheriff Barry Clayton and his childhood nemesis, Archie Donovan, Jr., unite to create a fundraising float in Gainesboro's annual Apple Festival...

"Hills' latest John McIntire adventure is dark, dense, and delicious-and musn't be rushed."-Booklist STARRED review January, 1951: America is in the grip of war in Korea, the threat of nuclear annihilation looms, and Senator Joe McCarthy has begun his Red Scare. But the residents of St. Adele, Michigan, are more concerned with staying warm and shoveling snow until a bizarre ice storm brings down a towering pine. Entangled in its roots is evidence...

Ruth Harris, Sherriff Ike Schwartz's fiancée, is involved in a near fatal automobile accident. But Ike is convinced the crash was rigged. Even though he is embroiled in a close election, has no jurisdiction over the investigation, and can find no support in the usual law enforcement community, he places himself on leave and goes rogue to investigate and seek the person or persons responsible for putting Ruth in a coma. His efforts attract help from...