The Vulture (Ike Schwartz Series, 10) - Softcover

Ramsay, Frederick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1464204780 ISBN 13: 9781464204784

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2015

Synopsis

Marry new technology to old-fashioned policing and you've got something special. The car is found just outside Picketsville, Virginia, a smoking ruin of twisted metal and shattered glass. It takes only a glance to confirm that this is Ike Schwartz's car. Ever since he left the CIA, the incorruptible Picketsville sheriff has made enemies at home and abroad. Now, one has caught up with him, with a bomb powerful enough to turn quiet Main Street into a smoking crater. Is this a cop killing-or domestic terrorism? The town plunges into mourning, and Ike's wife Ruth, the president of the local college, puts on a brave face as the sheriff's department organizes a manhunt, the likes of which Picketsville has never seen. Back at the CIA, Ike's old colleague Charlie Garland joins the hunt, becoming fixated on a blurry videotape of the crime scene. Charlie's elastic job description includes monitoring Ike's life. Investigations-led by more than one player-fan around and out of Picketsville as far as a small town in Idaho where Martin Pangborn, head of the radical militia called the Fifty-First Star, runs his organization. If some banks and businesses are too big to fail, are some people too deeply connected or too wealthy to bring to justice? Is Martin Pangborn such a person? The Fifty-First Star's tentacles run long and deep. But the Vulture is something no one, not even Martin Pangborn, is prepared for. "Surefooted prose speeds this well-told tale of greed and betrayal among the nation's covert elite." – Publishers Weekly on the 9th Ike Schwartz mystery, Drowning Barbie.

About this title

About the Author:

Frederick Ramsay has published fourteen books that range from historicals (The Jerusalem Mysteries), to Africa (The Botswana Mysteries), to police procedurals (The Ike Schwartz Mysteries). In addition, his stand-alone Impulse was named one of the Best 100 Books of the Year in 2006 by Publishers Weekly. He is an iconographer and an accomplished public speaker. He lives and writes in Arizona.

Review:

The basic story flows smoothly, with parallel themes of terrorism and child abuse. Ike, and his wife, Ruth, are delightful characters, and Ike’s CIA friend, Charlie Garland, proves as resourceful as ever. (Theodore Feit Midwest Book Review)

The hero is a unconventional small-town Virginia sheriff named Ike Schwartz. His wife, Ruth, is cut from a different cloth, too. She's a college president fond of talking about her lingerie and making sheetmusic. The book begins when a car bomb explodes, and we learn what series followers have known all along: Sheriff Ike is a former CIA spook, crammed with dark skills. The search for the car bomber begins with Ike's colleagues at the Picketsville, Virginia, sheriff's office and widens to include FBI suits and Ike's raffish former CIA pal, Charlie. The detective plot is engrossing, and confrontations and assassinations make up the liveliest part of this uneven novel, almost carrying it past yards of windy sentences and a married couple's bantering that isn't as witty as it's meant to be. When the evil mastermind is paralyzed below the neck, we get a disquisition on the difference between tetraplegic and paraplegic. "Imagine the potential damage to our youth mixing our classic languages could have." Nick and Nora wept. (Don Crinklaw Booklist)

Marry new technology to old-fashioned policing and readers have something special. And that's what they have in The Vulture. (SirReadaLot)

Ike Schwartz’s car is a smoking ruin on a Picketsville, VA, street. As a former CIA operative and the current sheriff, Ike has his share of enemies, but who could be responsible for the bombing? Picketsville launches an all-out investigation aided by Ike’s CIA colleague Charlie Garland. This is the tenth in this terrific police procedural series (after Drowning Barbie). (Library Journal)

Were it not for a manufacturing fluke that created matching keys for identical cars, Sheriff Ike Schwartz would be a pile of ashes. Instead, it is an undercover officer who exploded in his car after meeting the Picketsville, Virginia Sheriff, but only a few are in on the mix-up. The atomization of the law enforcement officer is more of a declaration of war than a simple hit, and to that end Ike will use his CIA background and connections to discover who attempted to wipe him off of the planet. Ike is a man of principles and who always believes in doing the right thing, and this has garnered him no shortage of enemies. Now though, they have endangered the life of his wife Ruth Harris, and that infuriates him into a ruthlessly homicidal rage that is all the more terrifying for his calmness.~~~While Ike and Ruth take on new identities to maintain the pretense of his death and chase those who are chasing them, back in Picketsville the Sheriff’s department is instigating its own investigation into the attack on their beloved leader. Used to be underestimated by State and federal agencies, acting Sheriff Frank Sutherlin more than capably utilizes the department to discover a threat that endangers the nation. A man who believes in Capitalism as Darwinism is intent on ruthlessly taking over the country financially, and he has the resources and magnetism to achieve his goals.~~~An actual coincidence that occurred with the author’s own vehicle inspired the start of this novel, and from there it ratchets into high gear with suspense, action-packed scenes, and fun antics of Ike and his allies. Ike’s relationship with his wife Ruth, the very liberal president of the local college, continues to be a highlight with banter that is as quick-witted as it is funny. Neither has yet to be swayed to the other’s opposing political viewpoints, but somehow they completely match as a couple. Ike’s CIA nemesis/friend Charlie continues to lend support even as he draws Ike back into black ops, and with Ruth as a surrogate for the reader we are introduced to a shady world of complex technological spying and covert warfare. This tenth in the series continues to maintain is high standard of writing with compelling intrigue, sardonic humor, and a stoic hero for the ages. (NetGalley)

This fourth mystery featuring animal-loving zookeeper Teddy Bentley continues to highlight fascinating and compelling lore about animals and their care. Teddy loves her charges for their uncomplicated goals and purity; humans are far more deceptive and confusing. Along with the charming polar bear cub Magnus, are two Icelandic foxes, gorgeous horses, and many, many puffins.~~~The land is as beautiful as it is dangerous, as very active volcanoes continue to emit “bumps.” The complacent Icelanders don’t worry about anything that they can’t control. Their language is as unfathomable as their cuisine—rotted shark, anyone?—but the author does an admirable job attempting to explain the language’s origin, usage, and use in family names. In such a small country, of course they need an app to prevent inconvenient incest dating.~~~Teddy’s cynical humor with humans is never present with her animals, but fortunately she has enough numerous entertaining interactions with the Geronimo Birders to make this a delightfully funny mystery. The neighboring movie sets of a Berserker Viking film and science fiction movie only add to absurdity. The author’s mix of devotion to animals, clever dialogue, and travelogue details will have readers booking their next flight to Iceland, along with their orders of future installments of this always original and enjoyable mystery series. (Kings River Life Magazine)

A remote Shropshire town is beset by wartime demons even more insidious than the Third Reich. It's 1941. American widower Edwin Carpenter is retired from his job as a university professor, and he's made the arduous trip to England to study a stone circle just outside the town of Noddweir. He's corresponded with Vicar Timothy Wilson and arranged to lodge with Grace Baxter, whose father, the village constable, has gone off to war. The village is of two minds over the disappearance of Issy Chapman, the teenage daughter of the village blacksmith. On one hand, Issy is considered a troublemaker and a slut; on the other, her father is rumored to mistreat her. Quite a few children have been removed from their city homes and sent to the country for their safety, billeted among many families in and around Noddweir, and inevitably their numbers include quite a few tough troublemakers. As more children vanish, suspicion runs rife among the villagers. An outsider like Edwin is naturally high on the list of suspects. Then the ineffectual special constable sent to replace Grace's father is found murdered, and several other villagers die in suspicious circumstances as rumors of strange sightings occur. Grace's grandmother, a student of the old ways, folk cures, and magic, insists that the stone circle known as the Guardian Stones is responsible for all the horrifying events. Edwin, unpersuaded, tries to help Grace do her father's job and protect the town from whatever modern evil is plaguing it. A fascinating look at a small town mired in the past and confronting the future? with a bombshell ending. (Kirkus)

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1464204780
• ISBN 13: 9781464204784
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256