Buffalo Mountain

Ike Schwartz Mystery #3

by Frederick Ramsay

It's midwinter and the Shenandoah Valley is poised on the brink of an unusually icy and snowy season. Alexei Kamarov's body is discovered in a forest within the Picketsville town limits. His driver's license identifies him as Randall Harris. The last Sheriff Ike Schwartz heard of Kamarov, he was reported missing - presumed dead in Russia - the victim of intelligence game-playing.
Ike is not happy this piece of his past has resurfaced. Especially when Ike's former CIA colleague and friend Charlie Garland asks Ike to keep a lid on the investigation.
Slowly, interagency rivalries emerge as local petty criminals vie with international assassins and plotters for attention. All the while, Buffalo Mountain looms in the background....

Genres: Mystery

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore, the son of a respected teacher researcher and scientist. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in Virginia and received his doctorate from the University of Illinois. After a stint in the Army, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, where he taught Anatomy, Embryology and Histology; engaged in research and 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 a Vice President for Public Affairs, worked as an insurance salesman, a tow man and line supervisor at Baltimore’s BWI airport, a community college instructor, and substitute. Finally, he accepted a full time position as a clergyman.

He is now retired from full-time ministry and writes fiction.

Dr. Ramsay is the author of several scientific and general articles, tracts, theses, and co-author of The Baltimore Declaration. He is an iconographer, an accomplished public speaker and once hosted a television spot, Prognosis, on the evening news for WMAR-TV, Baltimore. He currently lives in Surprise, Arizona with his wife and partner, Susan.

Reviews

[Kate Vale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheriff Ike Schwartz is deep in it again when a body is discovered half in and half out of the Pickettsville city limits. He assumes responsibility for finding out who killed the man when he recognizes that he isn't the guy he's initially identified as. Instead, the man is a Russian Ike had previous contacts with when he was a CIA spook. But the question remains: why was he killed and dumped in Ike's purview?

Then the CIA steps in and they aren't thrilled with the situation, either. As investigation continues, one of Ike's deputies is soon convinced that the man she was falling in love with--an FBI agent--may be implicated in funny business, and another ends up dead, after trying to follow up leads about other mysterious actions, including the torching of an apartment and the use of credit cards until they are cancelled.

What's Ike to do but follow the threads and avenge his deputy's death while hoping the other deputy's love life will be revived. Which he does, but what's he going to say to his former CIA friends who'd just as soon the problem just go away? Is this another example of Ike besting them at their own game?

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I little bittersweet in places but still good. I really like the characters. Good plot.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

BUFFALO MOUNTAIN (Police Proc-Sheriff Ike Schwartz-Virginia-Cont) – G+
Ramsey, Frederick – 4th in series
Poisoned Pen Press, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9781590583692
First Sentence: The body lay face up, halfway in the town’s corporate limits, halfway in the state park.
*** Sheriff Ike Schwartz is not happy when a body turns up and he recognize the man as Alexei Kamarov, a Russian spy from Ike’s CIA days and someone who was supposed to have been dead in Russia. Kamarov was carrying an I.D. of Randall Harris. Interagency revelries, local criminals, international intrigue and personal relationships combine.
*** Randall got a bit carried away with his plotting in this fourth outing. There were just too many threads, heading too many directions and too many coincidences for my taste. Ramsey is one of the authors who really knows how to use weather as an element which suspense to the story. But what saves this book is the characters. There are quite a lot of them but each has their own distinct personality and I found myself really enjoying them. This is not Ramsey’s best book but I did still enjoy it.

[Grey853 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winter is closing and Ike Schwartz finds the body of Alexei Kamarov, a Russian agent who connects to his CIA past and the death of his wife. He knows right away this could spell a lot of trouble so he starts down a path that becomes a complex web that leads to serious intrigue. It also leads to the death of someone close to Ike.

This is a very good book, but there's a lot going on. I like the parts that deal with Ike's personal issues. Most of the theories are very complicated, so there are some parts that get confusing. Even so, I really like Ike and the people in his life.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off rocky. Even though I've read all previous in the series, I still don't understand why Ruth Harris is in danger and why is Karamov in Picketsville? But the mystery works it's way out well enough. Why Ike wold be interested in Harris is beyond me--she's so abrasive.

[Ellen Dark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small town sheriff Ike Schwarz and his deputies investigate the murder of a Russian spy who was supposed to have died several years earlier. His freshly dead body is found in the woods one cold, wintery day. Interesting supporting cast.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid third book in the author's Sheriff Ike Schwartz series. Good read.

[David Vanness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is first of Ramsey's work that I've read. I did enjoy the story and characters. Plot strings seemed a little numerous. I may have been looking for a quick easy read.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series, featuring Sheriff Ike Schwartz (and former CIA-agent), just keeps getting better and better. The rural Virginia setting is beautifully rendered as are the small-town characters who inhabit it. Four and a half stars for this superb storytelling.