Book description
Nick Reynolds, his pilot's rating barely a month old, drops off the
radar at night over the Chesapeake Bay. Investigating agencies call it
another tragic pilot error accident. No trace of the plane is found in
the Bay's murky waters. Ike Schwartz, erstwhile sheriff of Picketsville,
on vacation, is approached by Charlie Garland, an old CIA friend, to
look into the disappearance. The missing pilot was engaged to Charlie's
niece and the family is not dealing well with the lack of closure. More
importantly, Nick, just before his disappearance, had placed a call to
Charlie moments leading him to conclude something more than pilot error
might be involved in the disappearance. Ike accepts the assignment as a
favor to Charlie and also because vacations do not work for him. Ike's
wide-eyed entry into a simple missing person's case catapults him into
an international thriller รก la Robert Ludlum with intimations of
terrorism that might threaten the nation and its leaders. Clandestine
operations, angry watermen, and out of place dredging spoil complicate
Ike's efforts to unravel the mystery. In the process of doing a favor
for a friend, the sheriff of Picketsville, Va., stumbles over a
terrorist plot. His CIA buddy Charlie Garland asks Ike Schwartz to use
part of his vacation on the Delaware shore to investigate a plane crash
that killed Nick Reynolds, an inexperienced pilot who was engaged to
marry Charlie's niece. The plane remains undiscovered, but just before
he crashed Nick called Charlie and left a cryptic message. Taking to the
skies, Ike thinks he sees something in the water far from Nick's planned
course. With help from Bunky, a government-hating local waterman, and
some equipment borrowed from the CIA, Ike finds the plane not far
offshore, near a strangely placed duck blind. Bunky is furious when
someone torches his boat, and Charlie and Ike are aghast when a photo on
Nick's cell phone shows a freighter unloading a missile near the duck
blind. Checking back on satellite photos, they realize that six missiles
somewhere close by are poised for attack. Ike figures that they'll
probably be launched on Yom Kippur, only five days away. Co-opted by the
CIA, Ike, Charlie, Bunky and a team of Navy SEALs search for evidence to
convince the reluctant higher-ups that in order to prevent an attack,
they'll have to destroy four freighters carrying missiles plus the still
undiscovered weapons hidden on shore. A fast-paced thriller that's quite
a departure from Ramsay's Picketsville mysteries (Stranger Room, 2008,
etc.). Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He
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, teaching 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. 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 with works displayed around the world. He
lives in Surprise, Arizona with his wife and partner, Susan.
