The Eye of the Virgin

May 3, 2010
Picketsville, Va., sheriff Ike Schwartz investigates a botched robbery at the home of Louis Dakis, a professor at Callend University, where Ike’s lady friend, Ruth Harris, happens to be president, in Ramsay’s absorbing sixth mystery to feature the dogged lawman (after 2008’s Choker). Though it appears nothing was taken during the break-in, a dead body turns up around the same time, propped in the local hospital’s emergency room. Convinced the two cases are related, Ike digs into Louis’s life and finds a bitterly estranged wife, a missing lover, and several religious icons, one recently brought into the country. Ike soon has dozens of questions, no answers, and an itch to learn more about a particular icon called The Virgin of Tenderness. With folksy charm and dollops of humor, Ramsay crafts a tale of international intrigue in which the past and present make poor bedfellows. Fans of Ruth and Ike’s blossoming romance will find plenty to cheer about.