Scone Island: An Ike Schwartz Mystery

Ramsey’s engaging eighth Ike Schwartz mystery (after 2011’s Rogue) takes the ex-CIA agent turned smalltown sheriff of Picketsville, Va., and his university president fiancée, Ruth Dennis, to Maine’s Scone Island for a vacation. With Ruth still recovering from her near-fatal hit-and-run car accident, Ike is determined to guarantee peace, quiet, and wine-induced relaxation. Unfortunately, a recent death on the island has the locals asking Ike for advice and Ruth on the warpath. When old CIA pal Charlie Garland tries to get in touch, Ike issues a communications blackout to family, friends, and colleagues, knowing a call from Charlie always leads to heart-stopping trouble. Silence, however, is not golden but stained red when Ike and Charlie’s former allies start turning up dead across the country. Surefooted prose speeds this well-told tale of greed and betrayal among the nation’s covert elite. Ruth and Ike’s intellectual bickering will amuse literary and history buffs. (Aug.)