Michael W. Sherer, Death Is No Bargain

Death Is No Bargain

Michael W. Sherer

Five Star, Mar 2006, $25.95, 377 pp.

ISBN: 1594143684

About a year ago in Chicago, writer Emerson Ward saw the twenty-three year old waif look in trouble, so he took her to his home and was nice to her while Ellen Forrester regained her equilibrium, before she finally left after five days there. Now her father Larry arrives in a rage accusing Emerson of seducing his daughter, and tries to kill him, but fails. Apparently Ellen has run away again.

A week later while Emerson and his girlfriend Nell ponder what to do about her pregnancy. Larry's former wife Audra Campbell asks him to find her missing daughter. Reluctantly he agrees because he feels a certain knight in shining armor mentality towards the lass. He starts at her private school, which leads to her friends, and soon he learns she was pregnant, but when he finds her she is dead. Emerson refuses to quit, as he now needs to know who killed her.

This is an intriguing investigative tale, as the hero is unable to stay on the sidelines following twisting clues where they take him to, include violent encounters at abortion clinics and a strange weave involving the Catholic Church. The storyline is action-packed, beginning from the moment that an apparently very accurate shooter misses seven times (hitting Emerson's newly finished table, etc.) and never slows down as the sleuth follows a meandering trail that climaxes with a fabulous final spin. Fans will appreciate this solid murder mystery.