Buying Options

Learn more

Read for Free

OR

Kindle Price: $2.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add Audible narration to your purchase for just $2.99

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Death Is No Bargain (Emerson Ward Mystery Book 5) by [Michael W. Sherer]

Follow the Author

Michael W. Sherer

Death Is No Bargain (Emerson Ward Mystery Book 5) Kindle Edition

by Michael W. Sherer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

25 ratings

Book 5 of 6: Emerson Ward Mystery

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$2.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$14.85

$13.00

Audio CD

"Please retry"

$20.00

—

Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 1 million more titles $2.99 to buy
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial
Hardcover
$14.85

2 Used from $13.00 2 New from $14.85
Audio CD
$20.00

2 New from $20.00

Freelance writer Emerson Ward is minding his own business one sweltering July day when Larry Forrester shows up at the door of his Chicago brownstone, accuses him of seducing his teenage daughter Ellen and tries to kill him. A week later, when Larry's ex-wife tells Emerson that Ellen has gone missing and asks him to find her, Emerson also learns that his girlfriend Nell is pregnant. While Nell and Emerson confront the difficult decision of whether or not to keep their baby, Emerson discovers that Ellen may have been facing the same dilemma. When a girl fitting Ellen’s description turns up dead 250 miles away, Emerson drops everything to find out what happened before he can face his own conflicted feelings. Suspecting the worst, Emerson adopts an alternate identity and leaves his Chicago life behind, unsure if he’ll live to return. The trail leads him on a twisted and deadly journey through the heated and sometimes violent debate over abortion and the sex scandals rocking the Catholic Church.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publication date

March 10, 2006
File size

483 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Next 2 for you in this series See full series

Total Price: $5.98

Michael Sherer
15
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $2.99
Michael W. Sherer
4
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $2.99

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The fifth Emerson Ward caper is an unusual mix of straight-ahead and thoughtful discourse on hot-button social issues. The characters are as complex as the issues with which they wrestle, andthe mystery is cleverly presented and resolved." --Wes Lukowsky, Booklist

"Like all of Michael Sherer's books, Death is No Bargain is a well-crafted and balanced mystery. Sherer is able to combine nearly breathless action with deep insight into the human psyche so well that it is often hard to tell where the action ends and the inner struggles of his well-crafted characters begin." --Emily Burson, BookPleasures.com

"I like the Ward novels. I like the Columbo-like way they immerse Emerson in an unfamiliar world (in A FOREVER DEATH, for example, he goes undercover at an advertising agency). I like the subtle way Sherer handles important and controversial themes, I like the light and often humorous first-person narration, I like Emerson himself. You will, too." --David Pitt, I Love A Mystery

"... never slows down as the sleuth follows a meandering trail that climaxes with a fabulous final spin. Fans will appreciate this solid murder mystery." --Harriet Klausner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Chicago writer Emerson Ward is accused of seducing the teenage daughter of a neighbor. Then the girl's dad tries to kill him. The situation takes an even odder twist when the girl's mother asks Ward to find her now-missing daughter. In a parallel plotline, Ward learns his girlfriend is pregnant, prompting him to ponder the implications of becoming a father in middle age. The fifth Emerson Ward caper is an unusual mix of straight-ahead and thoughtful discourse on hot-button social issues. The characters are as complex as the issues with which they wrestle, and the mystery is cleverly presented and resolved. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002O3W54K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Five Star (March 10, 2006)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 10, 2006
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 483 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #794,970 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4,563 in Hard-Boiled Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #6,793 in Hard-Boiled Mystery
- #37,499 in Suspense (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
25 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Michael W. Sherer

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

After stints as a manual laborer, dishwasher, bartender, restaurant manager, commercial photographer, magazine editor and public relations executive, Michael W. Sherer decided life should imitate art and became a freelance writer and author.

Mike is a member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America and the author of Mistaken Identity and Stolen Identity, four books in the Seattle-based Blake Sanders series, including Night Strike and Night Blind, which was nominated for an ITW Thriller Award in 2013. His other books include the award-winning Emerson Ward mystery series, the stand-alone suspense novel, Island Life, and the Tess Barrett new/young adult thriller series, currently in development for television.

In addition to novels, Mike is an award-winning feature writer for foodservice trade magazines, the most recent of which is a 2018 gold “Tabbie” award for best how-to article from Trade Association Business Publications International (TABPI) for his piece, “Beer Fizz-ics,” in Foodservice Equipment Reports.

You can find him at www.michaelwsherer.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/ThrillerAuthor, and on Twitter @MysteryNovelist.

Customer reviews

5 star		46%
4 star		36%
3 star		11%
2 star		7%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Barbara Widtfeldt

Michael Sherer- a local favorite author

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

I have bought the entire series of Emerson Ward - I love Emerson and his caring nature that literally puts his life at risk. He is surrounded by dear friends such as Brandt who support sometimes to their own detriment. Michael writes from Mercer Island.

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

I feel as if I am reviewing two separate and distinct books that just happened to have many of the same characters. The first book seemed to be about a guy with no particular job or goal in life except when he needed to replenish his bank account enough to stock the fridge with more steaks and beers. At one point he finds a teenage girl on the beach who is exceedingly drunk. So drunk that he takes her to his home and puts her to bed twice changing her clothes and she being naked. Then we zoom back to the present day where he knocks up his girlfriend and the rest of the first book is all about arguing both sides of the abortion/pro-life/pro-choice issue. As we read about the issue(s) involved this guy gets shot at and delivered a package of blood and tissue representative of an aborted fetus. At no time does he ever call the police. He calls his drinking buddy. The drunk teenage girl disappears and her mother comes to this guy requesting that he find her. He has pissed off the pregnant girlfriend who tosses him out on his ear, and the missing teen is killed in a traffic accident, so he decides to go undercover as a humble hayseed who travels to where the girl was killed to get the real story. Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

Now we are at book two where humble hayseed gets himself hired as a handyman at a convent where something shady is going on. The convent just happens to take care of pregnant teens and a mysterious black limo appears at night and pregnant teens give birth but their babies seem to disappear. I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

The book(s) isn't awful, but the author appears to have written two different books -- one that needed a beginning and one that needed an ending so he stuck them together and voila.

And although I have no problem with stretching the believability scale when reading fiction, I gotta tell ya I don't believe a man is going to pick a drunk out of her gourd teenage girl and have her naked twice in his bed but nothing happens. No man is that low on testosterone or that saintly. What guy would be stupid enough to set himself up for a rape accusation. Then he gets shot at and does nothing but spackle the holes in the wall?

If you have time to kill and $2.99 you can't decide how else to spend go for it. After all, you won't always get two books for the price of one.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Donnie A.

Great read!

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

I loved this book! Each book in the Emerson Ward series seems to be better than the last. I can't wait to start the next one!

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

Good read and an easy one. The character has both depth and flaws and is believable. The only fault I found to my thinking is that as important as Bonita became to him, and adding to that the fact she helped solve the case there is no further mention of her at all. I would have thought that the time he spent at Anne Rundles would have included time spent with her also. Perhaps she will turn up again in a future book.

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

Sixteen is a tough age. Steve Thorpe was Ellen's geeky boyfriend. When confronted by a possible pregnancy his eyes reflected fear.
Emerson Ward has a triple dilemma. Ellen, a teen aged pregnant girl turns up dead and her angry father wants to kill him. Inward anger turns outward. Nell, Emerson's number one item for a year reveals she is expecting their baby. Swamped by confounding emotions after Nell refuses his marriage offer, Emerson tries to bow out momentarily by assuming an alternate identity. He spends a passionate night with Audra snuggled up to her red hair. This brings more conflicting confusion and he needs several days to test intricate theories before they crumble. Dark lethargy fingers lure a guilt depression to test his determination.
Emerson Ward becomes Norm Wilson with intentions of changing his identity. He takes a solitary undercover job as a handyman at the Merciful Sisters of Nonnatus, a convent in Wisconsin. Mysteries multiply.
Ward had met Mary Quinlan, a nun involved in the Catholic Women's Freedom Movement at the woman's clinic in Ashland. They were pushing for change within the church to give women more authority, become more involved, and have more freedom.
Nell had decided to have their baby. Emerson's thoughts vacillated between wild enthusiasm and desperate fear. A sense of resolve settled in. He knew that emergency birth control could have ramifications of financial, emotional, and physical, potentially tragic after effects.
Now, as Norm Wilson, he learned that the nuns admitted more than three hundred pregnant girls per year, yet, only a handful were recorded as giving live birth. Most were recorded as having still births, or, miscarriages. Where were the babies?
This is a well written, fast paced thriller and thoroughly believable. Late night sinister visitors indicate deviousness. Mercenary deeds,in both past and present, under the guise of benevolence, are shams covered with layers of mire.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Pat Stewart

Death is no Bargain

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

I startred reading this author as a $.99 special and enjoyed it. It was good reading throughout and had a good ending.

Helpful

Dan Mimms

made me lose the better part of a nights sleep!

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

The story started out a little slow, but then snowballed! Into a page turner! Very we'll written and captivating. A good getting to know the protagonist intro then things started moving faster and deeper. I really enjoyed this story and will look for more by this author!

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

Nice Item!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helpful