Emerson Ward Mysteries

DOAB -- Revised Opening
When I wrote a pitch for this book, I realized what the real story is about. That meant rewriting my opening chapter. Compare the openings. Send on your comments. I'd love to hear what you think.

Death On A Budget
Ask anyone. Chicago really has only two seasons -- winter and construction. Spring in Chicago is bad enough without an old flame asking you to find out who might have blown away her husband with a shotgun. It gets even worse when one of Emerson Ward's childhood friends commits suicide. When his friend's sister asks him to return home after 25 years, Emerson enters a season of deconstruction as a major con game and a decades-old secret threaten to turn his world upside down -- and maybe end his life.

Island Life
When Jack Holm's wife doesn't come home one day, he isn't sure whether to be worried or relieved. Their troubled relationship is beginning to wear on him and his two children. But when she's been gone for four days with no word, Jack reports her missing to the police. A week after her disappearance she’s found dead, raped and strangled. Stunned by her murder, Jack struggles to deal with his children's grief and his own conflicted feelings, while facing the prospect of raising his kids alone.

Mounting evidence points to Jack, and when he’s eventually arrested for her murder, his life turns upside down. The police and prosecuting attorney want him in jail. Child Protective Services wants to put his kids in foster care, and his former mother-in-law is suing for custody. His friends and clients abandon him. Desperate to save himself and keep his family together, he finds a clue to her disappearance and tries to discover the truth.

A mainstream novel wrapped around a mystery, Island Life is the story of a man’s struggle to take control of a life ravaged by loss through the redemptive power of love.

Death Is No Bargain
"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, Booklist

"Think Travis McGee in Chicago, with an Alfa Romeo coupe instead of a moored houseboat, and you have a terrific series." -- Jeremiah Healy, author of Spiral and The Only Good Lawyer

"Michael Sherer gets better with each book. I hope he continues the trend for as long as I keep reading. Top drawer." -- John Lutz, author of The Night Spider

“Get ready to turn some pages, fast.” -- Sam Reaves, author of Dooley’s Back

“… quite amazing storytelling that kept me turning the pages.” – Mystery News

“… 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

“Sherer is a great storyteller.” – Cynthia Lea Clark, Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine

Larry Forrester wants to know where his daughter is, and he thinks Emerson Ward knows. In fact, he's so convinced that Emerson is hiding her that he threatens to kill him if he doesn't reveal her whereabouts. Emerson doesn't have a clue, but when the girl's mother asks him -- nicely -- to help find her he gets sucked into a maelstrom of evil that poses deadly danger to everything and everyone he holds dear. Published by Five Star in 2006.

A Forever Death
"A slick narrative, quirky suspects, a fast-moving plot, and likable protagonist combine in this winner for series fans." -- Library Journal, Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

"This is a novel for which the word serviceable springs nimbly to mind: it's by-the-numbers genre fare but capably written and perfectly enjoyable." David Pitt, Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Brady Barnes pulls Emerson Ward away from a party to ask for help in finding out who stole a client's priceless gem collection from his photography studio. When Brady is subsequently killed in an apparently random shooting, Emerson begins finding skeletons rattling around in the Barnes family closet, and uncovers a vengeful pattern of blackmail and greed involving the Barnes clan, dirty Chicago politicians, and a killer who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets safe.

Chicago freelance writer Ward is at the top of his form as a reluctant but quixotic hero, a sleuth of the new breed, one with weaknesses and vulnerabilities of his own as he struggles to unmask the killer.

Death Came Dressed In White
"Action that moves lickety-split from first page to last." -- Chicago Sun-Times

"Death Came Dressed In White weaves a tight and irresistable spell. Sherer is a top-notch talent." -- John Lutz, author of SWF Seeks Same and Hot

“Emerson Ward is a modern-day knight errant ...a rousing adventure.” -- Barbara D’Amato, author of Hardball


When your life is at an all-time low, how can it get any worse? Emerson Ward finds out one steamy August morning when the phone starts ringing too early to be anything but bad news. Before the day is over he learns that a good friend is missing, another is hospitalized after a brutal beating, his phone is tapped and the woman he loves is leaving him. In an attempt to lend a hand to all who need it, one thing leads to another, and before Emerson knows it, he’s up to his neck in dirty dealings and danger to match.

Little Use For Death
"Equally adept at describing physical action and cerebral action, there are true moments of grace in his writing." -- Drood Review

Everyone at the small upstate New York college where Emerson Ward is teaching for a semester is shocked when the body of a student is found hanging from a tree in the nearby woods. Just days before he died, Bob Marter tried to tell Emerson about something evil going on at the school, but backed off before going any further. Now Emerson is convinced that this was no suicide...someone wanted Bob dead. Nosing around gets Emerson more than he bargained for, and as the body count rises, he finds himself one step behind the killer...one step away from being the next victim.

An Option On Death
“Option includes all the hallmarks of the McGee series ...the next John D. MacDonald.”
-- Chicago Tribune

“Tautly written, full of muscular action, and suspenseful ...” -- Chicago Sun-Times


After ten years of drifting in and out of Emerson Ward's life, it looked as though Jessica Pearson was there to stay. But only a few hours after her arrival, a bullet crashing through a window kills her...and Emerson's dreams as well. An accident, the police say, but Emerson knows better. Someone wanted Jessica dead; now he wants to find out who, and why. The place to start? Jessica's suitcase, stuffed with cash and stock transaction receipts.

A Primer On Death
The small, sleepy northern Wisconsin town had never seen a murder, let alone one this grisly. It's up to Emerson to find the killer before he strikes again.