A Forever Death — Michael W. Sherer

FINAL SHOOT

Chicago freelance writer and reluctant sleuth Emerson Ward is fighting his need to take up other people's causes as he tries to figure out who shot his friend, photographer Brady "Puppy" Barnes.

Puppy had asked Emerson to look into some missing gems stolen from his studio. Whoever took the stones replaced them with fakes, leading Emerson to suspect an inside job--someone at Puppy's studio or the ad agency that commissioned the shoot.

When Emerson takes a part-time job at the financially troubled agency, he uncovers a hornet's nest of suspects and more than a few motives for murder. Toss in some nasty family scandal, crooked politicians, a murdered judge and a very unflattering close-up of Puppy himself, and Emerson soon discovers why a picture is worth a thousand words --especially when it comes to murder.