The first five AWARD-WINNING Jeri Howard murder mysteries are now available at an unbelievable bargain!Tough-as-nails Oakland PI Jeri Howard made a splash in Janet Dawson’s first book, winning Best First PI Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America. The next four mysteries only get more enticing!“A welcome addition to this tough genre.” -The New York Times Book ReviewDawson’s Oakland is noir … Times Book Review
Dawson’s Oakland is noir and brooding, while Jeri’s as savvy as Sam Spade, with something of Spade’s seen-it-all outlook.
“Jeri combines V.I.’s social conscience with Kinsey’s badass attitude and a snappy narrative voice...” –Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post Book World
Readers who tear through offbeat detective novels featuring hard-boiled women sleuths will flip for Jeri Howard, especially if they enjoy Sue Grafton, Robert Dugoni, T.R. Ragan, Marcia Muller, and Sara Paretsky. The first half of this unforgettable series has never been on sale at a price like this!
KINDRED CRIMES
A puzzling missing persons case–a wife who disappears with the grocery money–keeps winding backward, revealing brand new secrets as fast as ancient skeletons can fall out of closets.
TILL THE OLD MEN DIE
The grisly murder of a sedate, widowed history professor, is written off as a random street crime until a woman turns up at his university, claiming to be his widow and demanding access to his “papers.”
TAKE A NUMBER
Out of loyalty to a former client, Jeri takes on a nasty divorce case. The soon-to-be ex-husband winds up with a bullet in his back, and the prime suspect is Jeri’s client.
DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON THE OCEAN
Jeri is looking to catch a respite from the PI life to relax and visit family in lovely Monterey on the California coast. Now, what’s the worst thing that could happen on a PI’s vacation? A dead body on the beach, most likely.
NOBODY’S CHILD
Is a Jane Doe uncovered at a construction site the body of her client’s long-lost daughter Maureen? If so, what’s become of Maureen’s two-year-old daughter?
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I just finished the first five books of this series, enjoying the laid back, lazy, colorful, fun easy mystery plots centered in and around the college area of Oakland. It’s so easy to like the character, Jeri a private detective with so much soul…always needing to help the underdog while falling into the middle of murder & chaos. I enjoyed the series murders intertwining & yet allowing each book to stand alone. I found the series filled with suspense, humor, many twists and turns, and a little romance thrown in.
All 5 books were outstanding
This is a great big grab of lovely detective stories. Whimsical details of Jeri’s relations with her cat(s), allsorts of wee details which sound accurate of places and trades and ways od life, of a wide variety of people. a hard working,spunky, determined detective prevails for justice often paid for by being assaulted. Read a book or 3 between each book in this grab to keep up your keenness to get back to the next one.
Light, easy to read set of books about a divorced female PI in Oakland.
As a Californian I am enjoying the books for the geography, history, . . .oh, and the murders! Jeri Howard is a great PI and knows her Oakland/San Franciso locale, knows her contacts and how to zip from place to place. Perhaps sometimes talking through her cases on Philippine history or a lot of Naval action with the base in Alameda. Its great to have a KNOWLEDGEABLE writer and characters. The cases may seem simple at the onset but rarely are less than 300 pages of complications.
Loved this series. She is a thoughtful realistic strong hero and a human being.
Each book explores a different social issue– hunger, homelessness, social justice, environmental issues, etc. as part of mystery,– and for northern california fans also
provides descriptions of familiar places.
I absolutely loved these book. Thanks for writing them.
Good read, but descriptive to the extreme and preachy regarding social issues. I fast forwarded many pages in each of the books.
Alot like Kinsey.Millhouae its an excellent read.
A good read for a PI
I’m on book four will read book five.
Finally! A series that is as entertaining as Sue Grafton’s books. The Jeri Howard books are well-written and highly entertaining. I stayed up way too late too many nights so I could finish the book I was reading. I also appreciated information about polluting the ocean and about homelessness that was part of some of the books.
Each book in “The Jeri Howard Anthology: Books 1-5” by Janet Dawson is outstanding. “Volume 1: Kindred Crimes” introduces us to Jeri Howard, a female private eye in Oakland, California who is asked by a husband, a member of the U. S. Navy, to find his wife after she had left their baby with his mother, saying she was going shopping but never returning. In “Volume 2: Till the Old Men Die”, Jeri helps her father, a California State History Professor, find the murderer of his friend, another California State University professor. In “Volume 3: Take a Number”, Jeri is hired by the divorce attorney of a young woman to find out how much money her husband has hidden from her before their divorce is settled. In “Volume 4: “Don’t Turn Your Back on the Ocean”, Jeri tries to take a much needed vacation in Monterey, California, stay at her mother’s home and meet with the many Italian and Irish members of her family. Incidents In Monterey Bay such as her cousin, a young fisherman, being accused of murdering his girlfriend and also, happenings in her mother’s famous restaurant which seem to aim at causing fewer and fewer patrons to eat at the restaurant, make Jeri abandon the relaxation she was looking forward to, replacing it with her private eye skills to help her family. In “Volume 5: Nobody’s Child”, Jeri is asked by a rich dowager to find out if the picture of a dead body featured in the newspaper is that of her daughter who had run away from home three years ago, a few months before she graduated from high school. In each book in “The Jeri Howard Anthology: Books 1-5”, Janet Dawson has readers totally involved in Jeri Howard’s solving a murder and hardly getting any cooperation from the local police because they do not think kindly of the interference of a private detective, especially a female one. I know that readers will enjoy reading about Jeri’s cases as much as I did and will also enjoy the picturesque descriptions of the various places in California to which her cases take her.
I have read All five’