Jeri Howard
Created by Janet Dawson

One of the better of the new breed of female P.I.s following the eighties boom, Berkeley's JERI HOWARD was a former paralegal who worked the Bay Area. But, somehow, many of her cases seemed to involve her family. In the first book, her ex-husband, a cop, brought her her a case. In the second, her client was her father. That's fine -- private eyes don't have to be total loners; they can have families. But stuff like this starts to feel claustrophobic, almost incestuous at times.

Fortunately, as the series progressed, the client pool started to spread, and Jeri proved to be quite a determined and shrewd sleuth. Plus, Dawson gets plenty of props for tackling tough issues in her books.

No wonder the series proved to be one of the most reliable and popular throughout the nineties. In fact, Jeri's debut, Kindred Crimes (1991), won the 1989 St. Martins/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest, and was subsequently nominated for the Best First Private Eye Novel in 1991 (but lost to Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress).

Author Dawson is a former naval officer, drama major, amateur actress and journalist.

NOVELS

• Kindred Crimes (1991) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Till the Old Men Die (1993) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Take a Number (1993) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean (1994) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Nobody's Child (1995) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• A Credible Threat (1996) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Witness To Evil (1997) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Where The Bodies Are Buried (1998) ..Buy this book ..Kindle it!
• A Killing at the Track (2000) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!
• Bit Player (2011) ..Buy this book..Kindle it!

SHORT STORIES

• "Little Red Corvette" (1996, Lethal Ladies)..Kindle it!
• "Blue Eyes" (2001, Murder Most Feline)..Kindle it!
• "Scam and Eggs" (2002, Scam and Eggs) ..Kindle it!
• "Slayer Statute" (September/October 2003, EQMM)..Kindle it!
• "Candles on the Corner" (November 2008, EQMM) ..Kindle it!

COLLECTIONS

• Scam And Eggs (2002; contains three Howard stories) ..Buy this book
  Contains three Howard stories.
• The Jeri Howard Casebook (2012).. Kindle it!
  Contains four Howard stories.

RELATED LINKS

• The Janet Dawson Web Site
  The usual bibliography, list of upcoming signing and the like.