Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean [Hardcover]

Janet Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 1994

"Dawson writes believable dialogue, creates quickly realized and appealing characters and has a particularly nice atmospheric touch."
--San Francisco Examiner
Beautiful Ariel Logan was last seen quarreling with her boyfriend outside a Monterey pub. Now she lies dead on a California beach. An autopsy reveals that Ariel's death is no accidental drowning, but a cold-blooded killing.
Vacationing private investigator Jeri Howard has more than professional interest in the case: Ariel's boyfriend, the prime murder suspect, is Jeri's rowdy cousin, Bobby Ravella. Despite Bobby's refusal to defend himself, Jeri believes in his innocence, and instinct tells her the murder is part of a far larger evil. To find the truth, Jeri goes fishing for a big one in deep and treacherous waters and discovers that Ariel's short life was not free from dark secrets....
"Mother/daughter feuds, family solidarity, an ecological mystery: Dawson blends these familiar ingredients with a chef's élan."
--Kirkus Reviews


From the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A week's vacation with her family in Monterey becomes a busman's holiday for Oakland PI Jeri Howard, last seen in Take a Number, in her taut, absorbing fourth adventure. First, she agrees to help a biologist cousin find out who is mutilating pelicans in the area. Then another cousin becomes a murder suspect when the body of his girlfriend washes up near the coast. Jeri also offers to help her mother, owner of Cafe Marie, discover who is behind recent incidents that are driving business away from the restaurant. Working on all three cases, Jeri learns that nearly everyone, from the dead girl's parents to her mother's new lover, has something to hide. Adrift in a swirl of leads and clues, she calls on her retired mentor, Errol Seville, with whose help she's finally able to link the disparate cases and solve the crimes. Drawing force from Monterey Bay's Cannery Row past and its up-to-the-minute present, Dawson's suspenseful story builds momentum like an ocean wave. Readers are advised to dive right in.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The fourth Jeri Howard mystery (Take a Number, Fawcett: Columbine, 1993) takes the Oakland private investigator to Carmel and Monterey Bay, where an intended vacation becomes work. Pelican mutilations, water pollution, sabotage in her mother's restaurant, and a fisherman cousin framed for the murder of his socialite fiancee all vie for Jeri's attention. Saddled with an array of surly suspects to choose from and an independent mother with whom she can argue, Jeri nonetheless exposes the culprit. Series fans especially will appreciate the perspicacious heroine, the California setting, and the serviceable prose.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (September 27, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044990766X
• ISBN-13: 978-0449907665
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,904,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In elementary school, Janet Dawson wrote mysteries in longhand on lined binder paper, influenced by those blue-backed Nancy Drew books she devoured. Now Janet writes about private investigator Jeri Howard. Her first book, Kindred Crimes, won the St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America contest for Best Private Eye Novel, and was nominated for Shamus, Anthony and Macavity awards. Other books include Till The Old Men Die, Take A Number, Don't Turn Your Back On The Ocean, Nobody's Child, A Credible Threat, Where The Bodies Are Buried, A Killing At The Track, and the latest entry in the series, Bit Player.

Janet was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Colorado. With a journalism degree from the University of Colorado, she worked as a newspaper reporter, then joined the Navy. An enlisted journalist, she wrote news and features in public affairs offices in Guam and Pensacola, FL. As an officer, her duties took her to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives in Alameda. Janet has a master's degree in history from California State University East Bay and can't think of anything she wants to study enough to go back to grad school. She currently works at the University of California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars especially fun if you know California's Central Coast, March 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean (Mass Market Paperback)

As a former resident of Monterey County, I enjoyed the references to familiar venues. The main character and her relationships to family (mother, cousins, aunts and uncles) and friends (and friends' pets!)are also of interest. The various plot aspects get a little choppy (clearing her cousin of murder charges while investigating sabotage at her mother's restaurant while supposedly on vacation from her private investigator job in Oakland) but the book kept me involved. This could be a good choice for beach reading, especially in California.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DIVE INTO THIS BOOK!, July 12, 2001

By 

"neerod" (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean (Hardcover)

Jeri Howard, private investigator is in Monterey for a restful vacation (or so she hopes)! But she immediately finds herself in the middle of several mysteries -- mutilated pelicans, mysterious accidents at a trendy restaurant and her own cousin accused of murder! This book keeps you interested and moves along at a good pace. Having visited the Monterey/Carmel area, I enjoyed the familiarity of sites mentioned. I am a new reader of female p.i stories but highly recommend this book to others who enjoy this type mystery. I'm glad there are several more Jeri Howard mysteries waiting to be read!!