Nobody's Child: A Jeri Howard Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Janet Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

"[A]FINELY CRAFTED, ABSORBING ADVENTURE."
--Publishers Weekly
When a decomposing body is dug up by a construction company, authorities suspect murder. Private investigator Jeri Howard's abrasive client, Naomi Smith, thinks the victim could be her daughter, Maureen, who ran away from home two years ago. Jeri dislikes her client, but she is determined to discover the identity of the dead woman and how she was killed. What worries her just as much, though, is the missing child Maureen was last seen carrying--both of them sick, broke, and sleeping among the homeless in the shadows of Berkeley's People's Park.
Posing as a homeless person, Jeri probes the darkening heart of the once-beautiful city, peering behind the lace curtains of middle-class respectability to find out why Maureen ran from home and how she ended up on the streets. In her desperate search to save a child that nobody seems to want, Jeri hits a chilling wall of suburban silence and urban distress. . . .
"A rich plum pudding of a story sprinkled throughout with memorable characters."
--The Washington Post Book World

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Compassionate and tenacious, Oakland, Calif., PI Jeri Howard makes her fifth appearance (after Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean) in this finely crafted, absorbing adventure. Howard is hired by an alcoholic woman to find out if the body of a young woman recently found in a burned-out home is that of her daughter who had run away three years earlier. Determining that the victim was indeed her client's daughter, the PI also learns that the young woman, who had been living on the streets in Berkeley, had had a young daughter. The client seems uninterested in her grandchild, but the PI feels compelled to search for the little girl. As Christmas approaches, Howard mingles uneasily with the homeless in the cold damp East Bay winter, moving from street markets to a backstage tour of Oakland's historic Paramount Theater as she tracks the murder victim's associations with high-school friends, some kindly "old hippie" benefactors and an enigmatic drug dealer. On the way to the satisfying solution, characters trade observations on homelessness, HIV infection and race relations, yet Dawson offers no glib answers in this timely, gentle tale.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?An absorbing mystery that begins when P.I. Jeri Howard is hired by a woman to find out if a recently discovered body is that of her missing teenaged daughter, Maureen. Jeri starts by interviewing the people who befriended the girl during her two years as a runaway. This takes her from the exclusive upper-class neighborhood of her client's home in Oakland, CA, to the colorful but dangerous street life of Berkeley. The trail also leads to a warm and supportive family of organic farmers. Maureen's story is that of a young woman who made some poor decisions and trusted the wrong people. The development of minor characters is excellent, and the dialogue between the diverse people in the story is realistic. One of the strengths of the novel is the interaction between the detective and the street people she meets. The problems of homelessness are presented by many voices: the victims, the social workers, the church volunteers, and the local business people. The issues are not resolved, but many questions are raised. As Jeri unravels the mystery of Maureen's life and death, she begins to gain an understanding of her own problems and some insight into those of her family. The ending is suspenseful but the identity of the murderer is somewhat predictable. Teens should enjoy this well-written mystery with its many young characters and its interesting locations.?Penny Stevens, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449223566
• ISBN-13: 978-0449223567
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,014,320 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

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better Have A Cup Of Coffee Handy, February 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Nobody's Child: A Jeri Howard Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

A pretty decent book, I thought. Jeri is likable, and I was hooked enough to want to know what happened at the end. It wasn't a struggle to read or understand, and I'm really not that fond of mysteries, so that's saying something. However, it could have done with a little bit more excitement. The book mostly consisted of Jeri talking to various people (over coffee) and not much else. It did pick up a little bit at the end once she drew closer to the solution, but most of it was conversations and descriptions of people. Even though the book description makes it sound as if she's going to have some sort of exciting (or at least we'd hope) undercover work as a homeless person, it's really more Jeri in old clothes buying homeless people coffee and talking with them.

I keep bringing up coffee, because I'm dying to know if anyone else thought the woman drank an unusual amount of the stuff. Coffee, or some kind of related beverage, pretty much plays a role in every interview she performs, which almost got to the point of excessive, at least for me. I got to the point where I didn't need to be reminded that people were drinking coffee, as I could pretty much assume that someone was sipping the stuff at all times. The affect was that I pretty much had a craving for a hot drink for about half of the novel. So maybe a little less coffee next time, as it actually started to stand out from the story.

Otherwise...not too bad.