Take a Number (A Jeri Howard Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Janet Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Jeri Howard Mystery | Publication Date: July 31, 1994

"Intelligent and determined, Jeri holds her own among the ranks of impressive female detectives." Publishers Weekly
A Jeri Howard mystery by the author of "Till the Old Men Die."
In Alameda County, east of San Francisco, the all-American pastimes of adultery, divorce, and mindless violence prosper -- and Petty Officer First Class Sam Raynor, USN, fits right in. Private investigator Jeri Howard is working for Raynor's battered wife, who wants not only a divorce but half of everything Raynor's got. It turns out Raynor's hidden some big bucks from Uncle Sam.
And that's not all he's hidden. Barely concealed behind his blond and muscled good looks is a vicious psychopath, whose wife-battering episodes are only the tip of an ugly iceberg. It seems Petty Officer Raynor's been getting away with murder . . . or close to it. And now that Jeri is on his trail, can murder be far behind?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wife abuse and the psychology of victims are themes of the third case for Oakland, Calif., female PI Jeri Howard, after Till the Old Men Die. Ruth Raynor, planning to divorce her husband, Navy first-class petty officer Sam Raynor, asks Jeri to look for the $100,000 that she believes Sam has hidden. Although Sam denies the sum's existence, Ruth had seen a bank statement on which it appeared; under California divorce law, she is entitled to half of it. As Jeri follows standard procedures for tracing money--checking bank accounts, looking for aliases, seeking third parties who might be holding the funds--she sees Sam's new girlfriend driving a new, expensive car. After the car is reported stolen and a major insurance claim is filed, Jeri discovers that Sam's past conceals a previously unknown former wife who had divorced him for abuse. Jeri's next task, however, is hunting for evidence to clear Ruth of Sam's murder. Intelligent and determined, Jeri holds her own among the ranks of impressive female detectives.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

As soon as her Navy husband's hitch in Guam is up, battered wife Ruth Raynor, back in Oakland, splits with their daughter Wendy and hires p.i. Jeri Howard (Kindred Crimes, 1990) to pry Sam Raynor loose from half the $100,000 he's socked away somewhere. When the usual bank inquiries turn up nothing, Jeri figures Sam must have stashed the money with a friend or relative. But before she can track it down, Sam gets himself shot in Ruth's building, and the police arrest Ruth for his murder, not realizing that Sam made so many enemies--his first wife Denise Padillo, his girlfriends Tiffany Collins and Claudia Yancy, their three husbands, to begin with--that people were queuing up for the chance to kill him. Unfortunately, the large cast's cars- -Tiffany's stolen Mercedes and fallback Subaru (``Thumper''), Claudia's Nissan, the orange-and-black tigermobile of Sam's hell- raising sidekick Harlan Pettibone--are as personable as their owners. Too much of a good thing: enough suspects and motives for a whole rogues' gallery, without the kind of imaginative vision that might pull it all together the way Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky have done. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 10 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (July 31, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449221830
• ISBN-13: 978-0449221839
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,646 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Local flavor adds to the enjoyment, November 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Take a Number (A Jeri Howard Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jeri Howard is one of those "believable" characters - she has to work pretty hard to find her answers, and she doesn't often get the thrill and glamour of "traditional" PI's. The book's pace was moderate, most of the characters were well developed, their personalities grew as Jeri learned more about them. I think what I enjoyed most about the book, though, was the setting. I liked reading about the characters bobbing about in my neighborhood, and actually visualizing the areas they visit and drive through. I get the same pleasure from reading the Kat Colorado books, though I think Dawson is generally a better read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Commendable private eye series, February 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Take a Number (A Jeri Howard Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I tend to agree with the previous reviewer, both on the number of stars and the developed characters. I enjoyed "Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean" more; possibly because it was set around Monterey, CA where I spent some years. "Take a Number" fleshes out some of the characters so that you admire or sympathize with them or have disdain and contempt for them. Jeri Howard starts out with a case of hunting for missing money (hidden assets in a divorce case) and ends up investigating a murder. Her client, Ruth Franklin Raynor, is suspected of murdering her estranged husband but there are lots of other suspects with plenty of motive and less than ironclad alibis. Janet Dawson's strengths seem to be in developing her settings and her characters. The plots are okay too but not extraordinary. (I was going to say "earthshaking" but seeing as how the mysteries are set in California that might induce the author to bring in an earthquake in her next book!) I enjoy the series and still have a number of them to look forward to reading.