Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Gillian Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1999

Seasoned investigator Emma Howe has been in the business so long nothing can surprise her. But her new assistant, an overeducated single mother named Billie August, nearly manages to amaze her. Billie is quick, ambitious, smart. And a lot tougher than she appears. That's a good thing, because Emma has just taken a case that will rock both of their worlds.

Sophie Redmond has come to Emma in a desperate search for her teenage daughter, whom she fears has joined a bizarre cult. In an odd twist of fate, Emma and Billie recognize wheelchair-bound Mrs. Redmond as an insurance scammer they've been tailing for another client. The woman's fake injuries are only one symptom of a family plunge into darkness-a legacy one troubled girl wants desperately to escape.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran Roberts (the Amanda Pepper series) introduces a new sleuthing pair, Northern California's Emma Howe, middle-aged owner of a middling investigative firm, and Billie August, a young single mother whom Emma hires and whose experience consists solely of having located her toddler son after his father kidnapped him. On her first surveillance, Billie videotapes Sophia Redmond (who claims a fall on the sidewalk has left her disabled), running down steps, but she bungles the taping and is left with no proof. Emma and Billie are astonished when Sophia, back in her wheelchair, shows up with her husband to hire them to locate their missing teenage daughter, Penny. Readers know that Penny has attached herself to a group of medievalists and has found a heart-shaped pendant and the bones of a baby in a field where they are practicing for a fair. The police then find a woman's skeleton nearby. Braiding the points of view of Emma, Billie and Penny, Roberts connects her subplots via the missing girl, the elusive mistress and the pendant. The stakes get serious when Penny decides to help her mother get free from her husband's abusive domination by photographing the woman with whom she believes her father is having an affair. Despite unlikely coincidences, Roberts peels away layers from each character's life, leaving the reader with a suspenseful, affecting tale.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Glance at Emma Howe, and what you see is a no-nonsense 50-year-old built to mow down walls. Widen the perspective to include her brand-new associate, Billie August, and you might decide you're viewing Emma's exact opposite. But you'd be wrong. In the ways that count, you're looking at a matched pair. True, Billie hasn't hit 30 yet. Nor is there anything tanklike about her. She's slender, blond, beautiful, with an elegance that suggests to Emma (audible snarl here) that ``she wore white gloves in her soul.'' The fact is, though, that there's as much steel and drive in Billie as in Emma, and, truly making them sisters under the skin, as much rampaging curiosity. Emma hires Billie out of necessity. Her p.i. is short-handed, and now there's a case involving a missing 18-year-old girl that desperately needs attention. Eventually, the investigation will uncover a murder, connect to an earlier one, and, almost incidentally, to a child porno ring. But the fun here is all in the ripening of an unlikely relationship. As triumphs mount, Billie stops being afraid of her formidable boss, and Emma begins to understand how lucky she is. A departure for Roberts, who forsakes her frothy (Philadelphia-based) Amanda Pepper series (The Mummers' Curse, 1996, etc.) for the opposite coastand something darker and richer. The Howe-August series could be one to watch. -- Copyright ©1998, 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: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Dead Letter (June 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312969961
• ISBN-13: 978-0312969967
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful new mystery from Gillian Roberts., December 7, 2000

By 

Sharon Wylie (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a really enjoyable mystery from the author of the popular Amanda Pepper mystery series. "Time and Trouble" is darker, edgier, better written, and more tightly plotted than any of the Amanda Pepper books, and I hope this is the first in a new series from Roberts.

Emma Howe is a crusty old P.I. whose unapologetically blunt demeanor repels her employees; she's gone through seven detective trainees in less than three years. Enter Billie August, a young, pretty single mom desperate for a steady income and a mental challenge. Theirs is a match made in hell--Billie's naive earnestness and Emma's been-there-done-that coldness bring out the worst in the other. After Billie botches her first case, their partnership seems doomed.

Billie is given a second chance, however, when the Howe Agency is asked to locate a teenage runaway. Learning as she goes, Billie soon finds herself involved in something far more complex--and dangerous--than she imagined.

These two characters are marvelous depicted; each is so distinctive, complex, and fully portrayed. The reader completely understands Emma's irritation with Billie and Billie's frustration with Emma--each person is so convinced the other is a big pain. Kudos to Roberts for creating a relationship that is so fresh and interesting.

The plot is satisfyingly complex. Another reviewer complained of "coincidences," but I did not think these strained credulity. I read stranger things in the newspaper every day.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the next in the series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This new book is the first of a terrific series, April 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery (Paperback)

Penny Redmond runs away from her dysfunctional family and into someone intent on rescuing her. Stephen Tassir envisions himself as a Medieval knight, rescuing a lady in distress. While practicing for an upcoming tournament, Penny discovers the bones of a baby. A few days later, a woman's skeleton is discovered.

Private eye Emma Howe,desperate for some office help, hires newcomer Billie August as an sleuth. The pair is soon hired by Penny's parents to find the runaway teen. Before they can accomplish their mission, another person will be killed and Penny finds herself in danger from a cold blooded murderer. It is up to the veteran and the rookie to keep alive their client from someone who has murdered before and has no qualms about killing again.

TIME AND TROUBLE is a dynamic novel that should appeal to the baby boomers
(Emma) and generation x'ers ( Billie). The interaction between this pair seems to represent the interaction between the generations in American society. Though the novel suffers a bit from an Agatha Christie type of ending in which the villain seems to surface out of nowhere, the characters make this an enjoyable read. Hopefully, Gillian Roberts will provide readers with more Emma-Billie generation gap mysteries.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Talk about an annoying protagonist!, July 23, 2003

By 

K. L Sadler "Dr. Karen L. Sadler" (Freedom, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

I was so annoyed at this woman PI for her bad attitude about everything, including the young woman who at least had the gumption to care about the children involved in this case. Emma Howe is a 50 year old curmudgeon who cannot manage to keep employees. After reading this book, I can totally understand why no one wants to stick around!

This type of mystery, having to do with child pornography, is not my cup of tea...but you had no idea what you were getting into until the last third of the book. I was thinking adult pornography or maybe shipping of drugs in upholstered furniture, but was disgusted to find out where it ended up.

The plot was too forced, the characterization not up to my par at least, and the writing merely adequate. I take it Robert has written another series, but based on the reading of this book, I don't think I want to waste the time.

Karen Sadler