Janet Dawson Books in Order

Oakland private investigator Jeri Howard is hired to find a wife who disappeared after leaving her child with relatives. What seems a straightforward missing-person case leads into concealed identities and old family crimes that still carry deadly consequences.

Jeri Howard investigates an abusive naval petty officer’s finances for his estranged wife, who suspects hidden money. When the husband is killed, her client becomes a prime suspect, but his vicious secrets have left many others with motives.

A Filipino-American history professor is murdered, and Jeri Howard’s father discovers the body at their university. Months later, a woman claiming to be the professor’s widow arrives demanding his papers, drawing Jeri into an investigation of his past.

Jeri Howard’s Monterey vacation becomes a tangle of investigations when someone mutilates pelicans and sabotages her mother’s restaurant. Her cousin Bobby is suspected of killing his girlfriend, turning a family visit into a search for a murderer.

A murdered young runaway is found at a Berkeley construction site, while her two-year-old daughter has vanished among the homeless. Private investigator Jeri Howard searches the cold, rainy streets, racing to find the child before further harm occurs.

Students sharing a Berkeley house face vandalism, threatening calls, and escalating violence, including Jeri Howard’s former stepdaughter. As Jeri investigates who is terrorizing them, connections to an earlier case suggest that danger may already have turned deadly.

Jeri Howard searches for a teenage girl whose fascination with her grandmother’s escape from Nazi persecution has taken a dangerous turn. In California, the girl’s investigation draws the attention of neo-Nazis, putting her directly in their sights.

A paralegal dies shortly before revealing a food-processing company’s cover-up to Jeri Howard. Suspecting murder, Jeri goes undercover at the firm, where efforts to conceal a public health danger make uncovering the truth increasingly hazardous.

At Edgewater Downs, Jeri Howard investigates threatening calls directed at horse owner and trainer Molly Torrance. A fired jockey, suspicious betting, and inexplicable racing losses complicate the case before murder exposes the danger beneath the track’s glamorous surface.

Ten mystery stories follow crimes and deceptions in varied settings, including rival claimants to a cat's inheritance and hostile messages between estranged spouses. Other tales place Mary Todd Lincoln amid wartime intrigue and homeless siblings in a dangerous San Francisco.

A chance encounter in a memorabilia shop leads Jeri Howard into her grandmother’s Hollywood past and an unsolved 1942 murder. As she investigates the former actress’s possible involvement, valuable movie posters become linked to present-day killings.

After twelve-year-old Emily Gebhardt dies in a hit-and-run, investigator Jeri Howard begins searching for the driver. The candles and flowers left at the corner mark her parents' grief, but their demand for justice raises troubling questions about vengeance.

Investigator Jeri Howard examines a couple's apparent murder-suicide to determine who died first and who can inherit the insurance money. A law barring killers and their heirs from profiting makes the order of the deaths crucial to the case.

History professor Lindsey Page faces her estranged daughter’s return and an immigrant interviewee’s plea to recover a son lost during a Salvadoran massacre. Secrets among old friends connect their present difficulties with turbulent events in Berkeley decades earlier.

An avalanche strands the California Zephyr in a remote Colorado canyon just before Christmas in 1952, with a murderer aboard. Zephyrette Jill McLeod must use her knowledge of passengers and human nature to prevent another killing.

Jeri Howard searches Sonoma County for her missing brother Brian, uncovering troubles in his marriage and work. A body found on a boat alongside his medical bracelet raises police suspicions, leaving her racing a trail that grows colder.

In April 1953, Zephyrette Jill McLeod travels west from Chicago aboard the California Zephyr, anticipating a reunion with family and a new love. Difficult passengers, unexpected relatives, and a high-stakes poker game become entangled with death.

When former coworker Cal Brady’s body washes ashore in Oakland, Jeri Howard doubts his death was accidental. Her investigation of the construction-site security guard leads into waterfront redevelopment, where lucrative projects create opportunities for greed and crime.

Veteran reporter Maggie Constable returns for her fiftieth high school reunion determined to solve her best friend's disappearance. Fern vanished after ending a relationship at their graduation party, leaving Maggie to confront a mystery that has haunted her for decades.

Aboard the California Zephyr in 1953, Jill McLeod sees an unexplained light in a roomette where a young passenger recently died. Reports from others suggest a haunting, prompting her to question the earlier verdict of natural causes.

This collection selects about 150 children’s books reviewed on the Kids Book A Day blog between 2015 and 2018. Summaries, reasons for inclusion, and read-alike lists span picture books, fiction, graphic novels, poetry, biography, and nonfiction.

Vacationing in New Orleans, Jeri Howard agrees to look for a friend’s sister who has disappeared with a volatile musician. The search takes her through local clubs and back to California, where the boyfriend’s violence creates increasing danger.

Zephyrette Jill McLeod takes a temporary acting job portraying herself in a film noir being made in California. Tensions among cast and crew turn deadly, forcing her to investigate a murder in an unfamiliar world of movie-making secrets.

Geriatric care manager Kay Dexter tries to settle a dispute between Betty Garvin’s daughters over their mother’s care. Suspicions about Betty’s valuable estate complicate the family feud, and a death puts Kay herself in danger.

Oakland investigator Jeri Howard discovers human bones inside a battered footlocker hidden in a storeroom. Identifying the dead draws her into secrets stretching back decades, and someone determined to preserve those secrets is prepared to kill again.