• The Things We Keep

Janet will be at Left Coast Crime in Seattle! Panel: “The Female Art of Murder” on Saturday, April 13, at 2:45 PM
Watch Janet’s “Chatting With Authors” Interview!
Read “A Day in the Life of Jeri Howard” on Dru’s Book Musings!

A Kings River Life Favorite Book of 2023!

“Longtime fans of Janet Dawson will be delighted in this latest installment of their favorite private detective’s adventures… New readers to the series can also easily dive into this fun adventure that takes them back to San Francisco in its heyday… From start to finish this is a compelling mystery with a private detective who has lost none of her trademark wit, intelligence, or investigative skills.”
—Cynthia Chow, Kings River Life review of The Things We Keep

“The kind of private investigator novel I’m always hoping to read… an absorbing story, a complex PI novel.”
—Lesa Holstine, Lesa’s Book Critiques review of The Things We Keep

A Note From Janet About The Things We Keep

Jeri is all over the map. Yes, if you’ve read the Jeri Howard series, you know that Jeri is based in Oakland, California. But this private investigator doesn’t just stay in the office. She goes places. All over the nine counties that encompass the greater Bay Area, of course.

And certainly farther afield. In Don’t Turn Your Back on the Ocean, a brief vacation in Monterey turns into a case and Jeri travels south to San Luis Obispo. A Credible Threat takes her to Colorado, then north to Mendocino. In Where the Bodies are Buried, Jeri follows a lead to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Bit Player leads her to Los Angeles, then over the Sierra Nevada to Lee Vining and Mono Lake. The Devil Close Behind finds her in New Orleans. In Witness to Evil, she goes all the way to Paris, then winds up in Bakersfield.

Most of the time, though, Jeri stays close to home. Oakland, Alameda, San Francisco, up to Marin and Sonoma counties.

Jeri’s latest case is The Things We Keep. The book begins in Alameda, the island city, where Jeri grew up. It’s full of old Victorian-era homes and Jeri is in one such house when she finds two skulls and a pile of bones in an old Navy footlocker. As the footlocker implies, the house is close to the Alameda Naval Air Station.

Read more about The Things We Keep