Janet Dawson writes highly acclaimed suspense novels about the adventures of Jeri Howard, a female private detective in the San Francisco Bay area. In addition to believable characters and suspenseful storylines, Dawson's novels also explore significant issues in contemporary modern life. Dawson's first novel, Kindred Crimes won the Private Eye Writers of America Best First Private Eye Novel Contest, and was nominated for the Anthony and Shamus awards. Her seventh novel, Witness to Evil, takes protagonist Jeri Howard to Paris to rescue a runaway teenager and back to California, where Howard becomes involved in a dangerous confrontation with neo-Nazis. Other Jeri Howard mysteries include… Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean, Nobody's Child, and Till the Old Men Die. Janet Dawson was an enlisted journalist in the Navy before moving to Alameda, Calif. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.