jmc

Notice that there are two rectangular holes in the top right corner and the bottom left corner. If these holes were filled, the entire figure would be a rectangle with length $8+9=17$ inches and width $7+4=11$ inches. The area would be $17\cdot 11=187$ square inches. The area of the top right hole is $5\cdot 3=15$ square inches and the area of the bottom left hole is $8\cdot 4=32$ square inches. The area of the given figure is the area of the large rectangle minus the areas of the two holes, or $187-15-32=\boxed{140}$ square inches.