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Kendra Clayton Mystery book cover 1
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Kendra Clayton Mystery
Series · 6 books · 2005-2019

Books in series

The Company You Keep book cover
#1

The Company You Keep

2005

Following in the footsteps of Valerie Wilson Wesley and Janet Evanovich, Angela Henry introduces an unlikely heroine in Kendra Clayton, whose kind heart and curious nature keep pulling her into trouble. Hard as she tried,twenty-eight-year-old Kendra Clayton never quite broke out of her hometown of Willow, Ohio. Now she works part-time as a GED instructor and beefs up her income by hostessing at her uncle's restaurant, soaking up the local gossip. It's a quiet life, but Kendra hasn't given up hope that one day Mr. Right will walk through the door. In the meantime, her sleepy hollow is about to get a rude awakening, and Kendra is about to get some excitement—though it's not quite what she had in mind When Kendra hears that her friend and co-worker, Bernie Gibson, is finally ready to kick her cheating gigolo boyfriend to the curb, she couldn't be happier. Forty-something Bernie deserves much better—and so do all the other women Jordan Wallace has been involved with. In fact, Kendra hopes they never set eyes on his lying face again. And she's about to get her wish. Before she has a chance to end the relationship, Bernie discovers Jordan's brutally murdered body on her property. The first call she makes is to Kendra, the second is to 911. As the two get caught up in a series of police interviews, Bernie asks Kendra to withhold some seemingly harmless information. In the name of friendship, Kendra reluctantly agrees. But soon Kendra's favor ends up implicating her in the crime. The only way Kendra can save herself—and the friend she believes is innocent—is by doing some investigating of her own. And the closer she looks, the more suspects she finds. Jordan was a man that women loved and hated—usually at the same time. Now one of them has crossed that thin line. But between Jordan's past and present conquests, which include several girlfriends in a variety of colors, and a chain of emptied wallets and vengeful hearts, which one could be a killer? As Kendra's curiosity draws her deeper into the case, she also gets into an unexpected attraction to a man who may hold the missing piece of the puzzle—if she can survive long enough to put it together.
Tangled Roots book cover
#2

Tangled Roots

2006

For Kendra Clayton life is good—for about five minutes. Then her sweetie, lawyer Carl Brumfield, leaves town to help out his sister in Cleveland. Her soon-to-be-married best friend picks out a hideous bridesmaid's dress for her to wear (a sequined Smurf-blue nightmare with a bow on the butt). The work she loves as a part-time GED instructor turns into the job from hell when a retired kindergarten teacher with the personality of a piranha becomes her new boss. And to top it all off, Detective Trish Harmon of the Willow, Ohio, police department shows up at her class looking for Kendra's favorite student, a troubled young man named Timmy who has been straightening out his life. A pretty local beautician is dead, and Timmy is suspect number one. When he later shows up at Kendra's apartment begging for help, it's only one more step before Kendra's back on the road to trouble again, trying to find the real killer, stepping over the line from a nice safe life into danger…and getting tangled in the deadly roots of desire.
Diva's Last Curtain Call book cover
#3

Diva's Last Curtain Call

2007

Part-time GED instructor Kendra Clayton's spring break is proving to be anything but relaxing. First her best friend, Lynette, suffers a major panic attack days before her wedding and vanishes. Then her sister, Allegra, who craves attention the way Kendra craves hot fudge cake, arrives in town determined to land an interview with screen legend Vivianne DeArmond for the TV show Hollywood Vibe. But Allegra's interview plans hit a glitch when she discovers the diva's lifeless body in her dressing room, stabbed in the back with a letter opener. The police peg Allegra as the prime suspect, but Kendra knows her sister is no murderer, even if she is guilty of acting a little too friendly around Kendra's man lately. As Kendra starts to investigate and whittle down the list of Vivianne's enemies, she uncovers some surprising Hollywood secrets. But she'll need to act fast. Because every step toward the truth puts her in danger of becoming the victim of a ruthless killer's encore performance . . .
Schooled in Lies book cover
#4

Schooled in Lies

2009

GED instructor Kendra Clayton’s high school days were nothing to brag about. So she’s not too thrilled when on top of having to take a class to renew her teaching certificate or be fired, she gets roped into serving on her high school’s reunion committee.Spending time with her former classmates is even less fun than having a root canal. Then to make matters worse, Kendra and the other committee members start receiving strange messages and having freak accidents. When one of the accidents results in a death, Kendra is convinced it’s murder. Unfortunately, neither the reunion committee nor the police take her seriously.To try and prevent another death—and to keep from worrying about all the time her sweetie, Carl, has been spending with his scheming ex-wife—Kendra digs into the lives of her fellow committee members and uncovers enough secrets, lies, and betrayal to make her head spin. When a second murder occurs, Kendra realizes she needs to watch her back in her search for the truth before a killer turns her into another buried secret.
Sly, Slick & Wicked book cover
#5

Sly, Slick & Wicked

2012

Love is in the air in Willow, Ohio, but not for teacher Kendra Clayton. Her lawyer boyfriend, Carl, dumped her and moved to Atlanta after a misunderstanding, and the other man she thought she could count on, Reverend Morris Rollins, has romantically hooked up with her nemesis, Detective Trish Harman. Even Kendra's grandmother, Estelle Mays, has a new man in her life, a widower named Leonard Duncan, who Kendra doesn't trust for a minute. Adding to Kendra's misery is murderer Stephanie Preston, who Kendra was set to testify against, is on the loose and may be seeking revenge. Understandably, Kendra is paranoid and the evidence that someone's following her only intensifies her fears. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, Kendra stumbles, literally, over the dead body of local art dealer, Justin Ramey during the reception for recent art school graduate Joy Owens' debut showing at his gallery. Abrasive Joy is hardly Kendra's favorite person. So When Joy asks her to find Justin's killer because her best friend, Pia-Justin's daughter-is the prime suspect, Kendra tells her to take a hike. She has problems of her own. But when Joy tells Kendra she has some juicy dirt on her grandmother's new man, and will only give it up if she agrees to help her clear Pia, Kendra grudgingly finds herself teamed up with Joy Owens in the hunt for a murderer.
Doing It To Death book cover
#6

Doing It To Death

A Kendra Clayton Mystery

2019

A 30-year-old murder. A dead ex-con. And a case of mistaken identity.Trouble finds Kendra Clayton once again when a case of mistaken identity lands her smack in the middle of a beef between an ex-con named Dibb Bentley and Lewis Watts—an arrogant, vain lady’s man she can’t stand. Dibb hid something in Lewis’s house before he went to prison three decades ago. Now he’s out. And he wants it back. Only Lewis claims he doesn’t know what it is, let alone where it could be. Then Dibb’s dead body turns up in Lewis’s trunk, and he’s arrested. Lewis begs Kendra to help him. But she’d love nothing more than to walk away. Unfortunately, Kendra can’t turn a blind eye when the evidence against Lewis doesn’t add up. And to make matters worse, she’s become a target herself. To figure out what the killer wants, Kendra must dig into a thirty-year-old murder case revealing the seedy side of her beloved hometown. Doing It To Death is the sixth book in the Kendra Clayton mystery series. Click the buy button and join the legions of fans of this quirky, laugh-out-loud series that Library Journal called “Highly recommended.”

Author

Angela Henry
Angela Henry
Author · 14 books

Angela Henry is the author of THE COMPANY YOU KEEP, TANGLED ROOTS, DIVA'S LAST CURTAIN CALL, and SCHOOLED IN LIES featuring teacher and reluctant sleuth Kendra Clayton as well as her first romantic suspense THE PARIS SECRET coming fall 2010 from Carina Press. She is also the founder of the award-winning MystNoir website, which promotes African-American mystery writers and characters, and is a member of ITW-International Thriller Writers. For more details about Angela and her books, visit Angela Henry's website or MySpace page."

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Kendra Clayton Mystery