Valerie Wilson Wesley Books In Order

Publication Order of Odessa Jones Books

Publication Order of Tamara Hayle Books

Publication Order of Willimena Rules! Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Book Of Black Heroes Books

Valerie Wilson Wesley is one of the highly reputed authors of the African-American origin. She is particularly well known for writing her novels based on the mystery, adult theme, nonfiction, and children’s book genres. She was born on November 22, 1947, in Connecticut, The United States. Before becoming a full time author, Valerie used to serve as an executive editor for the Essence magazine. As an author, she is received success with the novels of her mystery series known as Tamara Hayle series. The writings of author Valerie are based on fiction as well as nonfiction themes and have featured in a number of publications, including Family Circle, The New York Times, Essence, Ms., Tv Guide, as well as the weekly Swiss magazine called Die Weltwoche. Author Valerie spent most of her growing days in Ashford, Connecticut. She completed her graduation from the Howard University and later went on to earn her master’s degree from the Columbia Graduate Journalism School at the Bank Street Education College. Formerly, author Valerie used to live in East Orange, New Jersey, but as of today, she resides in Monclair, New Jersey along with her 2 beautiful daughters and her loving husband named Richard Wesley, who works as a playwright and screenwriter. Apart from writing mystery and children’s books, author Valerie also likes to write stories based on the paranormal romances. In her writing career, she has successfully written a couple of paranormal romance books. The books are titled as When the Night Whispers and The Moon Tells Secrets, and they were written by author Valerie under the pen name of Savanna Welles. She uses her original name for particularly writing the mystery books of the Tamara Hayle series and the children’s books of the Willimena Rules! series.

Author Valerie has also written a few standalone novels in her career. For one of the standalone books titled ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do’, she was awarded with the excellence award by the American Library Association’s Black Caucus in the year 2000. Most of the books that author Valerie wrote in her writing career have been listed in the bestseller’s list of the Essence magazine. One of the novels from Tamara Hayle, titled When Death Comes Stealing, was nominated for the prestigious Shamus Award. The mystery books written by author Valerie have been published in France, Poland, Great Britain, and Germany. Even her stand alone books have been published on a wide scale in Germany. A few of the essays and short stories written by Valerie have been included in numerous anthologies. They have even been edited by Rosemarie Robotham, Christina Baker Kline, and E. Lynn Harris. Previously, author Valerie used to work as an adjunct professor at the Ramapo College, located in New Jersey. In the year 2005, she got the chance to be an artist in residence at the Columbia College, Chicago. Author Valerie has received the 1993 Griot Award from Black Journalists National Assication’s New York Chapter. She has even received numerous awards from a number of community organizations and book clubs. This includes an Author of the Year award in 2004 from the Book Club of Amigirls. The book club of Go On Girls award her with three awards, one in 1996 and two in 2012. Author Valerie has served as a board member in Sisters of Crime, which is an association committed to promote women authors who write mystery novels.

The Tamara Hayle series written by Valerie Wilson Wesley consists of a total of 8 books, which were released between the years 1994 and 2008. Each and every book in this series features Tamara Hayle as the lead character, who is depicted by author Valerie as a single mother and a former cop. She makes her living by working as a private investigator and lives in Newark, New Jersey, The United States. One of the initial books published in this series is titled as ‘No Hiding Place’. The Putnam Adult publishers released this book in the year 1997. At the start, author Valerie has shown that A Newark hoodlum named Shawn Raymond gets killed. His mother named Bessie, who has his hard earned money in her hand, approaches Tamara Hayle to look at the matter and help her solve the unsolved mystery related to her son’s murder. Bessie tells Tamara that the police did not give any damn, but Tamara knows the sad reality about gangsters that they end up up to receive what they deserve. However, in her heart, she remembers a time when she knew Shawn Raymond as an innocent person. He was very much loved and cared by her brother named Johnny, who is no more. Tamara Hayle also realizes that Johnny’s suicide might have left some void that resulted in the bad choices made by Shawn. As she is quite close to the Raymonds, she joins them in their grief and also agrees to take up the case. During her initial investigations, Tamara finds that her search for the killer not only leads to the threatened middle class people and the mean streets of the city, but also into her own life. And it looks extremely shattering and terrible to her. It is expected that much more blood if going to be spilled before the bitter lesson is learned by Tamara Hayle. As she succeeds in catching the murderer, she learns that when it comes to evil in the hearts of people and murder, there is really no place to hide.

One more popular mystery book written in the series is titled as ‘Where Evil Sleeps’. It was also released by the Putnam Adult in the year 1996. Author Valerie has set this interesting novel in the tropical regions of Jamaica. As the plot begins, it is shown that murder and crime do not take a holiday. But, Tamara Hayle is seen taking a much needed break from her workload. She travels to the sunny beaches of Kingston, where she gets befriended by a very talkative homegirl. This new girl, who hails from New Jersey joins Tamara on the holiday. She is also accompanied by a couple of her male friends. When all of them go on a night out, they get involved in a murder case. Now, Tamara is once again required to get involved and investigate the matter so as to get relieved and enjoy her holiday. The situation makes her realize that no matter how much she tries to remain far away from a murder case, it does not stop from following her.