Valerie Wilson Wesley

Author Information
Valerie Wilson Wesley's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    24 Books (3 Series)
  • First Book:
    November 1993
  • Latest Book:
    August 2023
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Full Series List in Order

An Odessa Jones Mystery

1 - A Glimmer of Death (Feb-2021)
2 - A Fatal Glow (Feb-2022)
3 - A Shimmer of Red (Aug-2023)

A Tamara Hayle Mystery

1 - When Death Comes Stealing (Jul-1994)
2 - Devil's Gonna Get Him (Jul-1995)
3 - Where Evil Sleeps (Aug-1996)
4 - No Hiding Place (Sep-1997)
5 - Easier to Kill (Aug-1998)
6 - The Devil Riding (Jun-2000)
7 - Dying in the Dark (Sep-2004)
8 - Of Blood and Sorrow (Feb-2008)

Willimena Rules!

1 - How to Lose Your Class Pet (Dec-2003)
2 - How to Fish for Trouble (Apr-2004)
3 - How to Lose Your Cookie Money (Sep-2004)
4 - How To (almost) Ruin Your School Play (Mar-2005)
5 - 23 Ways to Mess Up Valentine's Day (Dec-2005)
6 - How to Face Up to the Class Bully (Jun-2007)

Book List in Order: 24 titles

  • Where Do I Go from Here?

  • When Death Comes Stealing

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 1

    A tough and savvy Newark cop-turned-P.I., Tamara Hayle is a sister with a mission: to raise her kid right in a mean town. But now the past has come knocking - bringing trouble to her door in the person of her 'dog' a former husband, DeWayne. Suspicio...

  • Devil's Gonna Get Him

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 2

    Cop-turned-struggling p.i., Tamara Hoyle is a hardworking sisterWith bills to pay and a teenage son to raise. So when LincolnStorey -- the richest, rudest black man in the county-offers herbig bucks to dig up the dirt on his stepdaughter's lover, Tam...

  • Where Evil Sleeps

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 3

    Death doesn't take a holiday -- even when Tamara does. Off to sunny Kingston, Jamaica, for some much needed relaxation, former Newark cop and hard-working p.i. Tamara Hayle is pleased at first to join fellow Jersey homegirl, Lilah Love, for a nig...

  • Freedom's Gifts

  • No Hiding Place

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 4

    In just three Tamara Hayle mysteries, Valerie Wilson Wesley has created one of the most memorable private investigators to hit urban streets in years. As the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel has proclaimed, "Tamara continues to emerge as a strong, decisiv...

  • Easier to Kill

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 5

    P.I Tamara Hayle and her latest client, popular radio personality Mandy Magic, share the same roots -- both grew up in the hardscrabble projects on one of the meanest streets in Newark. But that's what brings her to Tamara Hayle. Mandy Magic knows th...

  • Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do

    At forty, artist-turned-librarian Eva Hutchinson isn't looking for a change. But on a hot Friday the 13th in June, Hutch, her husband of ten years, picks up his suitcase and walks into the night, searching for the "joy" that he feels is missing from ...

  • The Devil Riding

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 6

    Tamara Hayle is never going to be as rich as the Desmonds, one of Newark, New Jersey's most affluent and influential black families. But the struggling p.i. wouldn't want their troubles either, now that their rebellious daughter Gabriella has run off...



  • Willimena and the Cookie Money

    When Willie Thomas uses twenty dollars of her cookie money, she must join forces with her sister to devise a plan to replace the money before she has to turn it in to her scout leader, but their clever plan backfires and Willie must tell the truth....

  • Always True to You in My Fashion

    Randall is rich, handsome and charming -- the true-to-life dream lover of three smart, independent women who find themselves passionately involved with him during the same seven months. Artist Medora Jackson has loved Randall since college and is...

  • How to Lose Your Class Pet

    Willimena Rules! - 1

    Mrs. Sweetly was the meanest teacher in the Harriet Tubman School. Oh, and did I also mention she was going to be my third-grade teacher?! After the first day of school, I knew I had to have a Secret Plan: To Get Mean Old Mrs. Sweetly to Like Me! Tha...

  • How to Fish for Trouble

    Willimena Rules! - 2

    Here's how the trouble began. It was the day before spring break, and Teddy, my favorite cousin, was coming to stay for the week! Anyway, my dad said we were going kite flying, fishing, and even bird-watching. But the whole week my dad spent more tim...

  • Dying in the Dark

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 7

    Tamara Hayle's past has come back to haunt her -- literally. She's been plagued by terrifying dreams about Celia Jones, an old friend whose walk on the wild side led her to a horrible death. Celia's teenage son, Cecil, begs Tamara to find his mother'...

  • How to Lose Your Cookie Money

    Willimena Rules! - 3

    Willimena tells all in--How to Lose Your Cookie Money This is not part of the Girl Scout Law but it should be: a Girl Scout never, ever loses her cookie money. She always keeps it in a safe place, like in a box in her sock drawer or someplace like t...

  • How To (almost) Ruin Your School Play

    Willimena Rules! - 4

    Okay, so I tried, I really tried to be happy when my big sister, Tina, won the school playwriting contest. As "playwright," Tina got to pick who was going to be in the play, and she got to direct the whole thing. When she started to cast The Terrific...

  • Playing My Mother's Blues

    Dani Carter was seven years old -- her sister, Rose, seventeen -- when their beautiful, impetuous mother, Maria, walked out of their lives, abandoning her husband and family for a love affair that would end tragically mere months later. Over the deca...

  • 23 Ways to Mess Up Valentine's Day

    Willimena Rules! - 5

    After being held prisoner for years, Artemis Fowl's father has finally come home. He is a new man-an honest man, much to Artemis's horror. He makes his son promise to give up his life of crime, and Artemis has to go along with it. But not until he ha...

  • How to Face Up to the Class Bully

    Willimena Rules! - 6

    Great things usually happen in September. Except when you get the back-to-school blues, which Willimena has. Willimena is going to be in  a bigger class, with new kids, a new teacher. It 's the first day of school, and  she's scared!  Tina, h...



  • Of Blood and Sorrow

    A Tamara Hayle Mystery - 8

    Valerie Wilson Wesley's private investigator, Tamara Hayle, whom the Houston Chronicle calls "smart, sexy, tough but tender," has earned enthusiastic acclaim from reviewers and readers alike. Now Newark, New Jersey's savviest detective confronts the ...

  • 9 Steps to the Best, Worst, Greatest Hiliday Ever!

    Christmas and Kwanzaa are right around the corner and Willimena is usually excited about her favorite time of the year. There are fun decorations, yummy food, the seven principles of Kwanzaa and, of course, gifts for both holidays. But this year, no ...

  • A Glimmer of Death

    An Odessa Jones Mystery - 1

    Selected as a Pioneer Woman Best Beach Read! Featured on Buzzfeed Books! In the first of a thrilling new series, one woman’s extraordinary psychic gift plunges her already-troubled present into chaos -- and puts her future in someone’s deadly sig...

  • A Fatal Glow

    An Odessa Jones Mystery - 2

    Sometimes even good luck can mean bad fortune. For Odessa Jones -- reluctant psychic, part-time caterer, full-time realtor -- an elegant affair turned deadly threatens her reputation, and her life . . .   Recently widowed Odessa Jones is sure th...

  • A Shimmer of Red

    An Odessa Jones Mystery - 3

    The latest novel in a thrilling cozy mystery series featuring Odessa Jones -- a sudden widow juggling a promising catering business, a full-time real estate gig -- and a psychic gift that leads her to solve mysteries whenever they appear to her -- wh...

Award-Winning Books by Valerie Wilson Wesley

Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
2000 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Award -- Fiction


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Valerie Wilson Wesley has published 24 books.

Valerie Wilson Wesley does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, A Shimmer of Red, was published in August 2023.

The first book by Valerie Wilson Wesley, Where Do I Go from Here?, was published in November 1993.

Yes. Valerie Wilson Wesley has 3 series.
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