Kendra Clayton

Twenty-eight-year-old Kendra Clayton never quite broke out of her hometown of Willow, Ohio. 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 her friend Bernie's boyfriend, a notorious womanizer, is brutally murdered, both she and Kendra are implicated 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. Between Jordan's past and present conquests - 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 becomes attracted to a man who may hold the missing piece of the puzzle - if she can survive long enough to put it together.

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.

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 . . .

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.