HENRY, April 1959–

PERSONAL:

Born 1959, in Portland, OR; daughter of Hank (a television broadcaster) and Nora (a florist) Henry; married; children: one daughter. Education: Oregon State University, Corvallis, B.A.; attended University of Stuttgart. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Nondenominational Christian." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, cooking, running.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Portland, OR. Agent—Wendy Schmalz, Harold Ober Associates, Inc., 425 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10017. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Novelist. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Portland, OR, communication specialist; has worked as a cook, a maid, a German translator, a life drawing model, and in data entry.

MEMBER:

International Association of Business Communicators, Healthcare Communicators of Oregon, Willamette Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Nominations for Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Association Award, Spotted Owl Mystery Award, Agatha Award for best first mystery, and Anthony Award for best first mystery, all for Circles of Confusion; Booksense 76 Choice, and Oregonian Book Club Choice, both 2000, both for Circles of Confusion.

WRITINGS:

"claire montrose" mystery series

Circles of Confusion, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

Square in the Face, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Heart-shaped Box, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Buried Diamonds, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

mystery novels

Learning to Fly, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

Shock Point (for young adults), G.P. Putnam's Sons (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Among the odd jobs April Henry had prior to establishing herself as a writer in the mystery genre was a brief stint jumping out of a cake. However, her fictional protagonist tops even that as far as sheer quirkiness goes: inspecting vanity license plates for profanities is the day job that launches Henry's protagonist, Claire Montrose, on her stint as an amateur sleuth. Detailed in books such as Circles of Confusion, Heart-shaped Box, and Buried Diamonds, Claire's cases involve her in art forgery and theft, questionable adoptions, and even murder. Despite such grave elements, the "Clair Montrose" novels are lighthearted, and Henry sustains the mood by ending each chapter with a "mystery" vanity plate anagram for readers to solve.

Although Henry's writing career technically began with her first novel, Circles of Confusion, she actually became a published writer as a pre-teen, when one of her short stories won the approval of noted British writer Roald Dahl and was printed in an international children's magazine. In her book-length debut—the first installment in the "Claire Montrose" series—Claire's aunt has died and left the forty-something amateur sleuth an oil painting with a provenance shrouded in mystery. Suspecting the painting may have been smuggled from Germany during World War II, when German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his Nazi cohorts confiscated many works of fine art, Claire flies to New York City to have the work appraised. Although an expert tells her the work is a forgery, the continued attempts by thieves to steal the painting cause Claire to suspect that there may be more to the story than she knows. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that Henry's amateur detective "proves clever enough to outwit even the wiliest villain in her offbeat, vital first outing as a sleuth," while in Library Journal a reviewer noted that "the good news is that Claire will be back in a second mystery." In addition to critical approval, Circles of Confusion was nominated for several writing awards.

Claire returns in Square in the Face, as one of her friends asks for help in locating a child who had been given up for adoption years before. Hoping to help the distraught mother, Claire poses as a pregnant woman in order to obtain access to the clinic where her friend's daughter was born. After finding the birth mother's records, she narrows down the list of possible adoptive parents, but when these leads fall short of success, Claire is forced to return to the clinic for real answers. "The book's strength is Claire, its likable protagonist," noted Jenny McLarin in a review of Square in the Face for Booklist, and in Publishers Weekly a reviewer commented that "Henry writes an absorbing and at times moving mystery with a lively heroine." According to Library Journal critic Rex E. Klett, "agreeable prose" combines with "a steadily engaging plot [to] … make this a recommended purchase."

Henry's third "Claire Montrose" mystery, Heart-shaped Box, follows Claire as she travels to her twentieth high school reunion, hoping to see how her former classmates have—and have not—changed since their graduation. When several of her female classmates receive heart-shaped boxes and one of them subsequently suffers a sudden death, Claire's detective work begins. A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that Henry relegates Claire to the back seat for this adventure outing, leaving much of the actual investigating work to one of Claire's former classmates, a police officer. While noting that Henry's series is somewhat uneven in the plot department, Booklist reviewer Jenny McLarin cited the strength of the story line in Heart-shaped Box, commenting that this series installment "takes a step in the right direction." In another favorable review, Klett wrote in Library Journal that "lively action, a tidy circle of appealing characters, and a focused, small-town location make [Heart-shaped Box] … a solid work."

In Buried Diamonds Claire finds a diamond engagement ring while going for her morning jog. According to elderly housemate Charlie, a Holocaust survivor, the ring belonged to a woman named Elizabeth, who committed suicide decades earlier. Hoping to return the ring to its rightful owner, Claire traces it back to Elizabeth's former fiancée, the Korean War veteran Allen, as well as the late woman's sister, best friend, and neighbors. The elderly cast is soon transformed into a list of suspects, as Claire's sleuthing reveals Elizabeth's death to be murder. Praising Buried Diamonds as "a solid entry in a solid series," Booklist contributor Jenny McLarin commended Henry's inclusion of "historical material" in her novel, and Klett dubbed the novel "a warm prize for a chilly day."

While the "Claire Montrose" novels constitute the bulk of Henry's fictional output, the author has also produced the highly praised solo mystery, Learning to Fly, and has also won over younger fans with her first young-adult thriller, Shock Point. A nineteen year old takes advantage of tragedy when she finds herself seated beside several fatalities of a fifty-two-car accident in Learning to Fly, the novel in which Henry "really hits her stride," according to McLarin in Booklist. Although her shaved head, tattoo, and pierced nose say otherwise, Free Meeker wants a normal life away from her hippie parents and the loser boyfriend who has left her pregnant. When hitchhiker Lydia dies in the crash, Free trades identities with the deceased young woman; a bag containing over 700,000 dollars in cash, the property of another crash victim, allows Free to assume Lydia's identity in style. Unfortunately, the identity and the cash both come with strings, and Free soon finds herself pursued by Lydia's abusive husband and a drug dealer intent upon retrieving his ill-gotten gains. As Learning to Fly winds to its conclusion, McLarin described the tension created by Henry as "deliciously unbearable," and dubbed the novel a "dynamic" and "hard-to-put-down suspense tale." "In tone, mood and structure," the novel constitutes a shift from the lightheared "Claire Montrose" novels, according to a Publishers Weekly writer, the contributor characterizing the novel's accident schene as "harrowing." In Library Journal, Klett praised Henry's style for its "easy grace, choice characterization, and mounting tension," recommending Learning to Fly to fans of her "Claire Montrose" mysteries.

Teen readers are Henry's focus in Shock Point, which focuses on sixteen-year-old Cassie Streng, whose growing concern over her psychiatrist stepfather Rick's treatment of misguided teens lands her in Peaceful Cove, an ironically named juvenile detention facility. The experimental drug called Socom that Rick uses to treat his adolescent patients has resulted in several suicides, and when Cassie begins to express concern over the drug, Rick has two thugs take her to the facility, which is located in a remote area of New Mexico. Assured that her daughter is now in boarding school, Cassie's mom does not suspect Rick's machinations, leaving the teen to escape her harsh prison and put an end to the drug's use. Describing the novel as "Dickensian," Booklist contributor Connie Fletcher praised Shock Point, noting that Cassie is a "likeable heroine who's a good match for the nefarious adults in her life." Praising the author's use of short chapters and a narrative that alternates between Cassie's current plight and the events that got her there, Beth Gallego wrote in School Library Journal that the novel features "a nicely executed technique that keeps the plot moving and readers engaged."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, January 1, 2000, Jenny McLarin, review of Square in the Face, p. 884; December 15, 2000, Jenny McLarin, review of Heart-shaped Box, p. 791; March 15, 2002, Jenny McLarin, review of Learning to Fly, p. 1215; November 1, 2003, Jenny McLarin, review of Buried Diamonds, p. 482; February 1, 2006, Connie Fletcher, review of Shock Point, p. 44.

Business Journal-Portland, February 16, 2001, Kristina Brenneman, "Mystery Writer Emerges at Kaiser," p. 19.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2002, review of Learning to Fly, p. 292; September 15, 2003, review of Buried Diamonds, p. 1156; December 15, 2005, review of Shock Point, p. 1322.

Library Journal, October 1, 1999, review of Circles of Confusion, p. 50; March 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Square in the Face, p. 127; January 1, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of Heart-shaped Box, p. 162; May 1, 2002, Rex E. Klett, review of Learning to Fly, p. 137.

Publishers Weekly, January 18, 1999, review of Circles of Confusion, p. 331; January 17, 2000, review of Square in the Face, p. 46; January 8, 2001, review of Heart-shaped Box, p. 51; April 8, 2002, review of Learning to Fly, p. 209.

School Library Journal, June, 2006, Beth Gallego, review of Shock Point, p. 158.*