Born in Portland, Oregon, April 14, 1959, April grew up in the small southern Oregon town of Medford where her father, Hank Henry, was a KTVL television newscaster, and her mother, Nora Henry, was a florist.

Author Roald Dahl helped April take her first step as a writer. When April was eleven, she sent Dahl a short story about a frog who loved peanut butter. Dahl had lunch with the editor of an international children's magazine and read her the story. The editor contacted April and asked to publish her story.

In 1999, April’s first book, Circles of Confusion, was published by HarperCollins. It was short-listed for the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award. It was also chosen for the Booksense 76 list, and the Oregonian Book Club, and was a Mystery Guild Editor's Choice. It has been translated into Japanese and French. Other books in the series followed: Square in the Face (published in 2000); Heart-Shaped Box (published in 2001); and Buried Diamonds (published in 2003).

April’s first stand-alone thriller, Learning to Fly, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2002. It was a Booksense pick, got starred reviews in Library Journal and Booklist, was named one of Library Journal's Best of 2002, and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. It was translated into Dutch, Japanese, and French.Shock Point, April’s first young-adult thriller, was published by Putnam in 2006. It was ALA Quick Pick, a Top 10 Books for Teens nominee, a New York Library’s Books for the Teen Age book, named to the Texas Tayshas list, and a finalist for Philadelphia’s Young Readers Choice Award. Her next young-adult book, Torched, a thriller about a girl who goes undercover in an environmental extremist group, was published in 2009. Girl, Stolen, a young-adult thriller about a blind girl who is kidnapped, will be released from Henry Holt in October 2010.

In 2009, April Henry partnered with Lis Wiehl to collaborate on the Triple Threat Mystery series. The first book in the series, Face of Betrayal, was on the New York Times bestseller list for four weeks.