Center for Teaching & Learning

Meet Stephanie (Stevie) Bell. She is obsessed with true crime and loves to solve mysteries. She is ecstatic when her application to Ellingham Academy, a very fancy high-end boarding school founded by world-famous billionaire, Albert Ellingham, gets accepted. The only thing that isn’t so great about Ellingham Academy is the murders, the mysteries, and the lies. In 1936, tragedy struck Ellingham's family, and his daughter disappeared, never to be seen again. Stevie comes to Ellingham on a mission: to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the past century. Along the way she makes new friends and new enemies. When she begins experiencing strange occurrences, Stevie realizes Ellingham Academy is not as great as it seems.

At Ellingham, Stevie meets many interesting people: a very chaotic artist who supposedly has nothing to lose, an actor who pays other people to do his school work, a game developer with a mysterious past, and a teen author who hates writing, just to name a few. When one of Stevie's housemates dies, Stevie takes matters into her own hands and begins to solve the new mystery, all while trying not to fail school.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson is a great book. Although the perspective is third person, the reader is able to follow along with Stevie’s thoughts and feelings. When Stevie is in action, the reader gets to read the book almost like they are right alongside Stevie, seeing everything through her eyes.

Some of the chapters alternate between different timelines, so instead of all chapters taking place in the present day, some chapters take place in the years the Ellingham mystery takes place. In one timeline, the reader gets to see what people were doing back in 1936 when Alice went missing, and then the present timeline shows how Stevie is trying to solve that mystery.

This book is part of a five-book series: Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair, The Hand on the Wall, The Box in the Woods, and, most recently, Nine Liars. Each book picks up right where the previous one ended—with Stevie either still trying to figure out Ellingham and all of its secrets or with Stevie attempting to solve a new mystery on her own.

Honestly, mystery readers can’t miss this book. Truly Devious has crime solving, romance, betrayal, and relatable characters. Readers will certainly want to keep reading to find out more.

Vivian

HarperCollins, 416 pages