Will I love Truly Devious?

Though marketed for a YA audience, this book easily crosses over to appeal to all readers, as long as they love a good mystery and some quality character growth.

Main character Stevie Bell loves true crime, and she makes it clear right from the start that she’s not interested in wasting her time with much else. Something of a misfit with a healthy dose of impostor’s syndrome, she’s got something to prove and plenty of stumbling blocks that get in the way. But she is fiercely devoted to finding answers, even to the point of recklessness.

Hints at future romance—never… show more.

Such a compelling, well-crafted mystery! I had no idea how the various deaths, disappearances, and inexplicably eerie occurrences all fit together and I didn't want to put down the book until I'd found out.

I can’t get enough of quirky, indefatigable teen sleuth Stevie Bell. She’s determined to solve a decades-old cold case, but must also navigate social awkwardness, anxiety, and people who literally want her dead.

I enjoyed how this book flip-flopped between the present-day narrative and the past. My friend and I got to see Maureen Johnson give a talk at a nearby bookstore, and we loved it; she’s basically a stand-up comedian. 

Maureen Johnson has written a list of YA novels and won loads of awards and “notables.” Truly Devious is the first in a trilogy about a group of students chosen to attend a high school for those with special talents or interests. Stevie Bell can’t believe they chose her to attend—her application said she was obsessed with the unsolved 1930s disappearance of the wife and daughter of the wealthy founder of the school. She wanted to come and solve the mystery.

The story takes three books to unravel, so get ready to read. I found myself invested in the characters… show more.

Stevie Bell is a student of true crime and frighteningly good at solving cold cases—making her perfect for the elite Ellingham Academy in Vermont, the site of a famous unsolved crime.

The combination of Stevie’s compelling personality, the boarding school setting, and the deft unraveling of the mystery had me flying through pages. Johnson has created an addictive narrative using a compulsively readable style and a wonderful cast of characters, but the jewel here is Stevie.

It’s a YA novel but I don’t think I’ve ever related to a teen more. (We’d both rather hide inside our comfy black hoodies… show more.