“Truly Devious” by Maureen Johnson
Description: “Author Maureen Johnson weaves a tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a new series.
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place” he said, “where learning is a game.”
Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.
True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.”
Review: This story switches between present day Stevie Bell and 1936 when the kidnapping took place at Ellingham Academy. I loved the character Stevie. She’s so dedicated to her sleuth ways and she doesn’t turn away from possibly getting into trouble or losing a friend. I enjoyed reading the characters that live in Stevie’s house, they were quirky (you have to be to be accepted into Ellingham Academy) but I thought they were well done. I did have difficulty keeping track of other side characters. The lesser characters seemed to only have 1 stand out quality and even those weren’t too memorable. I often confused Hayes ex-girlfriend and the girl who posts pictures online (I already forgot their names…). I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the thrown in romantic aspect, it seemed quickly done and I’m not sure that it really added anything to the story. I thought the pacing of the book was done really well; tt never lags and keeps you intrigued. I enjoyed trying to solve two mysteries at once. I must say that I was more intrigued by the 1936 mystery than I was about the current day one. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the cliffhanger ending and found it to be a let down. The book left me with a lot of questions, some of which I think should have been answered in book one. I almost wish this book wasn’t going to be a series, I really wanted to found out what happened. I’m excited to read the next book but hope that the story doesn’t get dragged out too much. It becomes easy for a mystery series to get bogged down by details and you end up losing the actual murder/mystery. If you enjoyed Maureen Johnson’s other novels and YA mysteries you should definitely read this book!