Truly Devious

October 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-Stevie Bell is a dyed-in-the-wool true-crime buff. And what better place to deepen her understanding than at Ellingham Academy, the Vermont private school founded in the 1930s by wealthy eccentric Albert Ellingham? Partly because the custom courses of study are tailored to students' passion-writing, engineering, film, math-but also because the school was the scene of a notorious crime not long after it opened: Albert Ellingham's wife and daughter were kidnapped, ostensibly for ransom, and a student was killed. His wife's body was found eventually, but his daughter, Alice, never was. Stevie plans to solve the case. But when a classmate is killed, everything changes. There is a lot to love here. Stevie is a smart, relatable, self-aware protagonist. The cast is racially diverse and includes teens on various parts of the gender, sexuality, and neurotypical spectrums. The setting is fully realized, and the adults are as well characterized as the students. Johnson excellently sets up both mysteries as well as Ellingham's love of puzzles, riddles, and secret passageways, but very little is resolved at the end of this series launch. VERDICT Fans of puzzles, boarding school stories, and true crime will tear through this book and love every minute, but those who are easily frustrated by cliff-hangers may want to wait until more books in the series are available.-Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2017
Students attend the prestigious Ellingham Academy for myriad reasons, but all are geniuses, here to study that about which they're most passionate. Stephanie "Stevie" Bell studies crime, and there's no better place to do this than where, in 1936, one of the nation's most notorious crimes occurred. The wife and daughter of millionaire and school founder Albert Ellingham went missing. The only clue was a malicious, Dorothy Parker-style rhyme signed "Truly, Devious." Although an innocent man was convicted of the kidnappings and the murder of Mrs. Ellingham (their daughter was never found), the crime was never truly solved. Stevie is obsessed with getting to the bottom of this decades-old case, and the crimes are made all the more real when one of her housemates is murdered and someone who calls themselves "Truly Devious" peremptorily claims responsibility. There's a comfortable and realistic diversity among the characters. Stevie's STEM genius friend Janelle is a "girl of color" and a lesbian. A white female teacher has a shaved head and unshaven legs, and minor characters include a Muslim girl and an (assumed-white) girl in a wheelchair. Stevie herself is white and struggles with depression and anxiety, illnesses that have no easy answers but which are represented here with truth and compassion. The story raises more questions than answers, leaving readers hoping Johnson has another entry up her clever sleeves. A classic mystery that would make Dame Agatha proud. (Mystery. 14-18)

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Starred review from October 23, 2017
Johnson kicks off a riveting mystery series set at the Ellingham Academy, a prestigious school built on a Vermont mountain by industrialist tycoon Albert Ellingham. His goal was to make learning a game—and free—for the exceptional students accepted to the school. But soon after it opened in 1936, Ellingham received a mysterious threat written in rhyme (and signed “Truly, Devious”), Ellingham’s wife and daughter were kidnapped, and a student was killed. In the present, 16-year-old Stevie Bell is obsessed with true crime (and often beset by panic attacks), and she feels a bit like a fraud at Ellingham. With Holmesian powers of observation, she hopes to solve the Ellingham case, but the school’s deadly past resurfaces when a student from her dorm is killed. Jumping between past and present, Johnson’s novel is deliciously atmospheric, with a sprawling cast of complex suspects/potential victims, surprising twists, and a dash of romance. As in her Shades of London books, Johnson remains a master at combining jittery tension with sharp, laugh-out-loud observations. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kate Schafer Testerman, KT Literary.

November 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 Stevie Bell's deepest wish is to see a dead body. A true-crime aficionado and aspiring detective, she wanted to come to Ellington Academy for one reason: it's the site of one of the most infamous unsolved kidnappings in the world. Founded by the wealthy, generous Albert Ellington, the private school is an academic haven where learning is playful. But in the 1930s, Ellington's wife and young daughter were kidnapped, held for ransom, and then, presumably, murdered; the true perpetrator, who left enigmatic letters signed Truly, Devious, was never found. Stevie is determined to solve the crime, but her new housemates have secrets of their own, and her wish may come true sooner, and more frighteningly, than she ever wanted it to. Johnson (The Name of the Star, 2011) deftly twists two mysteries togetherStevie's investigation is interspersed with case files and recollections from the Ellington kidnappingand the result is a suspenseful, attention-grabbing mystery with no clear solution. Invested readers, never fearthis is just the first in a series. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The versatile Johnson is no stranger to suspense, and this twisty thriller will leave plenty of readers anxious for more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Aspiring sleuth Stevie Bell starts her junior year at Ellingham Academy with a classmate dying under mysterious circumstances in one of the Vermont school's hidden tunnels. The event uncannily evokes another tragedy from eighty years earlier. Told in alternating chapters chronicling the past ordeal and Stevie's current detecting, Johnson's finely tuned plot effectively employs classic-mystery tropes while maintaining a thoroughly modern sensibility.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2018
Aspiring sleuth Stevie Bell has just started her junior year at Ellingham Academy--an artsy Vermont enclave for offbeat students founded in the 1930s by eccentric philanthropist Albert Ellingham--when disaster strikes. One of her new classmates dies under mysterious circumstances in one of the campus's hidden tunnels. The event uncannily evokes a tragedy that took place eighty years earlier when Ellingham's wife and daughter disappeared. While the bodies of his wife and of an unlucky student were discovered later, his daughter was never found. The only clue is a cryptic riddle signed "Truly, Devious." Stevie, an armchair expert in the Ellingham murder, now has two cases to crack. But she's distracted from her mission by her ongoing battle with clinical anxiety and a blossoming attraction to her brooding housemate David, who just may be hiding secrets of his own. Told in alternating chapters that chronicle both Ellingham's past ordeal and Stevie's current detecting, Johnson's finely tuned plot effectively employs classical mystery tropes while maintaining a thoroughly modern sensibility. Stevie's quirky, ragtag bunch of new friends crosses sexuality and class lines, providing teen readers with a wealth of characters to connect with. And if the pacing is a bit leisurely, it's only because Johnson is setting the stage for a planned trilogy. jennifer hubert swan

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)