The Truly Devious 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.
Truly Devious
The Vanishing Stair
The Hand on the Wall
Awards
- New York Times and USA Today Bestsellers
- Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2018
- Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books 2018, 2019
- Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction 2018, 2019, 2020
- 2018 Nerdy Book Club Young Adult Winner
- Junior Library Guild Selection 2019, 2020
- YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination 2019
- ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination
- One of Popsugar’s 25 Best YA Mysteries of All Time
Praise
“Truly Devious is filled with twists and turns-plus Maureen Johnson is very, very funny.” – Harlan Coben
“Remember the first time reading Harry Potter and knowing it was something special? There’s that same sense of magic in the introduction of teen Sherlock-in-training Stevie Bell in Maureen Johnson’s series opener….Parallel mysteries unfold with cleverly written dialogue, page-turning brilliance and a young sleuth just as captivating as Hercule Poirot or Nancy Drew.”
– USA Today, 
out of four stars
“An intricately plotted, compulsively readable novel that explores not only fascinating crimes but also the mysteries of anxiety, the creative process, contemporary fame, and so much else.”
– John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down
