Ehhh, so usually I tend to stay away from mystery books. I find them hard to get into, they tend to lack compelling plots to me, and I feel that a lot them stray towards the Scooby Doo effect. Like that whole, "I hope we solve this mystery!" and of course they do.
Then, enter Truly Devious. It's by Maureen Johnson, and I've read a lot of her books and even reviewed some here (THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE and THE NAME OF THE STAR). She is definitely one of the authors that I get excited about whenever I find out they publish a new book.
...anyways, an amazon summary, "New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson weaves a delicate tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a striking new series, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and E. Lockhart.
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.
The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Albert Ellingham is crazy wealthy and has decided to set up a school for learning in Vermont. Students are able to attend for free, but they have a certain spark about them. Albert is also obsessed with games, riddles, and the little intricacies of the world if you will. Albert discovered the area in 1928, started to build the school by blasting out some mountains, and the school was made. Then, everything goes along pretty smoothly, until his wife and daughter are kidnapped in 1936.
Flash forward to present day, Stevie Bell is a student at Ellingham Academy and she loves crime, detectives, and the whole field of solving mysteries. She's always been a bit strange to her parents but Stevie longs to attend Ellingham Academy; she wants to solve the murder of Albert's wife and figure out what happened to his daughter. (dun dun dunnnnn)
Oh, and before the kidnapping of the daughter/wife, someone called Truly Devious sent a letter to Albert indicating their plans. Someone was wrongly convicted in the 1930s (according to Stevie, and general speculation about the case), so it was deemed 'solved'. I would say more, but NO SPOILERS.
BECAUSE I LOVE THIS BOOK. I couldn't put it down, I lost a bit of sleep just trying to make more time in the day to read it, like it was just so good.
Things to love about Stevie: She's quirky, odd, but she's also wildly realistic. She has anxiety and you get to see her coping with it in stressful situations, and she also has goals, both big and small, that she constantly sets and strives to achieve. She also makes mistakes. I swear too many authors either make their characters perfect with one major mistake that they spend the rest of the book/series recovering from, or like never make mistakes. Bleh.
Things to love about the world: Ellingham Academy is exactly what you would expect an eccentric very wealthy man to create. From the lake to the tunnels, and even the secret passage or two. There were also very real elements about the world such as hints about the political climate, social media, etc; but they weren't the focus! They were just pieces being pulled together to form the larger puzzle!
Other things to love in no particular order: The side characters weren't just side characters, they were fully realized complete with their own personalities/traits/distinct differences. Like literally the only thing most of them had in common was they all attend Ellingham Academy. Done. There wasn't like a group of detectives running around for Stevie to join up with, there was no clique coming forward to adopt her as their own in this new school, there was just her housemates/friends and the fascination that comes with. The teachers/staff made appearances, they weren't a main feature, but when they were on the page, they were notable/there for a reason/weren't treated as people to just move/trigger the next step of the plot.
PEOPLE. There WILL be a sequel, and I am SO EXCITED.
Love it.
Happy reading!!
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