Book Blurb:
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.
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My Review:
5 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical, Hysterical, Mystery, Suspense, Teen--
Stevie was surprised when the application she sent actually got her accepted to the prestigious Ellingham Academy she dreamed of attending. Even more shocking, her conservative parents allowed her to attend. Stevie knows she was given a spot at the school due to her research of the unsolved crime that took place in the 1930's at the house, and she plans to prove her worth by solving it...If she doesn't get caught up in something more dangerous first.
This was such a good book and I was so completely into it. Time flew while the story unfolded and I loved the characters as well as the mystery plot. And, not only do we get one detailed mystery, we actually get two in two different time zones. Fist back in the 1930's, a wealthy man's wife and daughter were kidnapped and a student at his school went missing, and then we have lots of intertwined mysteries from the present day dealing with Stevie's classmates and the mystery and drama they created.
Let's take a minute and talk about the wonderfulness that is Stevie. She is so quirky, smart, nosy, perceptive, endearing, anxiety ridden and I absolutely loved her. Her parents want nothing more but her to be a "normal" girl with friends, a boyfriend and no strange hobbies like solving murder mysteries and true crime podcasts. Stevie just wants to do her thing, almost incompletely unconcerned with what others think of her. This girl, she marches to her own beat and I love it. She was so incredibly awkward I just wanted to be her friend so we could be awkward and unconcerned together. I also really liked how Maureen made her struggle with her anxiety, her panic attacks felt so real as if I was experiencing them with her (I don't have anxiety nor panic attacks but it felt like the author knew what she was bringing to life). Stevie's internal monologue was hands down my favorite part of the book and I could not help but laugh while reading.
I will admit that I was completely wrong in my impression that this was a standalone mystery- nope! Instead this is the first book in a trilogy that won't be finished for a few years (at least) and Truly Devious concluded with a cliff hanger! Yep, the story just left the characters and readers flailing like overactive muppets, with a surprising bombshell drop and zero answers about everything we are dying to know. That being said, I absolutely loved the book...but I would not have picked it up to read if I knew there was more to come that was not even a little bit available yet. I have zero patience, it is a fact. That tells you how good the story was that the book still got 5 stars out of me with no answers forthcoming!
Alas, I will be counting down the days until I can get my grabby hands on the next book in the series, and I know I will have to do a re-read before I can start book two so that way I don't miss out on any little detail, because there sure were a lot.
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