Book Review: The Truly Devious Series by Maureen Johnson

 

Books: Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair and The Hand on the Wall 

Author: Maureen Johnson 

Plot Summary- Truly Devious: 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. 

Plot Summary- The Vanishing Stair: The Truly Devious case—an unsolved kidnapping and triple murder that rocked Ellingham Academy in 1936—has consumed Stevie for years. It’s the very reason she came to the academy. But then her classmate was murdered, and her parents quickly pull her out of school. For her safety, they say. She must move past this obsession with crime.

Stevie’s willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham, be back with her friends, and solve the Truly Devious case. Even if it means making a deal with the despicable Senator Edward King. And when Stevie finally returns, she also returns to David: the guy she kissed, and the guy who lied about his identity—Edward King’s son.

But larger issues are at play. Where did the murderer hide? What’s the meaning of the riddle Albert Ellingham left behind? And what, exactly, is at stake in the Truly Devious affair? The Ellingham case isn’t just a piece of history—it’s a live wire into the present.

Plot Summary- The Hand on the Wall: Ellingham Academy must be cursed. Three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. All three in the wrong place at the wrong time. All at the exact moment of Stevie’s greatest triumph . . . 

She knows who Truly Devious is. She’s solved it. The greatest case of the century.

At least, she thinks she has. With this latest tragedy, it’s hard to concentrate on the past. Not only has someone died in town, but David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. Stevie is sure that somehow—somehow—all these things connect. The three deaths in the present. The deaths in the past. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers.

Then another accident occurs as a massive storm heads toward Vermont. This is too much for the parents and administrators. Ellingham Academy is evacuated. Obviously, it’s time for Stevie to do something stupid. It’s time to stay on the mountain and face the storm—and a murderer.

Things I Liked: 

1. This series revolves around a cold case from 1936. Iris Ellingham and her daughter, three-year-old Alice, left for a drive on a spring day in 1936. They never returned home. Iris' husband, industrialist and millionaire, Albert Ellingham, left no stone unturned to find his wife and daughter, but to no avail. Ellingham Academy, the special school for gifted children and home to the Ellinghams, which is still open after almost 100 years forms the backdrop for the events of these books. The setting and backdrop for these stories is steeped in history and tragedy, which makes these books so atmospheric. 

2. In the present day, two students are found dead, and so, there are those murders as well that add to the mystery. Did those two students die accidentally? Or were they murders? By whom? Is the 'Truly Devious' killer still around after nearly 100 years? Or is this a copy cat? All of which are very good questions that need answering.  

3. The characters in these books are nicely etched and quite relatable. Stevie Bell, our intrepid heroine, is awkward yet likeable. She is determined to solve the Ellingham case and goes about it in a realistic manner, befitting a 16 year old girl, and finds clues slowly and pieces events together gradually. This is not to say that the books are slow-paced or dull, not at all. The books are fast-paced but the way the cold case and the present day deaths keep the reader engrossed and engaged. 

4. Stevie's friends- Janelle, Nate- and her romantic interest- David- are all likeable. They are characters that one grows very fond of over the course of the trilogy. They are not written like annoying, know-it-all teens, but as very believable bright young kids, who are reasonably cautious and sometimes out of their depth. Love reading about realistic teens! 

5. The way both old and new murders are solved is very interesting. The clues left from the 1930s and how Stevie finds them and pieces them together is very nicely done. None of it is very predictable or dull.  

6. Each of these books is interesting on its own with different things being resolved in each. So, you don't really feel like the author has been dragging on the narrative for the sake of the trilogy. Don't want to give too much away, but the resolution of both the cold case and the fresh murders is very, very satisfying. 

Rating: 4/5 

A great series to binge over a weekend!