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.
I read the first two installments of Truly Devious Series by Maureen Johnson, Truly Devious: A Mystery and The Vanishing Star, at the end of 2019. I don’t remember how long it took me to read the two books, but when I borrowed my friend’s copy of the third and final installment of the series, The Hand on the Wall, I started and finished the book in four hours. Here’s my thoughts.
H2: Here’s your spoiler warning.
Stevie:
Stevie and her moose obsession kill me. I almost wanted to come up with my own “No Moose” phrase with my friends, but it just wouldn’t be the same. Stevie has gone through some tough stuff. She’s dealing with her friends and anyone connected to the crime she’s studying dying, and the guilt that she may be the cause of Ellie’s death. Honestly, I just wanted to hug her this entire series.
David:
I told my friend I need a David in my life. Her response was, “Be the David in my life.” He’s a ball of chaotic energy and almost everything he says makes me laugh. In The Hand on the Wall, we unfortunately get some serious tension between David and Stevie, and, of course, that makes my heart cry.
Almost every character made me laugh in this series in some way or another, and I definitely did not see the ending coming. Granted, when I read mystery novels, I read very passively. I don’t try to guess what’s going to happen or who-done-it, but I love them all the same—especially when I can binge read them.
This book is such a good read—not too light but not too heavy. It has some political aspects to it, so people who are afraid of that might want to stay clear, but overall, a wonderful experience.
4/5 Would Recommend.