Truly Devious

Remember the first time reading Harry

Potter and knowing it was something special? There’s that same sense of magic Truly Devious ( the introduction of teen Sherlock-in-training Stevie Bell in Maureen Johnson’s series opener. A social misfit obsessed with true-crime podcasts and books, Stevie applied to prestigious Ellingham Academy because she wants to solve a decades-old cold case — and one of America’s most infamous crimes — dating to the school’s opening in the 1930s and involving a sinister letter signed “Truly, Devious.” Now there, she discovers the enigmatic Truly Devious is back and murder is afoot again, complete with a Clue- like set of suspects. Stevie gets to know her dormmates, including the resident hippie, the YouTube star and the brainiac inventor. Parallel mysteries unfold with cleverly written dialogue, page-turning brilliance and a young sleuth just as captivating as Hercule Poirot or Nancy Drew.