The Gist: Stevie and the gang try to solve a murder mystery at summer camp.

My Thoughts: I’m a big fan of Stevie and her quirky group of friends (especially Nate), so it was a ton of fun to hang out with them again, this time at a sleepaway camp, solving a classic teen horror movie case from the 1970s.

This being a one-and-done mystery worked really well, and almost makes me wish the other novels in the series were like that. But hopefully this means that Maureen Johnson can continue this series wherever she feels like it. I want Stevie solving cold cases in London! At college! Wherever!

Another strong entry in the adventures of Stevie and her friends. I liked that this was a stand alone book instead of a three part series and look forward to more from this author. This mystery definitely had a more sinister vibe without being too creepy. I found it to be a fun summer read.

I was hooked from the beginning with this one. I loved the mystery. I did find the ending to be a little out of left field and kind of found myself a bit disappointed with how perfectly everything came together. Nonetheless it was a solid addition to the Stevie Bell series.

I felt this book bought Maureen Johnson back to her past work. I really enjoyed Stevie and her friends in this book. Stevie gets an email from the owner of Box Box about the summer camp he recently purchased that had a crime that happened back in 1978 where counselors from the camp ended up dead in a box. Stevie has been asked to solve the case. At first, she is greeted with disdain and no one is wanting to talk to her. Then as she slowly makes friends with one of the victim's sister she starts to put the pieces together. She uses her keen sense to locate missing items to help try to solve the case.

The book is a delightfully dark romp in the woods. Stevie, the heroine, is plucky and smart and for readers young (and older), the prose is clever and runs smoothly. Just a delightful read.

This book was so fun. It really harkened back to Agatha Christie's style, but with Stevie's very own snark. I also liked how the reader did not have to necessarily have read the previous series to get into the book, but I think it made it much more enjoyable. The characters are the same, though they have their own teeny-tiny arcs. There is a touch of romance, but it is not explicit at all (Stevie calls making out "the kissing" which is hilarious).
This was a fast read with good pacing and a big reveal at the end, a nice tip of the hat to Dame Christie. I highly recommend this to lovers of crime fiction, but still want something light.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

The Box in the Woods is a spin-off standalone of the Truly Devious series and includes the best elements of a series and the best of a standalone.

Stevie is one of a kind. Most high school teens have different hobbies. Some of them into sports. Some writes…Some draws… Some dances… But Stevie solves crimes. She already solved Ellingham Academy’s coldest, very famous case which occurred mid 30’s.

So the gang reunites the solve the 4 decades long mystery and this is where I’m shutting my mouth!

Teen slasher vibes at the camp side, exciting, action packed thriller.

I wasn't sure what this book was going to be about. I knew it would be a mystery, and I was excited Johnson to play with the 70's summer camp slasher horror trope. She did not disappoint! The Truly Devious crew are reunited again to solve a cold case that just doesn't seem to have many clues. Can they do it? Highly recommend in collections where mysteries are popular. This book stands alone from the Truly Devious trilogy, but will definitely interest a reader new to it.

A fantastic YA thriller that kept me enthralled in the story and unable to put it down!

Stevie Bell needs a good mystery. She helped catch a killer at her high school and now she feels lost with nothing to do having to live a normal, boring life. Then, she gets a message from the new owner of Sunny Pines, formally called Camp Wonder Falls, where there is an unsolved case from decades ago. The Box in the Woods Murders, four camp counselors were killed in the woods and their bodies left on display outside Barlow Corners. The new owner of the camp wants the mystery solved and brings in Stevie to help. Stevie is curious about the case and agrees to come if she can bring some of her friends. As they arrive at the camp and start investigating, it quickly becomes clear that someone doesn’t want them there. The more they investigate things, the more danger they are in and this just might be the case Stevie doesn’t make it out alive from.

First off, I did not realize this was the fourth in a series when I started this book, I didn’t even realize it until I finished. That being said, I was fully able to enjoy this story without having read the first three in the series. The characters were fun, witty, interesting, and full of vigor that kept me glued to the page. They were like a modern-day Scooby gang solving mysteries together. Even though Stevie is young, it wasn’t hard for me to believe her and the way she went about solving the crimes. She found clues that no one else was able to find and put them all together just like the pieces of a puzzle. After reading it, I am dying to go back and read the first in the series and see where it all started and how these characters came together. The story had a great flow to it and tension at all the right spots. The back and forth timelines can sometimes throw things off and take readers out of the story, but here it brought the story to a whole new level. This was my first time reading a book by Maureen Johnson, but it definitely won’t be my last. I recommend this to readers that love a good mystery and having it solved in just the right way.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

I've read all of the Truly Devious series, and I think this might be the best one. I love the sarcasm of Stevie Bell and the mystery is solved in the book (it's not drawn out to more than a book). This is a fantastic series, and I hope that there's more coming.

I loved this standalone more than the Truly Devious Trilogy! It is the first I have read of this author. I adore the main character Stevie. The mystery alone was fascinating and we get to see it happen in the beginning of the book which will keep you wanting to read more. Although the majority of the story is from Stevie’s point of view, we do get to see excerpts from one of the victims on the night of the incident. I really enjoyed this format and thought it added some good elements to the story.

What is Stevie Bell to do? She finally solved the Ellingham mystery and discovered the identity of Truly Devious. Now it's summer and she's stuck behind the deli counter at her local grocery store. So when the new owner of Sunny Pines summer camp contacts her to solve another cold case, she jumps at the chance.

Sunny Pines used to be called Camp Wonder Falls, and in 1978 four teenage camp counselors were brutally murdered, their bodies left in a gruesome display. No one has been able to solve the case since, and the ripple effects are still felt by the residents of the nearby small town, including victims' friends and loved ones. The situation is complicated by the fact that the murderer may still be on the loose and very unwilling to be revealed. Will Stevie and her friends be able to discover the truth behind the Box in the Woods case?

I really enjoyed the first three books in the Truly Devious series and was curious to see where Maureen Johnson would take Stevie next. The Ellingham case was spread out over three books, so the pacing of this book felt much faster. Plus there were living witnesses and suspects involved, which added a tension that wasn't quite as present in the earlier books. This was a fun read and I can't wait to see what cases Stevie Bell takes on next! I hope there will be more books in this series.

I was so excited when I saw that that the Truly Devious series was going to continue and curious to how Maureen Johnson would continue the story since Stevie had solved the Ellingham murders. This book didn't disappoint! The friendship bonds are still going strong with the four core characters which I love. It was nice to have the mystery solved within one book instead of being stretched within a trilogy. I was able to figure out some of the mystery before the reveal but not all so well done!

4.5/5: I missed this series so much and this fourth installment did not disappoint. It was great to see Stevie and the gang solving mysteries again. Stevie is one of my favorite characters because of how strong, determined, and quirky she is. I also just love watching all the other characters interact with each other. AND I somehow hate David less now haha. I read this book in one sitting (just like all of the other Truly Devious books). Overall if you enjoyed the trilogy as much as I did, I would highly recommend picking this up.

After solving the case at the mysterious Ellingham Academy, Stevie's is home for the summer, her life (more or less) settled into normalcy. That is, until she is contacted by the new owner of a summer camp with a long-dormant cold case involving four murdered camp counselors. The new owner has high ambitions: start a tie-in true crime podcast, ingratiate himself with the small town, and enlist Stevie as camp-counselor-slash-crime-solver. With a few of her friends from Ellingham Academy joining her, Stevie prepares for a deep dive into an unsolved case straight out of a horror film.

Although the tension doesn't seem to be turned up as high as in <i>Truly Devious</i> (e.g., <spoiler> none of Stevie's peers die</spoiler>), the book is fun return to the characters, and Steve is just as charmingly dry, funny, introspective and reluctantly social as in the series. There are a couple of throwaway nods to the possibility that Stevie's powers of deduction are slipping, but this suggestion isn't fleshed out enough to make it feel the case is at risk. Alternating between present tense and flashback for the first half the of the book, the story is well-paced, and comes to a satisfying conclusion. As some have noted, there are spoilers for the <i>Truly Devious</i> series, but the book is a well-done standalone, especially for readers who prefer a case in one volume instead of a trilogy.

I’ve always loved mystery stories. I love the thrill of reading seemingly throwaway lines that end up being clues later. And while some people don’t like being able to guess right, I love it when all is revealed in the end and I solved the mystery.

That’s why when one of my long-time favorite authors, Maureen Johnson, released Truly Devious, I was so excited! I’m a huge fan of her previous mystery/paranormal series Shades of London (maureen where’s book 4?) so I was eager to read a new one from her.

And I was right to be excited! I really enjoyed #TrulyDevious when I read it years ago 💙 Just as I enjoyed the sort-of-spinoff of the series, The Box in the Woods.

Stevie Bell’s trying to enjoy a normal (boring) summer when a camp owner contacted her to work together on a true crime podcast about a case set in his camp.

Stevie and the Ellingham Academy crew are back together in this book, doing what they do best: getting entangled in mystery and decades-old murder.

Maureen Johnson is so good at weaving mystery stories together and The Box in the Woods is no different. I was looking for clues along with the crew and was suspicious of everyone in the camp. While I was able to predict some things, the end had me at the edge of my seat!

I’m not sure if this is a one-off spinoff but I’d be excited for what’s in store for Stevie based on the conversation she and David had in the end 👀

I started reading "The Box in the Woods" too late at night for comfort. I found the beginning chapters a little more on the scary side, but Stevie's mystery solving took over as the story progressed. Similar to the Truly Devious series, Stevie's friends are a key part of the story and I enjoyed the maturation of all the characters. If you had not read the Truly Devious series, you would still be able to follow the plot and the cast of who's who.

OH THANK GOD!! I was so relieved upon finishing this book because I wanted to like it so much-- and I did!! I had such a love/hate (okay, mostly hate) relationship with the first 3 books in the series, but for some reason I kept hoping I would click with one of them and was bummed when I didn't. This felt like a second chance, and it was!!

Honestly it was like all the things that bugged me in the original series up and disappeared:

--Stevie & David weren't terrible. Don't get me wrong, I still didn't love Stevie, but she was way more tolerable. And David!! He didn't suck!! It was almost like he was a normal person.
--The virtue signaling was at a minimum.
--THERE WAS A PAYOFF-- we got to know what happened!!! I was dreading that this was going to be another 400 page book that just ends with nothing, but every thread was tied up!!


Stevie is still a very unrelatable robot person to me- which is fine. I don't think I'll ever get why she becomes so surprised about hormones and the feelings she gets around David. It’s almost like she’s a complete narcissist and is SHOCKED that she is capable of feeling attracted or care when she likes a boy.

The ending was definitely far-fetched, but at least it was something I could've never saw coming. I am also willing to suspend disbelief when something hooks me as thoroughly as this mystery did.

My Fave Parts: Where this book takes place is so good! I love a camp-murder setting. I loved the Ellingham setting too, but summer camp and woods just go with horror slasher stuff. I also LOVED that there were flashbacks to the camp in the 70's. It was cool to read about that time period and I liked getting to know the victims and some of the other characters firsthand.

I would read more books from this series if they are all like this one. And I’m kind of hoping there are more books... which I definitely wasn’t expecting.

OVERALL: Color me shocked, but I kinda loved this book. It was intricate, suspenseful, had an actual ending (yes, I'm still salty about book 1), and had the perfect setting. I recommend this- and I even think you can get away with reading this without reading the original series.

I was so happy to get this book early and then time got away from me. As soon as I picked it up though I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters from the original trilogy and the main four were great here again. There were a few places I kept thinking,“really?” because they just were a little far-fetched but still stronger than most of the “adult” mystery novels being released.

Omg! I have been waiting for this book to be released and when I lucked into an ARC from NetGalley, I was geeked! A friend of mine introduced me to this series and I LOVE it!

This is the fourth book in the series and I highly recommend reading them in order. The series truly doesn’t make sense out of order/ it has way too many spoilers.

Unlike the other books that take place at school, this one takes place at a summer camp. Stevie’s brief moment of fame has faded and she’s back home for the summer until a job offer lands in her lap. Intrigued by a possible cold case, she corrals her friends and together they head to the summer camp to see if they can solve the case once and for all.

I was skeptical of what a book that took place away from the school would be like, but I wasn’t disappointed. The fact that it was a cold case made it intriguing. The author, Maureen Johnson did a great job by adding flashback chapters to when the crime took place.

I highly recommend reading the entire series and honestly anything by Maureen Johnson. Her novels are captivating, quick to read, and they stick with you.