This is an interesting combination of gothic story, murder mystery, and progressive characters. I read this as a stand alone although it is part of a series. I had no trouble following the story line and the characters. The opening was a little difficult to grasp, but it became easier to keep track of all of the characters as the story unfolds. Mystery, mayhem, teenage shenanigans, and unsolved cases are the theme of this tale. Use of personal pronouns and non-binary characters are present.

Thank you HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this so I didn’t have to wait for it to be released 🥹🥹

The Truly Devious series is my favorite YA mystery series and this addition to the series was right on par with the rest, although I do think Box in the Woods was the best of the series so far and will be VERY hard to beat.

The mystery was great and very well done, Maureen knows how to write a mystery.

The only things that didn’t work for me were David (per usual— go away??), the lack of Nate in this book, Stevie seemed a bit off her game for most of the book (understandably so & she redeemed herself), and I preferred the setting at Ellingham and the camp from the other books.

I do love how it left off with hopefully another Stevie Bell mystery to come!

4.25 stars

Ok, I love the Truly Devious, so my expectations for this book were high when I first read it. I think the mystery was very interesting and I was invested in it. As for the Stevie and friends in London plot, I can’t say the same. I love Stevie, but she didn’t feel like herself in this book. At least we got to see more Stevie and David content. Overall, I think this was a good read, but I’m more looking forward to the next book than looking back on this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book.

Many thanks to HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for the ARC! I was beyond excited to get to read the fifth installment of the Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson!

This was a solid 4.5 star read for me! I have loved reading about Stevie Bell and her friends throughout the years. What I loved most about this book was Johnson’s growth of all the characters. I felt like there were more mature themes in this book which was extremely fitting as the characters are growing up. I also really enjoyed the mystery. It kept my guessing until the very end and holy cliffhanger!!

Stevie and the gang are in a transitional period. Janelle, Vi, and Nate are looking at colleges. Stevie should be too but she cannot manage to do anything about college applications or even apply herself in regular school. She feels a little lost in regards to her future, and she's really missing David, who's living in London and going to school there.

So when David invites the group to come study abroad in London for a week, it rejuvenates Stevie. It's a way to look like she's putting in effort at school while also spending time with David. Plus she gets to go to London.

It starts off great - Stevie and David being couply and touristy, her best friends with her, a week pretty much unsupervised (other than her headmaster who has pretty much said she can call at any minute and expects the kids to be following their itinerary any time they speak to her)

Until the group meets David's classmate Izzy who tells them about, you guessed it, an unsolved murder.

The murder took place in 1995, and as you're reading the lead-in of Stevie's story this go round, there are chapters about the murder circumstances as well. A group of 9 friends went to a country mansion after graduation to celebrate, and basically not everybody made it home. Izzy's aunt Angela was one of the friends in the group, and has let it spill to her niece while on painkillers that she thinks the murders were intentional, caused by one of the 9.

People who are not fans of realism in their YA will not like this story, as they probably have not liked the other installments. Stevie can be frustrating because she's realistic. She has insecurities about her relationship, WHICH MAKE SENSE because they're two teenagers living across the world from each other, and she confronts David about them. Her worries about the situation are compounded when David seems to spend a lot of time with Izzy.

But, it might be because Izzy's aunt goes missing after the gang chatted with her about the 1995 deaths. And now Izzy wants Stevie to help find her aunt and potentially also figure out what happened in 1995 too.

Stevie has insecurities about sex (mainly the lack of having had it), insecurities about her outfits, about her talents, basically about everything. She's seeing the people around her get ready for college, or in David's case, already be in college, and she just can't seem to pin down what kind of person she is and what she wants. It's interesting, because it's not the plot of this book like some contemporaries, it's just part of Stevie's story, and that means it doesn't have a conclusion with a pretty bow on it at the end like it would if it was the bulk of the story. It's hard to read just being a person who is very attached to Stevie, and people who claim to not like YA probably would think it was hard to read because it shows an unsure character who makes somewhat bad decisions sometimes. Personally I think it's the kind of thing that will resonate with kids, shit, it resonates with me as a full grown adult. Seeing people have goals, ambitions, and dreams can be really othering when you just aren't wired to have that.

There's almost a parallel between the murder story and Stevie's story. The group of 9 friends were graduating college and about to begin their separate lives for the first time in years, with the week at the country mansion being their last hurrah. Stevie's group is going to be graduating high school, but they also will be splitting up assumedly.

Stevie also is very moony over David, which her friends are simultaneously annoyed by and think is cute. It seems a little out of character, at first, for her to be basing so much of her well-being around a boy, but you have to remember she is going through a life crisis and also she hasn't seen him in months and he lives across the actual world. She deserves a little grace when it comes to being boy-crazy

Janelle is dealing with picking a college - she and Vi want to go to school in the same vicinity as one another even though they may not want to go to the same school. She seems more on board about choosing than Vi by the end of the book, which is a little curious. Nate is being weird, as usual, and has finally been doing a lot of writing, and it's in this book that he tells Stevie that he's asexual, which was a really really sweet moment. Nate also seems to be very low on money which alarms Stevie. David is acting carefree as usual, but he's dealing with issues with his father as usual and he also just feels like he isn't quite as special as anyone else in the group. Basically, everybody has something going on that fleshes them out in the story as usual and just makes you care about the characters so much.

I can't say I guessed the ending to the mystery - I did not really have a guess, but Stevie solved the hell out of it, and I was very glad to see she did her signature Holmes-esque reveal in front of a crowd. I am growing to bank on these moments in the books so I hope it continues as long as the series does.

The very ending of this book, which is tied to a part that happens a little earlier, is one of the worst things that has ever happened to me!!!! I read the last few paragraphs out loud to my fiance and he was literally like "oh my god I feel so bad for you" lmao SOS, it's definitely something I can not talk about until ya'll read this, but I swear to god if we do not get a sixth book you will have to call the swat team, the fbi, the cia, the united states marshals, the navy seals, the fire squad, and our lord and savior jesus christ to hold me back from completely going feral and ruining this nation

Oh my gosh I absolutely loved this book! It had me on the edge of my seat, and I finished it in one day!

Oh no!!!!!!! Maureen Johnson, you suck!!! I mean, not really. But that ending?!?!?!? Uuuuggggghhhhh!!! It sucks so hard to know that I have to wait at least another year for a resolution!!! I am not going to make it. It’s just that simple. My death from loss-of-fictional-closure will be on your head, my dear!

Oh. And the book was freaking AWESOME. Yeah. 💜💜💜💜💜📚

Update 5 minutes later: I guess the good news is that there HAS to be a 6th Stevie Bell book!!! 😀🥹😅

“May we always land the punchline, play the fool, embrace disaster, and love absurdly.”

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Stevie Bell and the murder-solving gang are back!! In London!! The absolute joy I felt just being back in the world of this series, at Ellingham, and with the gang…I’m not sure how I’ll feel when they finally graduate. Devastated, probably.

First off, we meet the crew back at Ellingham Academy, a prestigious school that accepts students based on their talents/abilities, and enters them in a two-year program for their last years of schooling. No tuition. The only catch is that there was a big unsolved murder that happened there in the 1900s. No problem.

Stevie is now in her second and last year at Ellingham, and during her first year she solved the now-solved unsolved murder case. Then she showed up again in the summer at a camp and solved yet another murder after it’s time. And now, the gang take a short trip to England to meet with David and solve…yet another murder from the 1900s.

Plot. I think I might have liked these flashbacks more than all the other books in this series. It follows a theater group from Cambridge on their last week before graduation. A huge party, a huge murder. But what made it so interesting to follow was how closely-knit the Nine were, and how deeply they cared for each other. Reading their segments, and later their witness statements, really brought out how much love they all shared for one another. And even in present day, we meet them again, older, but still just as loving as they had been when they were younger. This was so much fun to read about, I actually dreaded the murder part because the Nine were just so fun to read about when they were all together.

Present day scenes dragged a bit until about the halfway mark. The one thing I used to really love about David and Stevie is that despite the fact that they’re quite young, they never fell into the typical YA love ups and downs. Until this book. I’m sure it was mainly to cause a little drama to stir Stevie back into the game, but I honestly really didn’t enjoy watching them communicate absolutely nothing and never resolve any of their feelings.

The murder mystery part has a very satisfying and conclusive ending. I loved how everything was wrapped up. Stevie and David on the other hand…I really didn’t enjoy their unnecessary drama. I think if this book had ended one chapter early, it would have been perfect. Some unresolved feelings, yes, but the plot itself would have been secured and an additional book to the series would have still been in the picture. The cliffhanger was trying to force us to want a new book. I do want another book, just not one that now has to clean up the mess that last page made.

Overall, I really did love this book! I adore this series and the gang themselves. If they went to college together and continued solving crimes until they were 30, I’d probably still be here reading about them.

This book is #5 in the Truly Devious series but follows a new case. All of the main group are back in this one and I really enjoyed getting to see more interactions with them. The first 40% of this book was kinda slow to me because it was a lot of set up before something big finally happened in the present day. The end of the book was also a little rushed, but let me anticipating another immediately! I did thoroughly enjoy this book even though it started slow and ended quick. The middle was just the right amount of suspense mixed in with general teen drama.

I highly recommend to any fans of this series!

I am giving this book 3.5 stars. Was it well written? Yes. Did it draw me in? Not really. I was planning on reading the rest of the series if I liked this one, but I think I am going to pass.

**3.5 stars**

Can we finally be done with David?

“Nine Liars” takes us to London 1995 where a group of friends spend their final moments of university together before life pulls them apart but what starts as a night of fun ends in murder and when Stevie visits her boyfriend across the pond she is pulled into the twisted mess of secrets and scandal to try and solve it all before red eye takes her home.

The weakest part of this series has always been Stevie and David’s “romance” and this book just highlighted just how terrible he is and how he weighs her down every step of the way and honestly if it wasn’t for those moments I would have liked this book a lot more. Box in the woods shined because it gave us more time with Janelle and Nate and I was excited to have a I back but again all of those friendships were sidelined for one of the worst characters I’ve ever had to suffer through and this book was more than enough nails in his coffin.

The case itself was cool and I wish more time (again thanks for nothing David) was spent on the parallels between our core group and that of The Nine as both were dealing with the complicated emotions of growing up and starting their lives outside of school and how that can affect each person and ultimately the whole.

I think the nods to history and the Tudor’s was fascinating and helped pull off some fun gotcha moments with this feeling a bit like ‘If We Were Villains’ showing the lengths people will go to cover for their friends and the frustration and admiration that a strong bond like that can have over time.

A fun read with a satisfying payoff reveal for the case itself, it will be interesting to see what comes next and just how far this series will go since we’ve moved into stand alone vs multi book stories.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

ARC from NetGalley - The fifth installment in the Truly, Devious series is a fun, twisty ride. If you loved the first four, this one is a must read! I will be recommending to students and buying a copy for my classroom library when it is published.

Maureen Johnson's Stevie Bell mysteries are truly some of my favorites! I am so excited that I had a chance to catch up with Stevie and the gang on their latest adventure in England. As the novel opens, Stevie is back at Ellingham after solving the mystery of the Box in the Woods. Her boyfriend David, who is studying in London, presents an opportunity for the group to travel abroad for a couple of weeks. And of course, an unsolved murder falls into Stevie's lap just as the trip begins. David's friend Izzy is concerned that her Aunt Angela has been hiding information about a murder for years. As Stevie and co. gather more information, Angela disappears. So, it's time to round up who is left of The Nine, a group of friends who formed a theater troupe in college, and discover who murdered two friends years ago and who may be threatening Angela now. Intricate details plus Johnson's signature wit make this novel a delightful page-turner. In addition, I enjoy the camaraderie between the friends. We all need a "Scooby Gang" like Stevie, Janelle, Vi, and Nate to turn to when times get tough. Hand this novel to anyone who has enjoyed any of Stevie's previous exploits . . . or use this novel to introduce mystery readers to the gang. Johnson gives readers enough background information to allow new readers to jump in here; they will then want to find out what they have missed! And the only thing I will say about that ending is, Maureen, when can I read the next book?
Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

The Stevie Bell mysteries are so good, and this one is no exception. Maureen Johnson is an expert at crafting page-turning mysteries that also have a heavy dose of interesting character dynamics and a lot of heart. Reading this made me want to reread the entire series, and I I want more Stevie Bell mysteries.

Stevie Bell is taking her detective skills international as she spends a week in England with her boyfriend and friends while also tackling a mysterious unsolved murder case surrounding a group of friends. Stevie Bell’s boyfriend David is studying in England and invites her to come visit him for a week under the guise of studying abroad. Stevie has been struggling to figure out what she’s going to do with her life after she’s finished school, in fact, just doing apps is having her struggling. She misses her boyfriend terribly and so when he suggests this, this is the perfect opportunity to get her mind off things. Yet when she gets there she meets his friend Izzy who begs her to help her solve her aunt’s mystery. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University go to a country house and play a drunken game of hide-and-seek... and two of them were found murdered in the woodshed the next day. Nobody knows who did it, and its been left as a cold case ever since. But Izzy’s Aunt, one of the friends, is determined to solve it and Izzy thinks Stevie is the perfect person to crack the case. Yet while she is consumed by this case Stevie is also having issues with her boyfriend David ( let me maintain this, I have always disliked David, every book I hope Stevie finally see’s what we all see and just DUMP HIM AND MOVE ON. I never liked him in the previous books but this book just highlights Stevie’s strange fixation on David, and the guy really does do NOTHING to deserve it and he really is the blandest guy ever. With the way he treated her in the previous books i was so over him and was hoping maybe this time he’ll finally just go cuz seriously Stevie, you can do better, just because he’s cute doesn’t mean he’s a good fit for you seriously I would rather you just be single and focus on solving cases than be constantly mooning on and on about how great you think he is when he does absolutely nothing. MORE TO COME IN THE SPOILERS). So while Stevie is trying to break down this case she is beginning to realize that the Nine all have their own secrets and that they are definitely lying.... and that one of them is the murderer. I had fun with the mystery it was the relationship stuff with David that dragged this book for me. The mystery itself was a fun one to read but I honestly wished there was more tension or building, and that it focused on the relationship between the Nine rather than Stevie and David relationship drama. With the way the book ends, there is definitely another book coming... but honestly I don’t now if I’ll be reading it. If you’re looking for good young adult mysteries with some romance check out the books by Karen M. McManus.

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Katherine Tegen Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I love this friend group so much! I’ll read any books about them, especially after the ending of this one. Overall this book was good, but not my favorite of the series. It was slow and took a long time for the action to start but once it did it was incredible! But even the slow parts were still entertaining, reading about all my favorite characters and getting a tour through London. The plot was beautifully crafted and had me hooked from the start, I would definitely read a book about the Nine! The concept was great and executed well! I only had some other minor issues, mainly with the ending and Stevie’s certain fashion choices… I just tried to look past whenever the word onesie was said… But this book had a great spin on these characters and I liked Izzy who was introduced! I hope the series continues, I need to know how the relationships develop (and also what college Nate picks).

Has Maureen Johnson *ever* written a bad book?
Nine Liars is certainly superior to the previous two entries in the Truly Devious series. The English setting breathes new life into the 5-book series, and Stevie and the gang are as entertaining as ever.

Johnson makes good use of the flashback sequences for the first 25% of the book, to make up for the set-up of getting Stevie to London. Although Stevie doesn’t begin sleuthing until about 40% in, the pacing never feels sluggish or tedious.
However, some of the Nine somewhat blend together, particularly Peter and Yash. Through the first flashback sequences, I often found myself forgetting who some of these people were. Starker differences between Peter and Yash would help.
Unlike previous books, Johnson makes less use of red herrings. Regrettable, since the final perpetrator reveal falls slightly flat. Clearer motivations and increased suspicion would have made the resolution stronger.

The backbone of this series has always been Stevie and her friends. Johnson remains an underrated banter magician. In particular, conversations between Stevie and Nate are hilarious and sharp. However, I struggle to understand how Vi fits into this group. They don’t provide any wit or story development. More backstory is needed to help solidify Vi’s place in this narrative.

David features more heavily in this entry, but his relationship drama with Stevie seemed to be his only function. David needs more character development to be relevant to Stevie’s adventures. At the moment, Nate and Janelle are the only companions worth keeping.

Johnson’s prose particularly shine when establishing autumnal ambiance. Mystery thrives when the setting becomes a player of its own.

Overall, this book is a step in the right direction, after the slightly disappointing (but still delightful) The Box in the Woods. Sending Stevie to international locales revives the series and the cast of characters remains as absurd as ever.

Wow! What a great installation in this series. Stevie is such a comfort character. The story progressed at the perfect pace. I think that in most stories with dual timelines or perspectives you have a favorite, and in this book I didn't! I loved them both and looked forward to each new section. The payoff of the mystery was great, and the character relationships developed perfectly. I can NOT wait for the next book because THAT ENDING!!!!???? MJ will be the death of me...

*5 Star Book Review*
While I had no idea this book was part of a series, I found that it was still pretty easy to understand what was going on in the book. The book starts slow but when it builds up that’s when the action starts and it gets really good! I definitely have to found the other Stevie Bell mysteries and catch up. Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this advanced reader’s copy!

I had no idea the Truly Devious series was continuing so, when I saw this on Netgalley, I jumped at the opportunity to review it!

If you are unfamiliar, this is book 5 of the series which follows Stevie Bell as she solves yet another cold case. Nine Liars takes her across the pond to England, where she gets roped into looking at a double murder from 1995.

I love these books because they immerse you in the investigation through flashbacks, police documents, newspaper articles, etc. You are right there alongside Stevie solving the mystery.

I do have to say, however, that this one may be my least favorite of the series so far. The secondary storyline wasn’t very good and distracted from the actual mystery. I found myself impatiently trying to get through these scenes.