Nine Liars is great for lovers of mysteries set in Britain and cozy mysteries. Like all of Johnson's work, it is witty and the characters are appealing. It is part of the fantastic Truly Devious series, but Johnson does a masterful job avoiding even the slightest spoilers. I think other adult readers will enjoy it.

Fans of the previous Truly Devious books are sure to enjoy this continuation of Stevie Bell's adventures solving mysteries. In this one, Stevie, now a senior, goes with her friends on a trip to England for a week long study abroad program and they end up embroiled in a current missing persons case, which may or may not be connected to a murder that happened decades ago. Although the mystery has a satisfactory conclusion, the book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I assume there may be more Stevie Bell adventures in the future.

In book 5 of the Truly Devious series, Stevie Bell travels with her friends to London where her boyfriend, David, is currently going to school. As a senior, Stevie seems to be amiss between her boyfriend being abroad and all her friends focusing on their futures after Ellingham Academy. She needs focus. She has that itch. This trip will help and low and behold, she runs into an unsolved murder mystery from 1995. Through a friend of David's, Stevie learns that about the group of friends who believe a burglar killed their friends. However, one friend does not and as an avid researcher, she's been working out details...until she goes missing!
Told in alternating perspectives, the story provides the background of the group of friends; aka The Nine (hence Nine Liars) leading into the unsolved murder of two members of the friendship group. The story also not only provides Stevie's thought process on the unsolved mystery but also weaves in their trip to London, sights, smells, sounds, history as well as that awkwardness of young love and friendship. The story gives a rich understanding of the English countryside and keeps the reader guessing on the outcome. And of course, leaves an opening for book 6.
Maureen Johnson creates a rich story, highly entertaining keeping you at the edge of your seat. 5 stars. It does not disappoint. Thank you Netgallery.

I was so excited to see that there's a 5th book in the Truly Devious series. This latest book follows Stevie and her friends as they make their way over to London for a week. While there, Stevie finds herself involved in yet another murder mystery. I really enjoyed the story and that Maureen Johnson lets her characters grow up. Stevie is still herself but we get to see her become more like a teenager getting ready to head off to college.

This was a very fun book and I cannot wait for the sixth installment.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.

Stevie Bell is a mess and I love her for it. Loved this installment, but that ending!? HOW RUDE! Can't wait to see what happens next!

I am obsessed with this book. I read it in one sitting - I am a Truly Devious superfan, after all. I loved the setting. There were a lot of characters and with it being on Kindle it was hard to scroll back to their descriptions but it worked out in the end. I didn't like the cliffhanger because these are more of standalones so that was kind of strange but at least the teenagers started to act like teenagers and have teenager problems. I still don't like David and I love Nate's journey but still five stars all the way!!! Just wish they could've released it in fall.

When I requested this I had no idea it was part of the truly devious series, I just wanted it because Johnson writes such engaging books.

I wanted to like this more. I actually felt like the mystery took away from the story. I wanted so much more of Stevie and her personal relationships. And the end left me in a place that makes me so mad that I have to wait for the next book.

Maureen Johnson is PEAK writing with this series. I love every single character, the way the mysteries perfectly come together, the banter and writing style, and just generally everything about them. The English country manor mystery was so well done. I have nothing negative to say about this book. I am THRILLED she is obviously going to continue the series, even though the ending of this one was a bummer. 10/10 recommend.

Maureen Johnson has another blockbuster! We join Stevie Bell as she journeys to London to visit her boyfriend David with the gang in tow and to distract herself from her college applications as deadlines loom. Once there, Stevie meets David's friend, Izzy, and is draw in to help solve a cold case j of two college students killed with an axe. They were two of the group called The Nine. When Izzy's aunt disappears, the stakes now include another life. Will Stevie learn which of the Nine is the liar? Will they find Izzy's aunt in time? And what will happen with Stevie & David? So many twists, so many lies over so many years.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Katherine Tegan for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest review of the book. I need to start off by saying I am proud of Ms. Johnson for finally achieving her dream of writing an English Manner Novel. One of my struggles with the book was the names or rather the nicknames she gave our group of 9. I could not remember who was who or if they were male or female. I feel that if I read this as paperback I might have not been on this particular struggle bus. I also did not care for David being estranged from Stevie. I get the reason why that was provided at the end and probably is inline with typical teenage/ new adult behavior/ way of thinking but after arranging a special 1 week trip he should have been more excited and not keep slipping away from the group. In fact, I just did not like the group not really being together to solve the mystery. Speaking of mystery, who invites a "killer" to the Eye of London for the reveal? The ending just did not ring true to me. I know I would not want to be in enclosed space that is hundred feet or more above earth to make my grand reveal. I would want cops with lots of guns and me at a distance. Does not matter, if Ms. Johnson would put out a sixth book in this series, I will be first in line to get it to see where she takes our group next. I would say this book overall is a B/B- read for me.

Book 5 in the Truly Devious series does NOT disappoint!
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Stevie Bell is back and this time it’s senior year at Ellingham Academy. Most of her friends seem to have the future mapped out, all except Stevie. All she knows is that her boyfriend, David, is working in London and she wants to see him. When he offers to host her and his friends over Thanksgiving break she jumps at the chance. But the minute she gets there David’s new friend, Izzy, approaches her about a double murder that occurred while her aunt and eight friends were staying at a viscount’s estate in 1995. Izzy wants to know what happened for her aunt’s sake and Stevie can’t help but get sucked into an unsolved murder. What was supposed to be a fun senior trip abroad turns into another cold case Stevie must solve at all costs.
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OKAY FRIENDS, let’s chat about this masterpiece. I’ve loved this YA series since it started, but @maureenjohnsonbooks went extra level with this one. It definitely had me on the edge of my seat the same way adult thriller books do, which is rare for me with young adult. I read it in one sitting because I HAD to know who the killer was ASAP. I adored (name hidden for spoilers) coming out as ace. And that ending 🤯 There has to be a book 6–tell me there’s going to be a book 6 or I WILL RIOT! Fans of The Inheritance Games, the Clue mystery books by Diana Peterfreund and Karen McManus will devour all five of these suspense books. Nine Liars releases Dec 27. This is an automatic preorder!

CW: death, blood, murder, vomit, alcohol and drug use

I love this series and this next book did not disappoint! Not only was there an engaging mystery but the characters grew & revealed more of themselves. I love the honesty & authentic way the teens are portrayed along with being inclusive & caring.

It was great fun to hang with Stevie & the gang again, this time in the U.K.

I loved the original trilogy where Stevie solved the Ellingham mystery, and the summer camp mystery from book 4 felt like an organic way for the group to gather again. At first it felt slightly contrived to have the whole group go to London, ostensibly for a short study abroad, only to have the trip waylaid by an unsolved murder. However, it ended up working out plot-wise, and allowed for character growth for various members of the group.

The mystery itself was interesting, and while I quickly narrowed the possible suspects down to four people (including the person who is ultimately revealed to be the killer), it was not apparent until the very end who it was.

The ending was a bit abrupt, with a few loose strings, which is mildly frustrating but also promising, as it means another installment in the series is likely forthcoming. We’ve done the boarding school murder mystery, the summer camp murder mystery, and now the English manor house murder mystery. What awaits us in the next book…?

I just don't know about this one. On one hand, I really enjoyed Stevie's character growth (we aren't in high school for forever after all, and it's good that Johnson is letting her characters change and grow). On the other hand, there was just so much going on that I lost track of the plot at points and couldn't remember what was going on. There's too many main characters to focus on and I often found myself trying to remember who was who and who belonged in what timeline.

This definitely felt more like a Stevie book to me then The Box in the Woods, but like that book, there was a lot of flaws and questions I had left at the end of journey. To be honest, I'm not sure if Johnson left enough clues to figure out who committed the murders. Up until the killer was revealed, I honestly didn't have a clue. Which is sort of fine, but as a person who enjoys solving the crime with the characters, it's not really fair that I don't have all the pieces.

It's a solid entry into the Truly Devious series, which readers will enjoy (if nothing else for the relationships between the main characters), but as a mystery, it's a bit lacking.

I'd like to thank Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Nine Liars" in the upcoming release in the 'Truly Devious' mystery series following teenage sleuth, Stevie Bell. Slated to drop in December of this year, it's a shame it didn't drop before the autumnal season. It fits that time of year so perfectly.

Unfortunately, for me, this mystery wasn't as riveting as the ones before. It feels bogged down with so many other things that detract entirely from the mystery that Stevie is confronted with. Stevie is faced with the challenge of figuring out where to go after graduation, and her core group of friends kick around the idea of applications frequently. As much as this is relatable to the target audience, you can only read about it so many times before it feels like overkill.

Another thing that took away from the mystery was the setting. Since this book takes place in London, we get a lot of detail of tourist stops and what they did there. This slows the pace down glacially in the first half of the book. Normally, I find these books hard to put aside, but with this one, I didn't mind at all.

The worst part of the book for me was the ongoing drama with David that consumed the narrative entirely. The back and forth of the will they/won't they was annoying. In fact, Stevie's obsession with David just felt like a major de-evolution of her character. She becomes an unfocused void where a person used to be, unable to function because she is so focused on him. Like, he's not that great.

Once Stevie finally got the mystery, I was intrigued, and it felt more like what I was used to. It took so long in the book to get there however that the payoff wasn't really worth it. Of course, the ending, which should have felt triumphant was once again derailed by David, leaving us on a cliffhanger that I couldn't care less about.

Hopefully the next one is better and allows for Stevie to grow and focus on herself and her friends, who were sorely shafted in this book.

YA books with drug references, profanity, or sexual promiscuity typically turn me off, but Maureen Johnson can weave a tale like few authors in contemporary times, and she pulls me in with every story. She plants her stories firmly in the YA market, pushing the envelope with references to drugs, alcohol, sex, and profanity, and many YA readers will feel the authenticity and acceptance in Nine Liars.

Fans of the Truly Devious stories will be thrilled to reunite with Stevie Bell, but even those new to Johnson's fiction will fall happily into this story. Stevie is a student at a quirky private school in Vermont, but she and her friends take a study abroad week in London so Stevie can see her boyfriend David, an alum of the same school. While there, Stevie is pulled into a bizarre mystery. David's friend has an aunt who was a part of an unsolved murder in 1995, and everyone wants Stevie's take on the story because of her success solving other murder mysteries back home. After meeting Stevie, the aunt goes missing, and Stevie and her friends are pulled into the tight-knit friend group of The Nine, a group of friends who have been together since college and who have been joined even more tightly since the murders of two of the group at the lush country house where they celebrated their graduation. As Stevie collects the scraps and bits of the story, she stirs up dangerous secrets and uncovers lies long hidden. While she may solve the mystery, she may also lose her friends, her boyfriend, and her standing at school.

Johnson is a plotter extraordinaire, planting small details that ALWAYS come back around. Her characterizations are spot-on, allowing readers to know her characters and care about them, even as they stumble and blunder and fail. Through her characters, Johnson blends realistic references to anxiety disorders, family trauma, the inability to fit in, and the quest for belonging. While readers will love her plots, they should also be prepared for many references to current social issues like asexuality, non-binary identities, queer relationships, and the changing world of today. While these topics make the novel difficult to use in a classroom, the story will engross readers and make them fans of Johnson's mysteries, plots, and characters.

So so so good. Except the last paragraph. That made me so mad. However the mystery was great. I, once again, did not figure it out. Can’t wait for the next one

I was provided a free digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you're familiar with Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series, then the format of this book will be familiar to you: everything begins with a story that sets the stage for the mystery at the center of the novel, and then we jump into life at Ellingham with Stevie and her friends. This time, however, Johnson takes us across the pond for a countryside manor mystery and plenty of London history.

Personally, I liked this mystery the best out of all the ones that Stevie has solved, especially because there are essentially two mysteries happening. It felt more connected, thematically, to the issues Stevie and her friends face in the story. Speaking of these issues, although I grew so frustrated with Stevie and the choices she continued to make in this novel, I wasn't really surprised by them because they are definitely in keeping with her character. In fact, I might like this novel best of all the books in the series because of Stevie's character arc and because of the place where this group of friends find themselves at this moment in their lives.

This is a fun series, with a great mix of mystery and relationships, and for me, this installment is the best of the five.

Maureen Johnson's latest Stevie Bell mystery does not disappoint. Tension builds as Stevie convinces her headmaster to allow her to travel with friends to London for a week's immersion. Thanks to David, she meets a girl named Izzy with a mystery to solve: in the 90s two of her aunt's best friends were murdered on a group vacation. There was an explanation, but it never satisfied Izzy's aunt. When she goes missing, Stevie has to decide what to next and deal with the consequences of that decision.

There aren't many things more delightful to me than a new Maureen Johnson book. This one was an unexpected surprise! It was wonderful to revisit all of the members of the found family central to the Truly Devious series. The English setting, the country manor murder, and the hint of teen romance possibly going amok made for a delicious read. I devoured it in a day and am bereft that it is over so soon. If you enjoyed the previous books this one will be a welcome return to Stevie and co. and the humor and suspense we know and love.