The hand on the wall

In this satisfying conclusion to the trilogy (Truly Devious, rev. 1/18; The Vanishing Star, rev. 3/19), student sleuth Stevie Bell believes she has solved the eighty-year-old cold case of the Ellingham family kidnapping and murders. But before she can tell anyone, she must connect the dots between the past and the recent deaths of three people connected to Ellingham Academy. Her investigation is disrupted by yet another accident (thankfully not fatal this time), the surprise return of her duplicitous ex-boyfriend David, and a massive snowstorm that immobilizes the remote Vermont boarding school. While trapped on campus with her friends, Stevie finally identifies the person responsible for murdering her classmates Hayes and Ellie and her mentor Professor Fenton. But will she be able to reveal what she knows before the killer closes in on her? The ending is grimly gratifying. As a layered, complex character who solves crime while also battling anxiety, Stevie Bell reads like the redoubtable love child of Jessica Fletcher and Adrian Monk. This entire seriesinclusive, inventive, and vastly entertaininghas been a boon to young adult literature, a category thirsty for mystery and detective tropes. Jennifer Hubert Swan March/April 2020 p.83(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The final, riveting chapter of the Truly Devious murder series.The initial incident in the series involved the 1936 abduction of newspaper tycoon Albert Ellingham's wife and daughter; the present volume probes several unsavory events that transpired afterward, including Ellingham's own death in 1938, in a sailing accident on Lake Champlain, and the recent immolation of University of Vermont history professor and Ellingham mystery enthusiast Dr. Irene Fenton. Fenton was introduced to protagonist and contemporary "Ellingham Sherlock" Stevie Bell in The Vanishing Stair (2019). As Stevie gets closer to making good on her resolution to solve the Ellingham case's past and present riddles, Johnson makes the most of the exclusive institution's remote, wooded mountain locale, provocatively setting the climax of Stevie's investigations during the throes of a cataclysmic blizzard. Stevie and her motley crew of misfit high school geniuses are stranded la Agatha Christie with members of the Ellingham Academy administration, who may have a stake in the revelations of several secrets linking the Ellingham kidnappings with present-day murders. Throughout this intricately woven, fast-paced whodunit, Johnson demonstrates how proximity to wealth and power can mold and bend one's behavior, whether with good orhere largelydevious intent. The brainy secondary characters' quirky talents and interests complement Stevie's sleuthing skills; while mostly white, they include diversity in socio-economic background, mental health challenges, physical disability, and sexual orientation.A richly satisfying, Poirot-like ending for Johnson's inspired and inspiring teen sleuth. (Mystery. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.