Truly Devious

Stevie Bell, an amateur crime sleuth who enjoys reading detective stories and listening to true crime podcasts, is a new student at the Ellingham Academy, a free private school that accepts a few students each year who are considered prodigies in some field. Stevie is determined to solve the 1936 murder of the school founder's wife and daughter, but when one of Stevie's classmates dies under suspicious circumstances, Stevie decides to shift her focus to investigating his death. Told in flashbacks between the past investigation and current events, author Maureen Johnson does a good job of creating a suspenseful read with a cliffhanger ending that will have readers clamoring for the next book in the series.