Others: Overwhelmingly positive Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym 'Truly, Devious.'
Genres: mystery
Lists: …
Courtney Summers
2018 · 320 pages · 13 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveA missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial-like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about. Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.
What made the match, strongest first
Maureen Johnson
2021 · 1 pages · 4 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveThe Truly Devious series continues as Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery. Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer. But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case. Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders. But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.
What made the match, strongest first
M. L. Rio
2017 · 368 pages · 28 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveEntreated to tell his side of the story to a detective who put him in prison a decade earlier for a murder he may not have committed, Oliver Marks describes his past as a Shakespearean actor in college whose rivalry with a castmate escalated in dangerous ways.
What made the match, strongest first
Theodora Goss
2017 · 409 pages · 5 reviews
Others: PositiveMary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' death, is curious about the secrets of her father's mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father's former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capturea reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes. But her hunt leads her to Hyde's daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein. When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.
What made the match, strongest first
Jane Harper
2016 · 392 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positive"Federal Agent Aaron Falk hasn't been back to the place where he grew up in twenty years. Not since he and his father were run out of town. Even when Falk gets word that his childhood best friend, Luke, is dead, his entire family murdered, Falk still isn't planning on going back. But then he gets a note: 'Luke lied. You lied. Be at the funeral.' And just like that, Falk is swept back into the secrets of the place and people he left so long ago. Amid the worst drought in a century, long-buried mysteries will resurface. And Falk will discover anew what he's known all along -- sometimes you have to go back home in order to finally leave your past behind." -- Back cover.
What made the match, strongest first
S. A. Cosby
2021 · 328 pages · 5 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveA Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed of his father's criminal record. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itthis Trilogy is both so much fun hilarious delightful a fantastic main character with Stevie but also like bone chilling creepy compelling and the mystery and the twist and turns of this series really take you in so many different directions
Loved iti really enjoyed the way that the mystery sort of overarched as i mentioned and carried on throughout all three books i found it very compelling and there was always enough answers in one book but also new questions introduced that kept me reading
Loved ittruly devious is a series that has truly impressed me through every single book i feel like each installment is like just as good as the last and i think it's very consistent
Loved itI do really like this series it's Hawaii a mystery series and I think it's really good overall
Loved itI love this series so if you have not read the truly devious it's the first book
Loved itI decided to physically read it and physically reading it I enjoyed the story a lot the setting was very cool I love the fact that it's a kind of Sherlock Holmes mystery that has a historical element to it as well
Loved itI loved the atmosphere and setting in this secluded Vermont Mountain I just thought it was so creepy but fascinating and this story captured my attention it was a great first read of the year and I cannot wait to read the next book
