(2) YA Truly Devious series. 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 series--inclusive, inventive, and vastly entertaining--has been a boon to young adult literature, a category thirsty for mystery and detective tropes.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

(2) YA Truly Devious series. In this absorbing continuation of Truly Devious, amateur gumshoe and anxiety-sufferer Stevie Bell is still trying to solve both the eighty-year-old cold case at Ellingham Academy and her classmate's recent murder. As Stevie continues her investigation, Johnson judiciously doles out some satisfying partial answers to the historical case while (presumably) saving the big reveals for the next installment. This fulfilling second volume will gratify serious mystery fans.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(2) YA Truly Devious series. Aspiring sleuth Stevie Bell starts her junior year at Ellingham Academy with a classmate dying under mysterious circumstances in one of the Vermont school's hidden tunnels. The event uncannily evokes another tragedy from eighty years earlier. Told in alternating chapters chronicling the past ordeal and Stevie's current detecting, Johnson's finely tuned plot effectively employs classic-mystery tropes while maintaining a thoroughly modern sensibility.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018