I really enjoyed this and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have read it! What a wonderful book!

The Truly Devious series is back for its fifth installment. Every time I think this series may end, Maureen Johnson rolls out another adventure (and murder) for the Ellingham crew to embark on. This time they are going global. Stevie's stuck in rut and the only thing that can bring her out is another mystery to solve. Nearly three decades ago, two co-eds were murdered while out at a party with their close-knit friends. Nobody knows who did it which is Stevie's catnip. As an added bonus, she gets to see her boyfriend David who is studying abroad after graduating last year. Will Stevie and her crew solve what happened years ago or is this the last case the Ellingham gang will ever solve?

Maureen Johnson crafted another mystery with some twists thrown in. While I love the Truly Devious series, this installment did not quite hit the mark with me. Stevie's character felt out of focus, and the plot didn't progress as quickly as I would have liked.

Nonetheless it was a fun and quick read and it was great to be taken back into that world again. Thank you to NetGalley, Katherine Tegen Books and HarperCollins Children's Books for the read.

I am HUGE fan of the Truly Devious series, and Nine Liars was no different. I loved the adventure, I loved the mystery, I love Stevie so so much.

I received an advance copy of Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This is the 5th book in the series and I'm not 100% sure I will finish the series when the next book comes out. I literally struggled the entire way through the book and wanted to scream at David. I finished it but didn't love it.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.

Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.

The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.

Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

Probably somewhere between a 3.5 and a 4 star read. I really enjoyed the mystery of this one, and the Truly Devious books are always such fun to read. I wasn’t as here for the interpersonal drama going on, mostly because the romance of this series has really never been a favorite of mine. But I liked seeing Stevie solving murder in London and as usual, I want Maureen to keep writing books in this series forever!

I had high hopes for this book and it fell short. I absolutely loved the original trilogy of this series. Things started to go downhill for me in the fourth installment but there were still elements I enjoyed in that story. Sadly, I can’t say the same for Nine Liars. The Stevie and David romance plot line started taking up more space in book four and it completely took center stage in this book. The mystery here was half-baked and confusing and the romance plot overshadowed it to the point it was nearly impossible to follow. I would’ve preferred more focus on the mystery, detective work and even the friendship/group dynamic aspect present in the previous books. Janelle, Nate and Vi are what keep this stories afloat for me and there seemed to be very little of them in this story. Nate and Janelle are present to some extent but played very little part in the plot. Vi was basically nonexistent here. I literally forgot they existed at one point. Which is sad because I loved the dynamic of their relationship with Janelle in the previous books. The previous books feel like classic mysteries with a fun supporting romance plot to keep things interesting. This book felt like a toxic teen romance with a not fully fleshed out mystery unfolding in the background. Overall, pretty disappointed in this book. It feels like a complete departure from the rest of the series. But will I read the next installment? Of course. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of this novel.

Thank you for providing me a copy of Nine Liars.
This was a good ya mystery for me to read even though it wasnt my favorite. The characters though, I thought there were way too many to have in this one. I felt overwhelmed in a way. Overall it was good but not my fav.

I love the twists and turns of a Maureen Johnson mystery and I am happy that this latest book with these characters is not as gruesome as The Box in the Woods, but I was not AS enthralled as I was with the original Truly Devious series. One of my biggest complaints, as before, is David. I need Stevie to move on from him. Or I need him to be a better person. It's hard to have a "will they, won't they" relationship when all I want is for her to dump him. And although I like Stevie, I need her to be a better friend. Her friends would be right to cut ties with her. As for the mystery itself, I did not solve it miles out from the revelation and that is always a bonus for me. Despite my gripes, I will be there for the next installment because I love Johnson's writing style.

I might be a little obsessed with Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series! I get SO excited when a new one comes out, and while this one was a tad different from the other ones, it was still a 5-star read for me! I love Maureen's writing and characters, and love the overall mystery of these books. This can be read as a stand-alone, but is best paired with the original 3 Truly Devious books to understand the characters and the story as a whole. Fingers crossed for more Truly Devious books in the future!

God I love Maureen Johnson. This book is everything it should be - fast paced and witty and full of the charming relationships I've come to expect from this series. I can't waittt for the next one!

I loved how the twist and turns were written such a good writer. I really enjoyed reading this mystery book.

Maureen Johnson never lets me down. The way the author writes, the mysterious that unfold and the twist that you did not see coming all contribute to this book being absolutely amazing!

Absolutely love this series and will follow Stevie and team across the pond and wherever else the next mystery takes them! Readers are in capable hands with Johnson at the helm - the writing is witty, the mystery is clever, the setting is detailed, and the characters are lovable. Be warned - this one ends on a cliff hanger!

[ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review]

Oh, my relationship with this book is a tricky one. On the one hand, I was so happy to get the whole Stevie Bell Brigade back together again with a murder mystery. On the other… the ending left me wondering if maybe we shouldn’t have left these books back at Ellingham after the third one.

Stevie and her friends are invited by her boyfriend David to come to London for Thanksgiving. With very strict guidelines and very reluctant permission, Ellingham lets them go. As these things go, Stevie finds herself captivated by an old, unsolved murder that only she can untangle and solve.

Maureen Johnson writes flashbacks that are so delicious. I found myself combing through them trying to find clues to solve the murder before Stevie. But Johnson knows how to give just enough information that you’re never too far ahead of our detective.

I really wish this had been a four or even five star book for me. This was headed in that direction. But character decisions were made towards the end that made me so overwhelmingly frustrated at things happening. Things that felt so wildly out of character and not anything like what had been set up in the previous four books. It was enough that it dropped my enjoyment of the book a full star. If this is the path we’re going to go down for the sake of just adding drama, I’m not sure that it’s something quite for me anymore.

Who am I kidding. I’ll come back for the next one. But cautiously, this time.

3 stars

This was nice. It was not fantastic and mind-blowing or even as twisty as I would've liked, but it was a nice read. Maureen Johnson always comes up with these fantastic concepts for a mystery, but the execution of these concepts always flops for me. I thought for sure this installment would be a win because who doesn't love English manor murder mysteries with a large cast of characters? This just didn't give me the Agatha Christie vibes i was hoping for, unfortunately.

The actual solving of the mystery doesn't even start until the halfway mark, so everything (the clue finding, the piecing together, the big reveal, etc) was rushed by the end. The majority of this book is spent on Stevie being anxious about college or being anxious about her relationship. I can't complain too much given that this book is intended for kids about to graduate, and I know I would've loved to see Stevie's anxiety representation when I was her age.

However, thinking about this purely from a murder mystery standpoint, the book is so bogged down by regular contemporary stuff that the mystery suffers. Sure, the answer makes sense, but we barely see any hints concerning who the killer is. There wasn't enough to keep me guessing, which is the best part about murder mysteries. When Stevie is going on about how she figures it out, all of her evidence seems like a stretch and was somehow also vague. Maureen Johnson could've had her pick of the killer, and the evidence given would have made sense for any of the people involved. I would've liked more specific clues pointing towards the actual killer.

I didn't hate my time reading this book, but I'm left wondering if Maureen Johnson will ever impress me again after loving the Vanishing Stair. I will 100% be reading the next book in this series if only to find out what happens to David and Stevie.


*mild spoiler* Stevie needs to forget about David's ass because a boy who doesn't like that his girlfriend is more successful is not worth the dirt on your shoes. I don't even hate David like everyone else seems to, but his actions at the end make me want to fight him on sight.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book. I'm sorry the review is months overdue.

I quickly devoured the rest of this series last year, so I was excited to learn another book in the series was being released. And we are back with another cold case for our motley crew to solve.

Overall, I did enjoy this mystery; I wish the plot was more focused on the mystery and less focused on the main character's relationship - but understand a secondary plot is important to make all the characters more real to us.

This was fast-paced, set in the beautiful and historic London, and I think was an excellent addition to this series.

This newest Stevie Bell novel was just wanted I needed at just the right moment to bust me out of a slight slump. A new setting in lovely London was the perfect backdrop and I’ll be waiting (not so patiently) for the rest of the story!

I love Stevie. I love her friends. I love the atmosphere that Maureen Johnson creates with these books. So it really pains to say this is my least favorite of the series. The amount of relationship drama was almost insufferable, and I am officially a David disliker. There’s a lot of time spent on Stevie and David’s first time, which is honestly done well. It’s a good conversation and really honest and awkward. There’s also more sex talk involving the mystery, which is fine and fun, but it does make it so this is the first book in this series that I wouldn’t put in my junior high library. The romance drama makes the mystery take a real backseat, which is too bad, because there’s so much potential. The cast of characters tied up in the murder are so interesting and fun, and needed more page time than they got. The countryside manor needed to be featured more often, but instead we spend time in a dorm room.

Also, Stevie’s friends are as wonderful as ever. Janelle and Vi are a positive and supportive force. Nate continues to be the best character, and has a couple really, really lovely moments in this. This is why, when Stevie treats blatantly lies to them at one point, it really stings. I always root for her, and I think her mental health journey in this book is so relatable and heartbreaking. Still, it should not lead her to act like a totally different person. That being said, I was hooked in the end, and I think her arc was a good one!

I hope book 6 leads to more independence and more great Nate moments and an actual great mystery!