Next up for the solver of the Truly Devious mystery is London!

Stevie Bell is dragging her feet at Ellingham Academy and unsure of her next steps post graduation. When David, her now long distance boyfriend offers her a trip to visit him in London, she jumps at the chance and brings the whole crew along. While there, they meet a very different crew - a group of Cambridge alum who lived together all through college until a tragedy took two of the group. The group of nine still do not know what transpired or what happened to their two murdered friends! The niece of one of the nine happens to be in a study group with Stevie's boyfriend and it isn't long before Stevie is roped into solving another mystery. This mystery, however, may have already caused another murder.

The beginning of the story alternates between flashbacks of the nine in college, and Stevie and the group. This is a really fun and and high energy book. Everyone loves Stevie and her paranoia and obsessions, how can you not root for her even when she makes the most obvious bad choices! If you like the Truly Devious Crew, this is one not to be missed, if you haven't read Maureen Johnson before, you could easily jump into this story and follow the plot. If you like teen detectives, strong but neurotic heroines, or just want to read to see what the crew is up to next, Nine Liars is for you!

Stevie Bell is back in action! This time our teen sleuth is across the pond to see her boyfriend and on a tight touring schedule in London, Stevie and friends are trying to fit everything into their schedule but what they aren't expecting is for a murder mystery to fall into their laps.

In 1995, a tight group of nine friends fresh out of uni spend their graduation weekend up in an English manor. A game of hid and go seek goes wrong and two of the friends are brutally murdered. It was ruled a burglary, but one of the 7 remaining friends knows in her gut...that someone close to her killed her friends.

Stevie is on a time crunch to solve this especially when another person from that weekend goes missing. Can she solve the murder while trying to maintain honest communication with her own group of friends?

NINE LIARS has to now be my favorite of the Truly Devious series. Stevie has long loved Sherlock Holmes and now to have her in England solving a crime? *chef's kiss*

What I liked: I love how Stevie's superpower is observation and I'm fascinated by her process each and every mystery. Also, the accurate portrayal of anxiety in teens. Maureen Johnson is never afraid to show the highs and lows of her characters which brings the characters into reality for me. Not to mention, the theme of this book is definitely friendship. The ties that bind can also strangle whether with lies, or murder.

Nate. I love Nate.

What I didn't like: It ended. PLEASE GIVE ME MORE!

My extreme gratitude to NetGalley and Katherine Tegen Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this YA mystery novel! Like did not sleep, couldn't put down in love!

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson totally took me by surprise.
I had no idea I would love this book as much as I did!
This book was thoroughly addicting and kept me reading all night!
It was so hard to put the book down. Literally hard. I didn't want to adult.
Johnson's writing style completely sucked me in.
Loved the characters and how realistic and intriguing they were protrayed.
I enjoyed Stevie as the main character and all the side characters were eccentric and interesting too.
I liked how the narrative was well paced and expertly executed.
The setting was amazing... I loved being at Ellingham Academy with these characters.
A stunning, clever, twisty and very addicting story.
This one will keep you guessing to the end of the book.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

HarperCollins Children's & Katherine Tegen Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Ok, this series has had some ups and downs but I really like the basic concept and the core group of characters so much I’ll read them all no matter what downs come. Good news, this book wasn’t a down point for me. I did think it took a long time for the action to get going (jet lag and goofy poor communicated romance took much of the first half of Stevie and her friends’ story. What kept me going (other than love for the four friends) were the flashbacks which were a bit more live action and in time with the crime which let me start to piece together bits and pieces as well too. The cold case is a double murder from the 1990’s when 9 friends went to the country side estate of one of their party and after the most epic gave of hide and seek two of the friends were found dead. All of this happened in England and David just happened to cal Stevie and invite her and her friends to take a brief study abroad trip to England. I love this crime solving team (although I would like Stevie to get a bit more focused on her life and to learn effective communication) but they have a beautiful friendship. The murder was fun to solve. I hope this isn’t the last mystery that Stevie Bell solves. Overall I gave it 4.5 stars rounded up because of the most perfect Nate moment ever.

Johnson continues to hit her stride with these stand-alone stories in the Truly Devious series. The characters' development, the plot, along with the overall writing get stronger with each book and so does my affection for the world she has crafted. That being said, the cliffhanger ending left me state of both eagerness and distress for the next installment. I would strongly recommend this series to all those interested in YA!

When I requested the ARC I didn't realize that this was a series. It took a little bit for me to get into this (for some reason I was bored by all the descriptions of "The Nine" and was ready for the plot to move forward) but I ended up getting sucked into the story.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As any other young, modern woman with terrible climate anxiety, I hate capitalism, and I especially hate how capitalism has shaped the reading industry. I hate how authors will sacrifice craft to put out book after book with no distinguishable features, I hate the cookie-cutter plotlines and character arcs, I had unoriginality and I hate books that are clearly made to get quick cash. But I am also a hypocrite, because as much as Johnson is selling out by continuing this series after it's perfect ending in The Hand on the Wall, I will read every else she puts out relating to Truly Devious and I will love it.
Nine Liars has a lot of flaws---too many new characters are introduced, too many to keep track of which is which, resulting in lackluster character development and an anticlimatic relevation. I don't really care about the death of characters I don't know anything about, and I don't care about the motivation that would drive a character to kill them when I also don't know anything about him/her. But the leadup to the relevation is a good as always, Johnson has stablished herself as someone who can write a good mystery. The setting was also great, and God, I love reading about stupid teenage drama. Can't get enough of it.
As much as I wish the plotwist was better, as I had a lot of great theories that were discarded, I still loved this, and I can't wait for the next volume in this series.

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me an advanced copy of Nine Liars in exchange for an honest review.


hello I would like a refund on that ending because it was RUDE! other than that I do adore these books and love Stevie and loved the English countryside setting. I do however demand another book because you can’t just leave that ending and expect me to be okay with it.

Incredible. I love this series so so much and was so curious where the story/mystery would take us and loved where it went.
The cold case was twisty and intense!
And present day with Stevie was wonderful. I adore Stevie, Janelle, Vi, Nate and David and their banter and friendships continue to be the BEST.
When’s the next one????

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for an eARC.

4.25 stars
i was so excited to read the ARC for this!! i love the truly devious series and when an english mystery was hinted in the last book, i was psyched.
i enjoyed this more than the box in the woods definitely. i thought the mystery was better and i thought the developments in stevie and her friend group made sense. i’m a huge david fan (i know i’m in the minority) and the interactions with him here were great….
UNTIL THE END. WHAT???? i don’t mind being left with a cliffhanger but that specific one…….. no. i hated that the book ended there and it knocked off a full quarter-star from my rating.

This was a fun installment of the series. I appreciate the theme of mental health, talking about Stevie’s anxiety and panic attacks. The two POVs and timelines were fun, although it could get a little repetitive at times with information. This is a series I want for my classroom.

Maureen Johnson never fails to create an atmospheric mystery that sucks you in. This title fits perfectly into the Truly Devious series and I am always happy to have more Stevie Bell Mysteries. That being said the pacing of this book felt rushed, though it only takes place over a week, I did feel like the wrap up and solving of the mystery felt very sudden. Additionally, the final ending seemed a bit odd, I would assume another book is coming but if not there were still larger unresolved plot points I would have liked to see tied up.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Katherine Tegen Books for the advanced copy of Nine Liars. I could not believe my luck when I received a copy of Nine Liars - I'm a huge Maureen Johnson fan and the Truly Devious series is one of my all-time favorites. I cannot believe more people don't shout about this series from the rooftop. Nine Liars did not disappoint. Stevie Bell is back but this time in London. In each book, I've loved Johnson's location descriptions and her moody, quick London trip is no exception. I have a bad habit of reading ahead in books, but for some reason, I never feel the need for this series. I stayed up late every night until I finished and was pleased that a delicious cliffhanger means that there will be more.

Really enjoyed the latest addition to the Truly Devious series.. Cannot wait for the next book and mystery by Johnson.

I am consistently delighted by this series!! The stories and mysteries are so cozy and binge-able to me; I feel like they could easily be called formulaic or whatever, but after a certain point I have to imagine all mystery novels are formulaic or predictable in one way or another. This isn't something that bothers me as a reader, so I always have a great time.

I'm so endeared by Stevie Bell, and I love getting to read about her. She's so fun to read and being in her head is such a wild ride. Also, I LOVED how much Nate got to shine in this book! His one-offs and zingers were so FUNNY and his little character arc was brief but it was lovely and powerful. We love Nate!!!!!

Overall, this was a super fun installment and I think I'd be happy to read books in this series endlessly. This must be how Agatha Christie fans felt when the new Poirot mysteries dropped.

This was another great mystery written by Maureen Johnson and solved by Stevie. Stevie is such a real character with relatable flaws as she navigates her senior year, as well as, being s top crime solver. The mystery was thrilling and had me seconding guessing the perpetrator all the way through. I wish her friends had a bigger role, but it made sense for the plot for Stevie to struggle with that divide and growing up. I just hated the cliffhanger ending!

I am a person who lives with a toddler and I stayed up late to finish Nine Liars, which should speak for itself. I enjoyed the mystery and the end had me screaming (not literally, because toddler). I am a huge fan of Maureen Johnson and the Stevie Bell mysteries and I feel like they just keep getting better. My only complaint is that now I have to wait for the next one!

Finally back at school for their senior year, Stevie and her friends are focused on applying for college and making plans for the future. Except Stevie isn't sure she knows where she's headed. Feeling a little lost, she jumps at the chance to travel with her friends for a tour of London, complete with the perfect visit to her boyfriend David. What they discover there is a decades-old murder and and group of friends determined to let matters stay in the past. Can Stevie use her sleuthing skills to once again solve the case? Or will this one be beyond her reach?

Couldn't wait to get back into Stevie's world and solve the latest murder with her. This is a great addition to the series, as there's plenty going on in Stevie's personal life as well as she struggles to decide what she wants to do after she graduates. There's also quite the cliffhanger in this, so be prepared for a burning desire for book 6 after reading this installment.

Recommended for fans of Holly Jackson and Stephanie Perkins

This is one of my favorite series, and this new addition did not disappoint! Such a fun mystery and was just as funny as the others. This branches out to London and ends on a cliffhanger that makes me SO excited for the next book!!

Maureen Johnson produces true crime perfection — and NINE LIARS is no exception. (Please forgive me for such a cringe rhyme…I’m just obsessed with this book and struggling with how best to communicate my adoration.)

Stevie and the gang are back together again for the latest installment of the Truly Devious series and this murder mystery is easily the best one yet. This time, they’re in London, under the guise of a study abroad trip that sees Stevie reunited with David and introduces the group to a chilling cold case that forever fractured a group of friends years before.

No spoilers, but I genuinely could not figure out who was between the killings — and the big reveal left me absolutely stunned. Very impressed with how Johnson inserts such frequent twists and subtle, meaningful details into the plot, allowing her to keep her readers hooked from beginning to end.

My only complaint is the storyline with David. I am not, and never will be, a fan. Just no. Stevie has always deserved better.

It’s rare I say this, but this series doesn’t really even need romance. The friendships in it are wonderful enough on their own, serving as complementary storytelling that elevates Stevie’s penchant for figuring out long unsolved crimes.

I devoured NINE LIARS. Could not put it down. Now and forever more, I will read anything Johnson writes.

*Thanks to Net Galley and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*