New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller!In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel in the Truly Devious series, there are more twists and turns than Stevie Bell can imagine. No answer is given freely, and someone will pay for the truth with their life. The Truly Devious case—an unsolved kidnapping and triple murder that rocked Ellingham Academy in 1936—has … kidnapping and triple murder that rocked Ellingham Academy in 1936—has consumed Stevie for years. It’s the very reason she came to the academy. But then her classmate was murdered, and her parents quickly pull her out of school. For her safety, they say. She must move past this obsession with crime.
Stevie’s willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham, be back with her friends, and solve the Truly Devious case. Even if it means making a deal with the despicable Senator Edward King. And when Stevie finally returns, she also returns to David: the guy she kissed, and the guy who lied about his identity—Edward King’s son.
But larger issues are at play. Where did the murderer hide? What’s the meaning of the riddle Albert Ellingham left behind? And what, exactly, is at stake in the Truly Devious affair? The Ellingham case isn’t just a piece of history—it’s a live wire into the present.
* Junior Library Guild Selection * Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books of 2019 * Hypable’s Best Books of 2019 *
Praise for Book One:
“The Agatha Christie-like ecosystem pairs with lacerating contemporary wit, and alternating past and present scenes makes for a multilayered, modern detective story.” —New York Times Book Review
“Remember the first time reading Harry Potter and knowing it was special? There’s that same sense of magic in the introduction of teen Sherlock-in-training Stevie Bell.” —USA Today (four stars)
“Be still, my Agatha-Christie-loving beating heart.” —Bustle
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An intricately plotted, compulsively readable novel that explores not only fascinating crimes but also the mysteries of anxiety, the creative process, contemporary fame, and so much else.
I really enjoyed the second part of the Truly Devious mystery. I loved watching Stevie find the clues that solved the mystery. The mix of historical information and current mysteries was fun. I’ve ordered the next book.
This is a YA mystery so cozy lovers would enjoy the story. The school part of the story isn’t overwhelming.
Holy sh%t, this book got good!!!! I now see the hype about this series.
I will say that, I’m still not a huge fan of Stevie, but the book is so good that I basically don’t care if I like her or not.
This book starts out shortly after the last one. Stevie gets a way to go back to the school but that costs her something. Stevie being Stevie doesn’t care of course and does whatever she must to go back and solve the case she came to solve.
Ellie is still missing and that of course is a new case as well… More things happen at the school and things get really dicey and not just in the school but for Stevie too.
She also meets some new people, an author/professor who wrote a book about the Ellingham case and her nephew. I have a feeling that there is much more to the nephew than we are led to believe. Something about him, just didn’t sit right and I can’t figure out what it was.
I also think there is more to David and his father…. but also, not sure yet what…. I did like David though. And Nate as well…..Both became my favorite people in this series so far.
At the end of this book, it seems that the Ellingham case got solved ….. and HOLY COW …. I did NOT see that coming… if that in fact was the case. Of course, there are other major things happening and the book again ends on a big cliffhanger that had me screaming for more.
Beginning of this book I still liked it by the end .. I loved it … all except Stevie lol. I hope she grows some though the next book which I most likely will start today.
I would give this book 5 stars but with my dislike to Stevie who is the main character I can’t do that… So, for now it will be a 4 for now.
I absolutely love this series! If you were ever a Nancy Drew or Harriet the Spy fan, or even a Scooby Doo fan, then you seriously need to give these a try. They speak to the nostalgia of those detective stories I loved so much as a kid, but they are a little darker, a little stranger, and a whole lot more devious. Stevie is the perfect narrator, and Ellingham Academy is the perfect setting for a late-fall mystery. This series is just so tightly plotted, with a truly fantastic cast of characters, and I am just in awe of where the story takes itself in this installment.
I really enjoyed The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2). Stevie Bell is a winning protagonist, persistent, flawed, determined to learn the truth about a long ago kidnapping.
Ellingham Academy would be an interesting place to visit. You would just need to be careful which doors you opened.
Be warned–the book ends with a cliffhanger. I await #3.
I’m really glad I decided to give this series another shot. I get why Book 1 was set up the way it was. Book 2 was a lot better and I lobed it! Thank goodness for buddy reads and Bookstagram !!
4.5 stars
I raced through this second book in the series.
Book 2 is quicker paced, not that the first one was slow it wasn’t.
I tried to keep up with Stevie to no avail.
Have book 3 just waiting for me to read.
I am really enjoying this YA Mystery series, with some romance, so much!!! It’s hard to find good YA Mysteries, but this author has outdone herself!! I love how there’s the main timeline with Stevie going to Ellingham Academy in the present, wanting to solve the mystery from Ellingham in the 1930’s, plus there are mysteries happening at the school in the present too!! It’s really well written and gets pretty intense at times!! I love Stevie and her friends, but especially David!! I can’t wait to dive into book three!!!
A wonderfully Written, Smart Story, a great series, I had to continue reading. I will read any thing this author writes!!!
I’m still loving this mystery trilogy. Stevie is just great. I love the side characters too like Janelle and Nate! I need to know what is going on with David. I also need to know what is happening.
With the ending of “Truly Devious” I had to quickly get a copy of this book. “The Vanishing Stair” continues with Stevie and the students from Ellingham Academy and their quest to find out what happened in 1936 and this year. Maureen Johnson kept my interest in the story with the continued back and forth timeline. The reader also got to know the cast of characters more in this story. I am still intrigued in how this story will continue along with solving the mysteries.
Rating: 4.5 stars
This could have been a full 5 star book, I just wish the author hadn’t spent the first half of the story recounting the first book.
That said, this book was masterfully done. The mysteries are finally unwinding, but at the same time delving into such complexities that I cannot wait to get the next book.
Stevie, Jenelle, Nate, and David are all tremendously growing on me as characters. In the first book they were lacking, overshadowed by the plot and setting, in this book they stood out.
The ending of this book was absolutely FANTASTIC. I remember not liking the first book because absolutely nothing was solved; in this book you start to get some answers and holy shit are the answers satisfying and unexpected. I loved Stevie in this book, she was quirky and funny and I loved all scenes where she was trying to piece the mystery together.
My only grudge is that I am not enjoying Stevie and David’s romance…. is it weird that I ship Stevie and Nate together? Their chemistry and conversation are witty and funny and I love their dynamic.
All in all, a good book. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one! I love
The follow-up to Truly Devious, the YA mystery that stole my heart, The Vanishing Stair suffers from middle book syndrome but still holds enough charm to be lovable. We take things down a few notches in this book, focusing more on Stevie and her personal relationships with her friends, family, and love interest and less on the mystery itself. The novel suffers for it, as I’m not completely all-in on some of these relationships, but Stevie herself remains the great protagonist she is, and like its predecessor, The Vanishing Stair gets far better towards the end.
Truly Devious left us off with a cliffhanger: Ellie, who was thought to be responsible in some fashion for Hayes’ death, has escaped via secret passageway and cannot be found, and Stevie discovers that her sort-of boyfriend is the son of hateful Senator Edward King. All her personal relationships are thrown into disarray: Ellie was a friend, David the first boy Stevie’s had any kind of feelings for, and now her position at Ellingham where all her friends are is in jeopardy. The Vanishing Stair finds us a short time after that, where Stevie’s parents have taken her home after discovering her part in the investigation, and she finds herself lost and depressed without Ellingham or her friends. She is met by an unlikely savior: Edward King, who comes to her house, reassures her parents Ellingham is perfectly safe, and convinces them to send her back. All of this for a price, of course: David has been acting out without her, and he wants her to keep his son in line. Secretly. So Stevie is headed back to Ellingham under the thumb of a soulless conservative politician, duping her boyfriend, but theoretically back on the case.
My biggest issue with this novel is that she actually isn’t back on the case. When Stevie returned to Ellingham, I was looking forward to a continuation of the mystery I had become so engrossed in back in Truly Devious, but the follow-ups on that plot are sporadic. This book is a definite lapse of the excitement I had grown accustomed to and expected. The Vanishing Stair is much more interested in Stevie’s personal relationships than the mystery. In some cases, this works out great! I love Stevie’s friends and the odd bonds she has with them. Janelle, mechanics genius, and Nate, hopeless author, are both wonderful characters and I relished every moment I spent with them. Their presence in the novel was welcome and appreciated. We are introduced to a new set of characters who live outside of the Ellingham loop: a famous professor/author working on the Ellingham case who enlists Stevie as her inside man, and her nephew Hunter who has always wanted to go to Ellingham but was never accepted. I wondered if Johnson would ever approach Ellingham from this angle, and I ‘m glad she did. Ellingham, to our beloved Stevie, is the pinnacle of all her dreams. She loves it there, it’s her home, all her friends reside there, and it’s overall a positive place. But it’s also a super exclusive club that a handful of kids are admitted to, and Hunter did not make the cut. I like this piece of the worldbuilding: to many kids, Ellingham breeds resentment. It’s the ultimate snub, a way of being told you are not good enough, you are not special. Hunter and Stevie’s relationship is not fraught with tension or resentment, but his outside perspective was appreciated and seeing kids who live outside Ellingham gives us a breathe of fresh air from all the insane happenings that go on inside the grounds.
However, I struggled with the romance. David’s flaws actually have nothing to do with him being the son of a conservative pundit, which is what Stevie is most concerned about, and more with the fact that he’s just… not very interesting? He does weird things (fountain-diving, squirrel-taming, etc) and has a significantly tragic backstory, but beyond that there’s not much substance beyond his style. I was surprised by their romance in Truly Devious, but I figured they had two books to get deep and really fall in love, but that doesn’t really happen here. There are frequent references to his hot David is, how sad his tale is, and his tragic demeanor, but I’m not feeling it. This is definitely a case of a romance where the two leads love each other, but they don’t seem to like each other all that much. Given that the book focused more on this romance, I found it dragging and lacking.
Realistically, the mystery is where it’s at. I came into this book for the mystery and it was the mystery I wanted. There wasn’t enough sleuthing in this book to satisfy me, but when it was there it was still just as superb as I remembered. We discover more about Ellingham’s history, its odd architecture, and the man himself. The split timeline, which is replicated in this book, is still a smart choice, giving us humanizing aspects of the people the long-abandoned mystery is about. There are more twists that I loved in this book, plotlines I never would’ve expected, more turns to the story, and more death on Ellingham’s grounds. When the mystery was there, it was good. It just wasn’t there enough.
The Vanishing Stair definitely is the middle of the trilogy slump, but I have faith it’ll pick back up in the final book. Everything I liked about Truly Devious I liked here: Stevie’s sardonic humor, the relationship with her friends, the mystery of her oddball school, the split timeline, all of it remained just as crisp as its predecessor. It was the new things Johnson tried to pull in, mainly the romance, that didn’t click, and given the book’s concentration on David’s character it definitely killed my enthusiasm for the book as a whole. The Hand on the Wall is next, and given that it has to wrap up all the loose ends of the mystery, I think it’ll focus more on the things I love about this series and less on the things I don’t.
review blog
Love this series so much! The mystery is excellent and I love the flashing back between the present and past. I love how diverse all the characters are as well. Highly recommend!!
Didn’t quite enjoy The Vanishing Stair as much as the first book. I cared more for the old mystery than the new one. Stevie is a great character and I liked seeing how she figured things out as we learn the truth of events. Definitely an enjoyable mystery.
I know I just recommended Truly Devious, but after devouring it’s sequel, I have to write that it did not disappoint! As we currently find ourselves with a lot more times on our hands (due to Quarantine), this book series provides the perfect escape, and surely gives your mind a workout too. Once again, Johnson leaves off on a cliffhanger, ensuring that her final book in this trilogy is my next download as well.
I loved this whole series. If you haven’t read them yet, I recommending getting all three at the same time, because you’re going to want to read them back to back. I read this book in about 24 hours and immediately opened up book three when I was done. I loved the intertwined mysteries and Stevie and her friends.
A great continuation of a wonderful modern mystery series. And I am loving the conflict/slow burn between Stevie and David. I can’t wait to read how it all ends. January can’t come soon enough!
It was interesting and made me anxious to read the Hand On The Wall
The second book to the Truly Devious series and again captivated me. Again the way Maureen Johnson wrote it, and again read it in a day. Honestly cannot wait for the final book next year