Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

• Budding detective and criminologist Stevie Bell is overjoyed when she gets accepted to the prestigious and isolated Ellingham Academy, an exclusive boarding school tucked away in the remote mountains of Vermont.
• The school just happens to be the site of a notorious and unsolved crime from the 1930s, and Stevie is determined to crack this decades old cold case -- if she can push past her anxiety, panic attacks, and self-doubt. 
• When one of Stevie’s classmates dies under suspicious circumstances, Stevie must put her sleuthing skills to the test while trying to stay out of danger.

Grades 8-12
Book 1 of the Truly Devious Series

I just finished reading the third and final book in this trilogy, The Hand on the Wall, and the whole series is so much fun!  I love Stevie as well as all her new friends and classmates at Ellingham (especially all of Stevie’s housemates: reclusive writer Nate; quirky builder Janelle; mysterious, moody David).  Johnson’s use of the flashbacks from the 1930s add so much to the story, and I enjoyed how the mysteries of the past and present come together in the final book.