Ellingham Academy is an American institution.
Ellingham pledged everything to find the killerhe ended up giving his life.
It was an empty sacrifice: For years, the killer remained at large.
Credit: Heather Weston
He taunted the police, signing his lettersTruly, Devious.
Eventually, someone was caught, found guilty, and executed for the heinous crimes… but questions lingered.
Why, for example, did Ellingham write these words on the day he died?
Where do you look for someone
whos never really there?
Always on a staircase
but never on a stair.
Every institution has its ghost stories; every school imagines itself haunted.
This includes Stevie Bell, who gained her fame by solving a murder when she was thirteen years old.
Then she finds out about the decades-old Ellingham riddle: Problem solved.
Shell solve the riddle, name therealkiller, and prove herself exceptional.
Her investigation into the cold case is interrupted by a fresh one.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What inspired the book?
MAUREEN JOHNSON:Ive always been a mystery addict.
Thats my genre passion.
The first real book I remember reading was a childrens version ofThe Hound of Baskervilles.
I knew this was the stuff for me.
Im the person who has accidentally memorized the plots of dozens of British detective shows.
This is who I am.
I think I waited for a long time to write one because I thought about it so much.
But for a while Ive been collecting up a notebook of my mystery ideas.
(Im a sucker for any that include a puzzle or a mysterious letter.)
I also wrote theShades of Londonseries, which is a mystery.
Unlike those, this one has no supernatural element.
Its straight-up sleuths and murderers.
Do you believe in haunted houses (or haunted schools)?
No, and no.
This is a proper country house mystery, American style.
Can you give us a run-down of some of the characters?
The main character is Stevie Bell, and she is the detective of the piece.
Like me, Stevie has been reading mysteries all of her life.
Shes tried to master the logic, the art and science of deduction.
She got her chance when she was 13.
Except Stevie realized it was no accident, and confronted and caught a murderer.
She got a burst of fame from this, and got into Ellingham Academy.
Detectives in books always have this kind of luckeverywhere they go, clever murders take place.
This would be ridiculous in real life.
What are you most excited for your readers to see?
The world of Ellingham Academy.
Its also very hard to reachits halfway up a Vermont mountainside, with only one treacherous access road.
What new themes are you exploring inTruly Deviousthat you havent gotten to cover in your previous books?
The genre is straight-up mystery, which I havent done yet.
It features crimes past and present.
Will Stevie be hunting the same killer throughout all three books?
This question is a little hard to answer without giving things away.
I will only say that its a continuous story!
There will be a lot of twists over the three books.
Whats your writing process like?
Have you planned out the whole series?
There are charts, maps, and outlines.
Its so organized in here.
It looks like a Pinterest board for organizational techniques in here.
There are piles and piles of classic mysteries everywhere.
The rest is excitement and murdery goodness!
Truly Devious,the first book in the trilogy, hits shelves in Fall 2017.
