Ellingham Academy must be cursed. Three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. All three in the wrong place at the wrong time. All at the exact moment of Stevie’s greatest triumph . . .
She knows who Truly Devious is. She’s solved it. The greatest case of the century.
At least, she thinks she has. With this latest tragedy, it’s hard to concentrate on the past. Not only has someone died in town, but David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. Stevie is sure that somehow—somehow—all these things connect. The three deaths in the present. The deaths in the past. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers.
Then another accident occurs as a massive storm heads toward Vermont. This is too much for the parents and administrators. Ellingham Academy is evacuated. Obviously, it’s time for Stevie to do something stupid. It’s time to stay on the mountain and face the storm—and a murderer.
In the tantalizing finale to the Truly Devious trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson expertly tangles her dual narrative threads and ignites an explosive end for all who’ve walked through Ellingham Academy.
New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson delivers the witty and pulse-pounding conclusion to the Truly Devious series as Stevie Bell solves the mystery that has haunted Ellingham Academy for over 75 years.
Read: March 20, 2026 – March 23, 2026
Stevie had never put these Stevies together to assemble a portrait of herself–her choices had not been failures. They had been choices. It was all one Stevie, and that Stevie was worthwhile.
The Hand on the Wall is the thrilling conclusion to the original Truly Devious trilogy and again follows our intrepid young detective Stevie Bell as she ties all ends together and solves the Ellingham cases past and present once and for all. I read this maybe in a day or two, lol. Maureen did such a good job tying together the past and the present storylines, and the big reveal was genuinely a surprise to me.
I complained a bit in my previous review of The Vanishing Stair but my goodness is David unlikeable (spoiler alert: rant incoming). I can’t believe we’re supposed to root for this relationship. From the constant harassment, to him intentionally getting beaten up in her line of vision, to holding her deal with his father over her…it was all too much. Or when she tried to go to his room and he basically blamed her for Ellie’s death and called her a wannabe Nancy Drew. Or him following her into the hole and being upset that she was (rightfully) surprised to see someone else there. He is incredibly exhausting and I could not tell you why Stevie likes him. I cringed every time he opened his mouth or appeared in a scene. Like ew.
Rant over. Anyway, I loved the reveal scene and Stevie standing in the center of the room like a real detective. As was said in the last sentence, Let her have her moose!