Teen sleuth Stevie Bell is again! It’s the autumn of her senior 12 months at Ellingham Academy, and she or he and her associates Nate, Janelle and Vi have been invited by Stevie’s boyfriend, David, to hitch him in London to unravel one other chilly case. One rain-soaked night time 1995, 9 inseparable associates performed a recreation of hide-and-seek on the nation property of Merryweather. The following morning revealed the brutally murdered our bodies of two of the 9 companions. A housebreaking gone awry was the official clarification, however Izzy, the teenage niece of one of many authentic 9, lately realized that her aunt noticed one thing uncommon that night time however by no means reported it to the police. That info factors to a long-hidden secret: One of many 9 could also be a assassin.
As Stevie and her associates pursue leads and try and persuade the top of Ellingham that they are surely in England to check, in addition they undertake a whirlwind tour of London’s most well-known points of interest, study some grotesque Tudor historical past and navigate interpersonal dramas galore. Faculty utility season is upon them, and whereas her associates are every dealing with the stress in their very own methods, Stevie is certainly not ready. She additionally tries to create space for intimate moments with David however faces new worries that his consideration is being drawn away by Izzy’s infectious attraction.
Maureen Johnson reveals which features of the country-house homicide subgenre she was most excited to place her personal spin on in ‘9 Liars.’
In 9 Liars, bestselling creator Maureen Johnson employs the hallmarks of classical Agatha Christie-style mysteries, corresponding to frontispiece maps and a (metaphorical) locked room, whereas cleverly subverting others. Stevie nonetheless gathers the suspects collectively to disclose the answer, however she does so in a recent and surprising means, and Johnson replaces Christie’s inventory characters with Stevie’s various and emotionally nuanced associates.
Flashbacks to 1995, together with typically conflicting witness statements, alternate with Johnson’s present-day narration, enabling readers to kind after which query their very own theories of the case. This construction permits parallel fashions of friendship and romance, belief and lies, to kind between the 2 time intervals. Readers who flip steadily between previous and current as they learn will likely be richly rewarded, since Johnson’s fair-play thriller supplies sufficient clues for particularly observant readers to unravel the case earlier than its decision.
Like Johnson’s earlier Stevie Bell thriller, The Field within the Woods, 9 Liars will be loved as a standalone, however readers who know and love Stevie and her classmates will really feel like they’re returning to a satisfying jaunt with beloved associates.
Learn our Q&A with ‘9 Liars’ creator Maureen Johnson.
