Nine Liars (Truly Devious)

I am mildly obsessed with the Truly Devious mysteries and it was great to read an English country house one. The only downside is the cliffhanger ending so the wait for book 6 seems interminable

I was sent a copy of this book for review. Stevie Bell is in her Senior Year of Ellingham Academy. She can't focus on her studies, is avoiding college applications while her friends are preoccupied with them and finds herself constantly waiting on contact from her boyfriend David who moved to London to study. Her usual diversion of solving crimes hasn't provided any distraction either leaving her thoughts spiralling about careers, love and her future. When David offers an impromptu invite to London for her and her three closest friends, Stevie jumps at the chance to both run from her problems and into the arms of the guy she loves. When she arrives, David's new friend Izzy (who she suspects may be more than a friend) tells her about a double murder cold case from 1995 which involved her Aunt Angela and her 8 friends from Cambridge University. A planned week of fun at one of their family's country estates ends in disaster. The 9 begin a drunken game of hide-and-seek in the dark but only 7 survive. Two of their group are found murdered in the woodshed. The case is written off as a burglary gone wrong but Angela always suspected one of her friends was responsible. After Angela voices cryptic concerns in a group chat she disappears right after. Izzy is frantic with worry and enlists Stevie and her friends to solve her disappearance. What Stevie soon realizes is that if there was no break in then someone is lying and the killer is still on the loose. The only problem is she has 7 likely suspects. 🌟🌟🌟🌟 This was book 5 in a series but I found it was easy to slip into the plot and get a grip on all the main characters without having read the previous books. The flashbacks from 1995 combined with Stevie's present-day issues while she tries to solve the crime were an intriguing mix that kept me hooked on the story. There were plenty of twists, intense drama and emotionally fuelled moments. The narrative had me guessing the killer's identity to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's style of writing and will be ordering the rest of the series to read.

Excellent

Controversial opinion alert! – I didn’t really like the Truly Devious series. I loved the concept, but thought that the Ellingham mystery could have been solved in book one. I’m not a fan of the Stevie-David love story, and frankly think that Stevie is one of the worst characters in YA. So why did I read Nine Liars? I LOVED the standalone book Box in the Woods. It had an eighties slasher inspired murder, left out all the Stevie/David drama and solved the mystery in one book. It was fast paced and interesting, and quite a fun read. I had high hopes for Nine Liars – it’s set in the UK, it appears to be another standalone and is set in the nineties – I was a (young) teen in the nineties, so I thought this would be a lovely little nostalgic read. The best bits of the book were the flashbacks to the nineties in my opinion, I loved the references to Britpop and pop culture from the time, and it did make me feel nostalgic (and old! 😂). The mystery was interesting, and the group of friends – the nine- were very interesting. They were close friends, but there were rivalries, they dated amongst each other and broke up, and reformulated in different couples, but claimed not to get jealous. There were obviously some resentments and issues within the group and it was fascinating trying to work out who did the murders and why… I didn’t like the modern sections. Stevie is insufferable. I’m sorry, but she is. I almost felt sorry for her, feeling a bit rudderless and unsure about the future, wondering what to do with herself, but she doesn’t help herself at all. I feel like in that situation most people would share with their friends or family that they don’t know what to do with their lives. Or at least discuss it with the many teachers and guidance counsellors at Ellingham. Stevie has been admitted to an extremely prestigious school – who better to give advice? I also empathise with the struggle Stevie has with focusing on things when she isn’t interested in the subject – it is an absolute bore, but sometimes you have to suck it up, buttercup. Or again, tell your teachers that your struggling. See if they can provide the information in a different medium, make it more interesting? I also have anxiety, and probably had it as a teen, so I get her struggles with that. I tried to not hate her, I really did, but she spent so much of the book being concerned with what David was up to, worrying he was cheating on her, not communicating with her friends, LYING to her teacher and friends, and jeopardising their education. At one point David says “it’s not all about you” and honestly I was cheering for him. Overall I gave this book 3/5 stars, because the mystery and nineties bits of the book were really good. I just can’t stand the main character.

Can't wait to read

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.” ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ I’m really excited to be in this tour. I was hoping to be able to read the other books beforehand, because apparently they are amazing, however life did not work that way. Luckily for me, this new release as a fifth book in the series reads excellently as a stand-alone, and one I highly recommend too. It’s amateur sleuth meets historic English crime, and I could not put it down! I loved the setting of an English country house where it all goes wrong with a large group of friends playing a game, drunk. It was brilliant from beginning until we found out who dunnit - which I absolutely could not guess by the way! The mystery concluded nicely with all the ends tying up in a neat bow. The only reason I’ve marked this as a four is the ending. Maybe I’d be more used to these kinds of endings if I’d already read the other books in the series. Maybe it would have affected my rating if I’d done that, but this ending just didn’t work for me in the slightest, it was more of a “oh no. Why end it like this?” Not quite a cliffhanger, but definitely disappointed! I highly recommend for a YA amateur sleuth novel! I will definitely be picking up the other Stevie Bell Mysteries! Thank you to Harper 360 for my gifted copy, and to Kaleidoscopic Tours for my space on the blog tour! 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲.

Loved it. I’ve not read any of the previous 4 books in the Truly Devious series but that doesn’t take anything away from this as a standalone. There are references to previous cases that Stevie worked on but nothing that you need to know for this one. Stevie and her friends are in London seeing her boyfriend, David, and exploring loads of the sights and history, until David mentions his friend, Izzy, who’s aunt was involved in an unsolved murder years before. This piques Stevie’s interest and she knows she has to solve it, much to her friends dismay. They know where this will lead and it does, going off-course and putting their time in London at risk. The characters and the “then and now” storyline are really well written, easy to follow and I had no clue whodunnit. I’m definitely going to go back to the start of this series and read them all.

Nine Liars is a Murder Mystery from the Truly Devious Series - however it is a stand-alone book. This is a particularly easy read being a Young Adult Book and I would definitely read more by the Author especially to go on more of these adventures. Stevie Bell is a unique character who is a Teen Detective with Veronica Mars vibes. My Top 5 things from the Book: •Murder Mystery •London sightseeing •Dual Timeline •Police Interviews •Illustrated Maps