Review--The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

 

Return to the world of Truly Devious as Stevie Bell and her friends travel to New York to solve a murder in the next standalone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Stevie might be the greatest teenage detective Ellingham Academy and the world has ever seen, but even she can’t figure out what happened with her boyfriend, David. What she needs is a distraction: a good old-fashioned murder. Stevie is much happier dealing with dead people. They’re a lot less confusing—they don’t send cryptic texts and make out with other girls in British pubs.

But then Stevie gets exactly what she wanted when a dead body turns up in the middle of a Manhattan apartment complex, and this one is . . . complicated. Caught in a web of messy alive-people feelings, Stevie finds herself questioning all human connection. Is magnetism only manipulation? Can you trust anyone? Does anyone realize that they’re joining a cult—before it’s too late? And are things with David really over?

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Maureen Johnson returns to her Truly Devious story with The Velvet Knife, a new mystery for Stevie to solve while she battles the heartbreak she incurred from David. This was yet another engaging mystery and I was happy to be back in Stevie's world! It was a fun and engaging mystery that kept me guessing all the way through and honestly, it left me a bit shocked with its answers.

Stevie is dealing with heartbreak over the holidays. Her parents want her to come home and spend the holidays with them, but she's not ready to deal with them and all the questions that would come about David. So she goes with Nate to an apartment his editor sent him to in order to finish his book by his deadline or else. It's not long before Stevie meets some of the other residents in the apartment complex and just kind of drifts around for awhile.

To help get the mystery going, we are treated to the occasional flashback to a young girl in the 1970s who gets taken in by new "friends" and is given the new name, Blue. Blue finds herself surrounded by love and a family of her own creation. But all is not what it seems and if you pay attention to the cover of this one, you soon learn that Blue has gotten herself into very deep trouble. Trouble that will soon play a role in the current events. 

Much like with any Truly Devious book, Stevie uncovers a murder when she goes to visit Helen, one of the residents in the apartment complex when her bird starts making very distressful cries. It's then that Stevie finds Helen dead and foul play is suspected. Stevie being Stevie, soon finds herself solving yet another mystery, one that is deeply rooted in the past.

This book was quite a surprise! It's been four years since we last had a new release in this series so coming back to the current events was a little rough. I vaguely remembered that the last book ended with a breakup happening. And the breakup does continue to play a role in the story as David isn't as out of the picture as one might think. Stevie takes their breakup hard, and soon a mystery of what happened between them starts to come up and it's yet another thing for Stevie to deal with.

I liked this balance of murder mystery and the sort of "mystery" of what happened between her and David. I couldn't remember the reasonings behind their breakup in the last book, but the little bits I did remember did leave you wondering. Of course, the answer wasn't as exciting as I had hoped for. Or maybe the reasoning just wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. It's a personal debate if you think Stevie should get back together with him or not as I had mixed feelings about that whole thing!

The mystery itself was pretty good though! A cold case from decades ago unfolds through the flashbacks and it gives chilling vibes. It was kind of like an episode of said show, but alas, the aftermath of having solved the whodunit gets swept under the rug. I wish we could have seen more about that, even if it was just a few sentences. Something to show if justice was served or not. But alas, we are left to our own imaginations.

The ending of this book was nice, if troubling. I say troubling, because it's not clear if Johnson is saying goodbye to Stevie or not. That part is definitely left open-ended. On the one hand, I think, maybe it is goodbye...but then it's not overtly clear if it is or not. So I guess time will have to tell if this was Stevie's last true mystery or if the itch will strike again in the future!

All in all, this was a fun read! Very much a young adult version of that detective drama show on TV. Lol. I kind of liked that in a sense that we got these flashbacks to tell the story but the mystery in the present day still needs its own solving. Will you be able to figure out whodunit? I for one, did not come even close to getting the answer right, but I loved it all the same!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars