The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

Summary from Goodreads:

After solving the case of Truly Devious, Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

Review:

I wasn’t sure what to expect here. I was 90% sure I’d love this. I pre-ordered it when I haven’t actually purchased a book (as compared to checking one out from the library) in months. What  would a non Truly Devious case look like for Stevie? Would it be as good? My husband actually started reading this before me! And he kind of put all my fears to rest. I refused to let him talk about it at all, during the half day head start he had. But, I could tell he was loving it.

Then I started it, and there went my whole day. I was planning on getting a lot more done yesterday…Nope. Yesterday was dedicated to reading. And it was such a pleasure. I had a frappuccino and an amazing book. What else does a girl need?

It was fun to watch Stevie work from scratch. Before, she had years of research behind her. For this case, she was starting fresh. Watching her brain tackle things was great. She’s kind of part Sherlock Holmes, part Monk, part Veronica Mars. Also, this cold case was fascinating! It was part I know What you Did Last Summer, part Blair Witch Project, part spy thriller.

There’s also the classic Maureen Johnson character writing. There’s so much wit and banter between the friends. I loved that Nate started writing again! Janelle was in charge of crafting at the summer camp. There’s tree house libraries, secret cookie jars, lost diaries, cliff jumping, breaking and entering, and secret messages. Oh, and if that’s not interesting enough, there’s a current day murder mixed in with the cold case murders from decades ago. I couldn’t put this book down. Is Maureen Johnson going to write more? I hope she’s going to write more. I’d read more about Stevie any day.

I give this a 10/10. I highly recommend this one and the other Truly Devious books to anyone who loves a good mystery.