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  • The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson book cover
  • The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson book cover
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The Velvet Knife

by Maureen Johnson

A Manhattan murder draws Stevie Bell back into the mystery

$17.70 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A Manhattan murder draws Stevie Bell back into the mystery

Stevie Bell’s knack for investigating crimes offers little help with the uncertainty surrounding her relationship with David. When a body is discovered in a Manhattan apartment complex, she has a new case to pursue—one entangled with questions about trust, manipulation, human connection, and the possibility of a cult. The New York setting shifts the mystery beyond Ellingham Academy, while the description positions the story as a standalone return to the world of Truly Devious. Personal complications and a murder investigation sit side by side, linking the case to the broader questions Stevie is trying to sort out.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teens and young adults interested in detective fiction.
  • Readers who enjoy mysteries that mix a murder investigation with relationship complications.
  • Those familiar with the Stevie Bell books, or looking for a standalone mystery in that world.

Themes

Mystery and detectionTrust and manipulationRomantic uncertaintyHuman connection and cults

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

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?

Read all the Stevie Bell Books:

 

  • Truly Devious
  • The Vanishing Stair
  • The Hand on the Wall
  • The Box in the Woods (standalone)
  • Nine Liars (standalone)
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