The Box in the Woods

Written by Maureen Johnson

Narrated by Kate Rudd

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.

* Cosmopolitan Best YA Books of 2021 * People Magazine Best Books of Summer 2021*

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
• Release date: Jun 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063032637

Maureen Johnson

Maureen Johnson is the bestselling author of several novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, the Truly Devious series, the Suite Scarlett series, and the Shades of London series. She has also written collaborative works such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle and the Bane Chronicles with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan. Maureen lives in New York and online on Twitter @maureenjohnson or at maureenjohnsonbooks.com. 

Reviews for The Box in the Woods

[Ravyn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful first read of a Maureen Johnson book. I had no idea how the case would be solved, which I loved: kept me interested and guessing until the end.

[kiaya40 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this book and this series! I was so excited when we got more Stevie, but now I'm sad again because there aren't any more of the Stevie stories unless maybe we'll get more at some point... If you haven't read the Truly Devious series, then you really should check it out.

[paige byars · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book!! I loved the trilogy and I loved that there was an another book added!! I loved this one as well!! Such a fun read!!

[Gerda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i love camp murder mysterys and this book was amazing

[Missy Cahill · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stevie Bell does it again! Another super outing from the teen detective. Stevie is lured to a summer camp to solve a 40+ year old mystery that has haunted a town for decades. Maureen Johnson has created a really fun series and a really likeable heroine. The supporting characters are fantastically developed and here's hoping to more mysteries to be solved!

[Patricia Sullivan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as the first series. Felt a bit rushed. Interaction between characters felt stilted. How Stevie saw the clues did not pop out to me. Overall still a good read.

[Shalane Du Preez · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit sad to be giving this a 3 star. It is much different to the previous 3 (which makes totally sense) different setting and vibe. I just felt like it was a bit short and felt rushed as a result? Just my opinion - still enjoyed it.

[Tamara Hayes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was so engaging and interesting! I love the way the author was able to tell the story by going back and forth from the present and the past. The characters are great and their own ways and I now have to go check out the 3 books prior to this just to get more of Stevie and her crew. Also, you do not have to have read the 1st 3 books to enjoy this one.

[Shwetha Manjunath · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it. The story and the narrative kept me hooked till the end.

[Jennie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love this series. Boom 4 was like walking back into the living room of my good friend… Cozy and comfortable. This murder premise was also pretty interesting and I enjoyed it. However, I felt like it all happened a little too fast, the mystery was solved a little too easily, and it all wrapped up a little too neatly. She figured out the murder rather quickly and with very little clues so it was a bit of a leap. But I still enjoyed the ride and would recommend.

[Bethany Bruder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think I actually enjoyed this more than the original series for a few reasons: Stevie really knows who she is now, we are familiar with the writing style, and we are familiar with the supporting cast. I would definitely read another book with these characters. They are a hoot.

[Mary Bronson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this book was amazing! Once I got started it was hard to put down. I still love Stevie and her friends. I love the idea of this book being set at a summer camp where a murder happen in 1978. I thought it had great twist and turns.

[Elizabeth Mellen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After forcing myself through the Truly Devious series, because I had to know what happens and I hate mysteries with cliffhangers, the completionist in me rejoiced at having done it. And then I saw this. After being promised that the mystery wraps up in one here, I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t see anything coming and I can’t speak to any clues, but I don’t mind because I’m fine with just being shocked at the end ??‍♀️

[chibitika-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very well done mystery with an interesting young sleuth. Must read more of Maureen Johnson’s books.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

OMG, I really didn't think this series was going to continue and I am so delighted that it has. Especially loving that the mystery has moved on to exploring a horror summer camp situation -- not only is it a perfect fit for the crew, but it's a good standalone. I think what I like the most about these books -- in order:Really awesome dialogue. Makes me laugh out loud. Is delightful.The characters are all challenging -- broken in different ways, clear about their limits, interesting and driven.Full of emotion that reads really true. Sometimes repressed, sometimes not. Captures the insanity of teen hormones in a remarkably believable way. Twisty. This time I saw the ending coming, but I was surprised to be right. Particularly like that the fact that Stevie is a teen is one of the reasons she's succeeding at solving the things she's solving -- it makes sense that she'd be closer to understanding the power dynamics somehow. Leaves you with a lot of compassion for the victims. Never loses sight of the loss, even when it would be easy to do so.

[mutantpudding · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Did not realize how much I wanted another story with these characters.

[ftbooklover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After solving the Ellingham case, Stevie has gone back to being an anonymous teenager working in her hometown when she is contacted by the owner of Sunny Pines Camp where an unsolved murder
of four camp counselors took place in 1978. Stevie is intrigued by the proposal of a true crime podcast about the murder, known as The Box in the Woods Murders. Stevie agrees to pose as a counselor at the camp along with her friends Janelle and Nate, but David is spending the summer working for a voter registration campaign, which means traveling all over the country and not seeing Stevie at all. Does this mean David doesn't care about her any more? This is just one question that Stevie will be trying to answer this summer.

The Box in the Woods is a good mystery involving the murder of some camp counselors. The first part of the book is told in alternating chapters between the present day problems of Stevie and her friends with the other chapters telling the story of the 1978 murders. This timeline switching ends once the murders have occurred, and it is at this point that the mystery stagnates. The personal lives of Stevie and her friends take center stage while clues and suspects are presented very slowly, making it difficult for the reader to try to solve the mystery along with Stevie. Most of the clues and evidence are presented in the last couple of chapters in the book. Overall, The Box in the Woods introduces an interesting mystery but is plagued with pacing issues and unfortunately is not nearly as good as the first three books in the Truly Devious series. 3 1/2 stars

[jmchshannon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson is a great return to Stevie’s world as it allows us to see her branch outside of her boarding school. While Ms. Johnson has fun with Stevie’s love of murder, in this novel she is careful to show Stevie’s growth through her realization that the very same murders she finds so fascinating affect real people and have serious emotional, mental, and even physical consequences on others. Even though it serves as a growth lesson for Stevie, I find it a neat nod to all of those fans of true crime podcasts and stories as it is so easy to lose the human aspect. As for the mystery, I personally never saw the ending coming, but I know others thought it predictable and obvious. Still, I enjoyed the chance to see the friends together again. Plus, I am thoroughly grateful to Ms. Johnson for making The Box in the Woods a true stand-alone novel, mentioning the previous three novels without spoiling a single thing, and providing enough context for newbies to be able to enjoy the story without any previous knowledge of Stevie and her crew. Well done!

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This thoroughly enjoyable mystery may be marketed for teens, but adults also will be intrigued by it. Well written and complex, it reads fast, maybe because readers will devour the pages to get to the end. For those who read the Truly Devious trilogy, it is a pleasure to meet the well-defined characters we’ve come to admire. For readers new to the series, you will undoubtedly want to read the first books next. Stevie and her friends are summering at a kids’ camp, ostentatiously as counselors, but really to solve a cold-case murder of four teens back in the 1970s. Those teens also had been counselors at the camp, and had been brutally murdered there. It is pure art to see Stevie work her magic in trying to solve the case. The crucial evidence doesn’t show up until the very end, so trying to guess the killer probably isn’t possible. But that doesn’t deter from the excitement present in the book. Still, see if you can tell which clues are important and which are red herrings – that’s always fun to do! This is a great series; finally, gripping stories about teens with just the right amount of romance and little or no teenage angst!

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stevie Bell solved the case of Truly Devious and is now back home for the summer and working at a local Deli when she receives an intriguing email. Carson Buchwald is the owner and founder of Box Box and is also a true crime aficionado. He has recently purchased a camp outside of Barlow Corners, New York, which was the site of an unsolved murder of four young camp counselors in 1978. His goal is to find out what happened and make a podcast about the crime.Stevie is interested, despite some reservations: Outside? Snakes? Camping? But she agrees to go if she can bring her friends along. Janelle and Nate are eager to go with her. Janelle's significant other is spending the summer in Vietnam and Nate is willing to do anything to be able to avoid writing the sequel to the book that made him famous as a fourteen-year-old. Only Stevie's boyfriend David isn't able to join them. After being disinherited by his disgraced Senator father, he's found a job traveling and registering voters.This case isn't like Stevie's first. There are still people in Barlow Corners who were alive when the murders occurred. Allison Abbott is the sister of Sabrina. She's made it her mission to keep her sister's memory alive and to also recover her missing diary. Patty Horne who runs the local bakery should have been with her friends Diane McClure, Todd Cooper, Eric Wilde and Sabrina Abbott when they went into the woods to smoke some marijuana but was under house arrest after being caught making out with her boyfriend Greg Dempsey. Shawn Greenvale who was Sabrina's ex-boyfriend is still in town and managing the family business. Sally Marks who ran the camp back in 1978 is still in town. So is Paul Penhale who is a local veterinarian and whose eleven-year old brother Michael died in a hit-and-run accident just a few months before the teens were murdered. Almost everyone believes that the car was driven by Todd Cooper and the accident was covered up because his father was the town's mayor.As Stevie investigates, she soon finds out that there is someone in town who doesn't want the crime to be solved. Allison has a fatal "accident" when she falls from the lookout point she stopped at everyday when she did her run. Stevie and Nate are shot at and are forced to jump from another overlook into the lake to get away from the shooter. But Stevie, anxiety-prone and obsessive, does solve the crime with the help of her friends and despite the "help" of Carson, This was a great, fast-paced story filled with interesting characters. I really like Stevie who seems like a real person with real issues. Her friends, including David who appears at an opportune time, are also intriguing people. The story has humor but is still filled with tension. I hope Stevie has more adventures.

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A perfect followup to the three Truly Devious books. New setting, familiar characters, perfectly twisting then and now story with a great aha at the end. I could read books like this every day and not get jaded.