The Velvet Knife

by Johnson, Maureen | Interest age: from c 12 years
Published 08/10/2026 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc (HarperCollins) in the United States as part of the Truly Devious series
Hardback | 400 pages
210 x 140mm | 454g

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 DeviousThe Vanishing StairThe Hand on the WallThe Box in the Woods (standalone)Nine Liars (standalone)