ARC Review: The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

The Velvet Knife
Author: Maureen Johnson
Series: Truly Devious (Book 6)
Publication: HarperCollins (September 29, 2026)

Description: 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?

My Thoughts: Stevie Bell is still reeling after her break-up with David. She's back at Ellingham Academy, blowing her exams, and wandering the twisting paths trying to figure out what went wrong. She is also celebrating her eighteenth birthday by breaking up with her parents who seem to care more about David than they do about her. 

Stevie tags along as Nate heads to New York City to stay in his editor's apartment to finally finish the novel he has been working on for years. He is under a deadline: finish it just after the new year or pay back the advance that he needs for college tuition. 

While Nate buries himself in his novel, Stevie gets to know the eccentric residents of the eighth floor of their apartment building. There's Helen who is an excellent baker and dying of heart failure and who has a very noisy cockatoo named Murph. There's Arthur who is the who is the social organizer. There's Elliot who is also writing a book and who gives Nate some very odd advice about finishing his. There's Benny who spends most of her time at an animal shelter. There are Lance and Mitzi. Lance channels Stanley Tucci and Mitzi snarks. There are Andy and Margo Lopez and their goth daughter Luna who wants to be a mortician. Finally, there are Imogen and her wife Sophie who are new residents from London who've come so that Sophie is on Broadway in Macbeth.

When Murph doesn't stop making lots of noise, Stevie and the doorman enter the apartment to find Helen dead. Stevie's first reaction is that dead people are following her around, but when the death is declared to be from natural causes, Stevie can go back to her brooding. But, when Benny who has custody of Murph after Helen's death, falls from her apartment window, Stevie is sure that death is murder. 

Going along with this story is a story that takes place in 1976 which tells about a young woman swept up into a cult led by the charismatic and controlling Dean. From her meeting the rest of the cult in New York City until she abruptly leaves it taking with her a large bag of money that has been amassed by pickpocketing and stealing and most of the cult dying in a fiery car crash, Helen who was renamed Blue by Dean has her life explored. Stevie discovers this older story as she tries to find out more about the very mysterious Helen. 

This was another excellent YA mystery starring the intriguing Stevie Bell who is trying to figure out her own life while solving mysteries. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.