Q&A: Maureen Johnson, Author of 'Nine Liars'

Maureen Johnson is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen young adult novels, including the Truly Devious series, the Shades of London series, Suite Scarlett, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Her collaborative books include Ghosts of the Shadow Market (with Cassandra Clare), as well as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), which was also a hit feature film on Netflix.

Her books have sold more than three million copies worldwide and have been published in more than thirty countries. We’re so delighted to have her join us today to chat about her latest book, Nine Liars.

Firstly, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! Truly Devious is a series that has truly captured my heart and the hearts of so many other readers. Could you briefly describe the series for anyone who is not familiar with it?

Sure! Truly Devious is about Stevie Bell, a true-crime aficionado who wants to be a detective. She loves every true crime show. She’s read about all the famous cases. She’s on the biggest cold case forums. She’s got a curated mystery collection. She’s come to Ellingham Academy, which is one of America’s most prestigious and unusual schools, with the hopes of solving the 1936 kidnapping of the founder’s wife and daughter and the murder of a student. The founder’s wife, Iris, was eventually found dead, but their daughter Alice was never found at all. This is an extremely famous case, considered the crime of the century, so the idea that a high school student is going to solve it eighty years later seems absurd to many. But Stevie is determined. Shortly after her arrival, though, students start dying in the present day—and it has everything to do with what happened in 1936.

That’s where Stevie’s story begins. In Nine Liars, she’s on a new, stand-alone case. While visiting the UK, someone approaches her about the 1995 murder of two Cambridge students at a county house called Merryweather. They were visiting with their friends—all were part of their comedy sketch group called The Nine. The murders were thought to be part of a burglary gone wrong. But one of The Nine let something slip in the present day. This was no burglary. Stevie and her friends have a week to figure out what happened with the ax in the woodshed in 1995—and also to solve a present day disappearance—all while convincing the head of their school that they are doing a week of study aboard and absolutely nothing else. Definitely not solving a cold case.

Stevie is obsessed with solving the unsolvable – particularly cold cases. What is a true crime case that you would love to solve?

That’s tough. Maybe the Jeffery MacDonald case? (Which, in the eyes of many is solved. It’s a question of really knowing if the solution was correct. I tend to think it was.)

What five words would you use to describe Nine Liars?

English manor house ax murder.

Nine Liars brings Stevie across the pond to the UK. Why did you choose this location for her next outing?

Two reasons. The first is that so many mysteries I read and loved took place in England. The second is that my husband is English, so we are an American/English household. England is our other home. I spend a lot of time here and I love it.

Theatre has been a huge part of your life and has definitely woven itself into your books. Would you ever consider adapting the series for the stage?

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Probably not for the stage. Some other form, though…

Which songs would you consider to be the soundtrack for the series?

I’d like to answer this one for Nine Liars in particular, because of all the books I’ve written, this one has a soundtrack written right into the book. The cold case takes place in 1995, so there is Britpop everywhere in the story. Here’s a starter list: