The Box in the Woods is a summer sleuthing delight

Admittedly, I’ve become quite the fan of true-crime documentaries over the course of the pandemic. It’s fascinating stuff, particularly seeing how detectives piece together evidence to solve crimes. Maureen Johnson delivers all the thrills of solving a big mystery in her new book The Box in the Woods, a standalone novel featuring teenage sleuth Stevie Bell from Johnson’s Truly Devious series.

In the late 1970s a group of camp counselors are murdered one night, setting a chain of events in motion that shrouds the community of Barlow Corners. Several decades later a new owner, Carson Buchwald, CEO of Box Box, hopes to solve the mystery of the murders, partly so that the camp can thrive once again and also because he wants to create a new podcast about how the mystery was solved.

Carson recruits Stevie Bell, teen sleuth extraordinaire who is fresh off solving a huge case at Ellingham Academy. Stevie is drawn to the case because it’s what she does best, and there’s also the prospect of bringing all of her friends to the camp for the summer while she tackles the mystery.

Thanks to Johnson’s masterful storytelling, the mystery remains a mystery until the final pages and you never see it coming. The fun as a reader comes in trying to work alongside Stevie as she searches for clues while trying her best to fit in as a camp counselor while also dealing with her relationship with her friends and boyfriend.

What I love about The Box in the Woods is that Johnson is clearly paying attention to the harsh realities faced by the families of victims when their loved ones’ stories are sensationalized by the media. While Carson wants to turn the case into a true crime podcast, Stevie knows that the people of Barlow Corners have lived through the tragic loss of their friends and family, and she’s sensitive and respectful to their needs while also trying to bring them closure by solving the case.

The Box in the Woods is a great summer read for young adults and adults alike. It’s perfect for newcomers to the mystery genre and longtime mystery lovers looking for something fresh and fun.

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson is available now.