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Maureen Johnson Books in Order

Explore Maureen Johnson books in order, from witty YA standalones to Truly Devious and Shadowhunter collaborations, with summaries and where to start.

Last updated: July 8, 2026

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31 books

The Bermudez Triangle

by Maureen Johnson

2004

During the summer before senior year, three inseparable friends are knocked off balance by first love, changing identities, and secrets they do not know how to say aloud. It is a sharp, tender story about friendship under strain.

The Key to the Golden Firebird

by Maureen Johnson

2004

A year after their father dies, May Gold and her sisters are broke, angry, and drifting apart. When a key to his beloved Firebird turns up, the car becomes a way back toward memory, grief, and each other.

13 Little Blue Envelopes

by Maureen Johnson

2005

After her Aunt Peg dies, quiet Ginny Blackstone receives cash, instructions, and thirteen blue envelopes that send her across Europe. Each task pulls her further out of her comfort zone and closer to the mystery her aunt left behind.

Devilish

by Maureen Johnson

2006

When Jane's best friend is transformed by a suspiciously perfect new girl, Jane realizes a real demon is in town. To save her friend, she has to outwit hellish bargains, high school drama, and one very dangerous Halloween.

Girl at Sea

by Maureen Johnson

2007

Clio expects a normal summer, then gets dragged onto a yacht off Italy with her eccentric father and a crew full of secrets. What starts as family chaos turns into treasure hunting, old grudges, and deep water danger.

Let It Snow

by Maureen Johnson

2008

In three linked holiday romances, a Christmas Eve blizzard tangles together stranded teens, surprise meet-cutes, and long walks through the snow. Maureen Johnson's Jubilee story helps set the whole small town chain reaction in motion.

Suite Scarlett

by Maureen Johnson

2008

Scarlett Martin's family runs a fading Manhattan hotel, and her fifteenth summer comes with a demanding guest, backstage drama, and nonstop family chaos. Working the Empire Suite pushes Scarlett into a bigger, messier version of city life.

Scarlett Fever

by Maureen Johnson

2010

Scarlett is back at the Hopewell Hotel, juggling school, family trouble, a Broadway actress's demands, and the aftermath of heartbreak. New York keeps throwing opportunities and disasters at her faster than she can sort them out.

The Last Little Blue Envelope

by Maureen Johnson

2011

Ginny never got to read the final letter from Aunt Peg, and months later a stranger claims he has it. Her return to England becomes another unpredictable chase through art, lies, and unfinished grief.

The Name of the Star

by Maureen Johnson

2011

Louisiana teen Rory Deveaux arrives at a London boarding school just as Jack the Ripper copycat murders grip the city. When Rory sees the suspect no one else can, she is pulled into a ghostly investigation and becomes the next target.

Fall of the Hotel Dumort

by Maureen Johnson

2013

Decades after its glamour fades, Magnus returns to the Hotel Dumort and finds a nest of desperate vampires trapped in a spiral of addiction and decay. The story shows how the once grand hotel finally becomes a ruin.

Saving Raphael Santiago

by Maureen Johnson

2013

In 1950s New York, Magnus Bane is asked to track down a missing boy named Raphael Santiago. What he finds is a fledgling vampire on the brink of destruction, and his choice will shape the future leader of the city’s vampire clan.

The Last Stand of the New York Institute

by Maureen Johnson

2013

Set during Valentine’s rise, this novella follows the New York Institute as a Circle led attack turns Shadowhunters against Downworlders. Magnus Bane, the Lightwoods, and a young warlock girl are caught in a night that will haunt the city for decades.

The Madness Underneath

by Maureen Johnson

2013

Back in London after surviving the Ripper case, Rory is trying to look normal while her ability to see ghosts grows stronger. A new pattern of deaths drags her toward the city's hidden paranormal underworld again.

The Runaway Queen

by Maureen Johnson

2013

While hiding in revolutionary Paris, Magnus Bane is hired to help a certain embattled queen escape the city. His attempt to blend politics, romance, and self preservation goes predictably sideways in this playful historical adventure.

The Boy in the Smoke

by Maureen Johnson

2014

This prequel follows Stephen Dene before Rory ever meets him, on the night his life nearly ends and then changes course completely. It is a brief, moody look at loss, rescue, and the road into London's shadow world.

The Voicemail of Magnus Bane

by Maureen Johnson

2014

Told through a series of increasingly frantic voicemails, this comedic story captures Magnus’s friends trying to reach him after he and Alec break up. Behind the jokes lies a sharp portrait of how much one relationship matters to the whole group.

The Shadow Cabinet

by Maureen Johnson

2015

Rory and the ghost police are reeling when a friend vanishes and buried connections begin to surface across London. As old crimes and stranger forces converge, Rory has to decide who she trusts before everything breaks open.

A Deeper Love

by Maureen Johnson

2018

During World War I, Tessa and a gravely ill Will Herondale work in a field hospital while demonic forces close in. Their quiet acts of bravery, and Jem’s presence as Brother Zachariah, show how love endures even in the bleakest times.

Every Exquisite Thing

by Maureen Johnson

2018

Anna Lightwood tries on her brother’s clothes and a new name for herself, then falls hard for a girl she can never publicly have. Under Brother Zachariah’s watchful eye, the story traces how Anna claims her dapper, rule breaking identity.

How I Resist

by Maureen Johnson

2018

Edited by Maureen Johnson, this anthology gathers essays, interviews, art, and reflections on activism from a wide range of contributors. It is a practical, hopeful collection about speaking up, organizing, and finding ways to act.

Truly Devious

by Maureen Johnson

2018

True crime obsessive Stevie Bell arrives at Ellingham Academy determined to solve its famous unsolved kidnapping and murder case. Then death returns to campus, and the school's puzzles stop feeling historical.

The Vanishing Stair

by Maureen Johnson

2019

After a murder at Ellingham forces Stevie off campus, she will do almost anything to get back and keep investigating. Hidden passages, old riddles, and dangerous new secrets show that the Truly Devious case is far from buried.

The Hand on the Wall

by Maureen Johnson

2020

Stevie is closing in on the truth behind Ellingham's old and new crimes, but answers come with real danger. Storms, locked spaces, and fraying loyalties turn the final stage of the case into a race to survive.

Hello, Cruel Heart

by Maureen Johnson

2021

In 1967 London, teenage Estella dreams of becoming a fashion designer while running petty scams with Jasper and Horace. High society glamour offers her a way in, but every party pulls her closer to becoming Cruella.

The Box in the Woods

by Maureen Johnson

2021

Stevie Bell takes her first case outside Ellingham when she is invited to a former summer camp haunted by an unsolved 1978 massacre. A podcast setup soon gives way to a fresh, very real threat.

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village

by Maureen Johnson

2021

This darkly funny illustrated guide treats the cozy English village mystery as a survival manual. It walks you through suspicious vicars, dangerous manor houses, and all the charming places where murder tends to happen.

Nine Liars

by Maureen Johnson

2022

With Ellingham behind her for the moment, Stevie goes to England and gets drawn into a 1995 double murder at a country house. Seven surviving friends, one impossible crime, and a fresh set of lies keep her guessing.

Death at Morning House

by Maureen Johnson

2024

Marlowe takes a summer job giving tours at an abandoned island mansion and quickly learns the house is famous for good reason. When a new disappearance connects to old deaths, she starts digging into a long buried family story.

You Are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder

by Maureen Johnson

2025

This interactive case file drops you into 1933 London, where a man is stabbed in a room full of suspects and no one sees how. You read the evidence, weigh the secrets, and solve the impossible crime yourself.

New

The Velvet Knife

by Maureen Johnson

2026

An amateur sleuth is pulled into a fresh murder case and has to sort through a tangle of suspects, secrets, and personal complications. Johnson's trademark puzzle box energy and sharp humor are both close at hand.

Where should I start?

If you want the signature boarding school mystery: Truly DeviousThe Vanishing StairThe Hand on the Wall
If you want witty paranormal London suspense: The Name of the StarThe Madness UnderneathThe Shadow Cabinet
If you want a travel adventure with heart: 13 Little Blue EnvelopesThe Last Little Blue Envelope
If you want funny family chaos in New York: Suite ScarlettScarlett Fever

Author bio

Maureen Johnson was born in Philadelphia and grew up there, the kind of kid who was always reading, always writing, and already declaring pretty early that she planned to become an author. She later graduated from the University of Delaware, where she studied writing and spent plenty of time around theater productions. That mix, books and performance, still feels right for her work. Her novels often have the timing of comedy, the tension of backstage chaos, and a sharp ear for how people talk when they are nervous, hiding something, or trying very hard to seem cooler than they feel.

She did not step straight from school into a neat writing life.

After college she worked as the literary manager of a theater company in Philadelphia, then moved to New York to study writing and theatrical dramaturgy at Columbia University, where she earned an MFA in Writing. Along the way she took a long list of jobs to pay the bills. Theater work, editing, restaurant jobs, and assorted odd assignments all fed the same thing, an eye for strange details, fast dialogue, and people who are doing their best in slightly absurd situations.

Her first novel, The Key to the Golden Firebird, already showed some of the things she does especially well. It is a family story about grief, sisters, and the awkward business of keeping life moving after a loss, but it is also funny in the dry, human way that runs through so much of her work. Soon after came The Bermudez Triangle, another teen centered novel that takes friendship seriously and lets complicated feelings stay complicated.

Then came travel.

With 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Johnson sent Ginny Blackstone across Europe with instructions from her late Aunt Peg, turning grief, art, and self-discovery into a funny, wistful road story. Suite Scarlett moved that same lively energy into a fading Manhattan hotel, where family chaos, summer jobs, and show business collide. Readers who like Johnson often come back for that combination, smart girls, quick banter, tenderness sneaking in under the jokes, and settings that feel busy and lived in.

She is just as comfortable when the lights go dimmer. The Name of the Star and the rest of the Shades of London books brought ghosts, murders, and secret policing into her world without losing her sense of humor. Later, Truly Devious gave her a school built on riddles, a famous cold case, and a teen detective, Stevie Bell, whose love of puzzles keeps landing her in real danger. Those mysteries helped make Johnson a go to writer for readers who want classic whodunit pleasures with a very current voice.

Johnson has also been a generous collaborator. She worked with John Green and Lauren Myracle on Let It Snow, and with Cassandra Clare and other writers on several Shadowhunter projects, including The Bane Chronicles and Ghosts of the Shadow Market. Even in shared worlds, her fingerprints show. You can usually spot the wit, the emotional sidestep that lands harder than expected, and the affection for characters who are clever, anxious, or a little overwhelmed.

Across her books, certain things recur. Teenagers are rarely underestimated. Cities matter, especially London and New York. Friendship is never treated like filler next to romance. And whether she is writing about school, travel, ghosts, or murder boards, she keeps one foot in the comic truth that life is often chaotic and one bad choice away from getting much more complicated.

She lives in New York City with her husband and dog, and she keeps writing books that make room for both nerves and nerve. That balance is a big part of her appeal. A Maureen Johnson novel can give you banter, heartbreak, a body in the wrong place, and a very good line about public transportation, sometimes all in the same chapter.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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