The Agathas is the best of both worlds: a charmingly classic mystery with a modern twist. I seriously had so much fun with this book, it reminded me of the first book in the A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series. It’s the perfect summer beach read.

This mystery follows a girl named Alice Ogilvie, a rich girl who disappeared for five days after her boyfriend Steve dumped her, and she won’t tell anyone what happened. After Steve’s new girlfriend (and Alice’s former best friend) Brooke Donovan goes missing and Steve is arrested, Alice takes it upon herself to prove his innocence. With the help of Iris Adams, Alice’s fellow classmate and tutor, the two girls try to figure out the mystery of Brooke Donovan with the knowledge of Agatha Christie’s works.

SEE. It’s books like these that make me wish that I’ve read all of Agatha Christie’s books! I mean, sure, there’s like 76 of them but still. Every chapter of this book began with a relevant Agatha Christie quote! It adds to the charm of the entire story, especially if you know Agatha Christie’s books.
Alice and Iris are very much modern teenagers worrying about modern things. I actually liked that aspect, because it kept the story from being too “cozy-mystery-esque”. The entire story takes place in a little beach-side town, so you’d think it would be very calm right? NOPE! I love how both of our main characters kept secrets, and while they took inspiration from Agatha Christie’s works, they always did their own thing.

The PLOT. YES. I have several major complaints with the majority of YA mystery-thrillers but one of the biggest ones is the lack of complexity which leads to predictability. Luckily, The Agathas doesn’t have that problem. Even if I predicted something, it would be close to when it was revealed. The entire story is well-plotted, with plenty of twists and turns that keep it constantly exciting. It also rarely feels contrived. And most of the characters aren’t obnoxious and surrounded by useless drama that’s supposed to make it feel like a “thriller”.

I seriously wish that this were a series because Alice and Iris have great friendship chemistry. They’re willing to do a lot of things to get the truth, and they have solid deduction skills! Plus, the side characters (particularly Iris’s friend group) are a ton of fun. I just genuinely had a great time reading this for countless reasons.

So that’s it! Tell me: do you enjoy YA mysteries? This is by far one of my favorites that I’ve ever read. This comes out May 3rd! A huge thank you to the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review :)

Alice is trying to blend into the crowd after her "disappearance," but when her former best friend is missing, she enlists the help of her new tutor, Iris, to find out what happened.

What an amazing, twisty journey this was! The characters are so fleshed out (except for maybe the Zoners, but they weren't in it enough to really make a difference). Alice is the "poor little rich girl" trope, but her passion for mystery and Christie make her stand out. I really enjoyed her perspective. Iris is poor, and her and her mother are in a domestic violence situation. Her drive to save her mother pushes her into the story for the reward money, and you get to see a genuine friendship between the girls blossom.

The mystery is so good, too! There were twists, turns, and red herrings! There were so many layers to this story that I just blew through the second half. You don't just get a mystery, but you also follow Alice and Iris as they try to work through their own personal lives and it worked to well together.

Name of Book: The Agathas
Author: Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson
Genre: YA/Teen Mystery
Publisher: Random House Children’s ~ Delacorte Press
Pub Date: May 3, 2022
My Rating: 3.5 + ~ Rounded up

I know I am not the target audience but I do enjoy a good YA story (as a high school guidance counselor I always like to know what my students are reading and also to make suggestions.)

This title got my attention and yes as indicates ~ this story has an Agatha Christie vibe to it.

Castle Cove residences were more than concerned when Alice Ogilive disappeared for five day right after her boyfriend breaks off their relationship so that he can date Alice’s best friend Brooke.
Now it is late October, Alice is back at school and is assigned Iris Adams as a tutor.
I just love Iris ~ my experience has been there are far more Iris type students in High School but the Alice type students or the really bad students get all the attention.

Okay back to Alice and Iris~
They are an interesting pair as they stand up for Brooke. Alice is an Agatha Christie fan and decides the two of them are solve this!
What would Agatha do?
I enjoyed this sooo much ~ not the typical formula driven YA ~ e.g. drugs, sex, profanity, bulling and all the other nasty teen stuff  Ture this happens but I get upset when the authors don’t offer a section on resources for help.
I totally did a fist bump when I saw that these two authors have a ~ “Where to get Help” ~ section and mentions situations in the story that teens might relate and want to know who they can talk to for help for themselves or for a someone they know.
Story kept me curious.
Love Iris!
In fact, I look forwards to the next Ogilive/Adams adventure ~
BTW: I don’t remember that the female last name thing being popular but I am okay with it!

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Children’s ~ Delacorte Press for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 3, 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for an eARC of this title!

4.5/5 stars

What a fun book/start of a series! I love the Agathas!

Alice and Iris are an unlikely duo, two teens who think they are as opposite as can be but find out they have more in common as their relationship grows. Alice is the formerly popular girl and an Agatha Christie aficionado, drawn to the books as a talisman in her lonely life. Iris is the smart girl who blends into the background, with a secret to hide. Together, they are determined to find out what happened to classmate/former friend Brooke Donovan, who disappears on Halloween night. They are grossly underestimated, as teen girls often are. They aren't buying the explanation given for the events of that night, and along with a supporting crew of misfits, work to find the truth through a twisty series of discoveries and realizations.

I really liked the Agatha quotes at the beginning of Alice's chapters, foreshadowing the content of the chapter. There was a delightful blending of Agatha's books in the mystery tropes used throughout.

I also really appreciated the summary of the big reveal in the epilogue of the book, under the guise of explaining everything to one of the side characters. Too often, I get to the end of a YA suspense, thriller, or mystery book (or any book, really), and struggle to put everything together. The summary is an underutilized tool!

I loved the book and can't wait to see what the Agathas have in store in the future!

this book was so much fun! i was flying through it, even from the beginning, but once i got to the fifty percent mark, i couldn't stop and read the whole second half in one sitting. it was such an easy to read, fast-paced mystery, and i had such a great time with it.

Thank you NetGalley for this copy of the Agathas! I actually already preordered this book so it’s so exciting to read it before it arrives!

Alice disappeared for 11 days last summer, ya know like her idol Agatha Christie. So much has changed since then like mostly all of her popular friends have abandoned her. Iris, not one of the mains, takes an evening walk. While on her walk, she sees popular girl Brooke run past her clearly upset. The next day Brooke is missing.

What I enjoyed about this the most was the unlikely friendship. Alice and iris are randomly paired up to study, but instead use this time to try and figure out what happened to Brooke, aka Alice’s former best friend. There investigation is complete with a full notebook, a murder board, and of course there’s a mysterious texter (bc why wouldn’t there be?!)

This book was equal parts fun snd ridiculous (in a good way) and I would totally love to see this as a series! I mean it was hinted at at the end right?? Right?!?

This book was amazing! and I want so bad for this to be a series and see Iris, Alice and the gang solve another mystery..

The Agathas has ups and down, twists and turns, and new friendships that neither party expect to develop.
Alice was one of the Mains.. the rich kids that run the school.. that is until she disappeared for days and came back refusing to tell anyone what happened. Now shes a social pariah in her old group..

When her ex-best friend Brooke goes missing, the only suspect in the case seems to be her ex-boyfriend.. However Alice doesn't believe he had anything to do with it.. WIth the help of her tutor Iris, and her favorite mystery author Agatha Christy, Alice and Iris make quite the crime solving duo! Alice will dig deep through the town secrets to figure out what happened to Brooke. With Alice's certainty that Steve couldn't have done anything to Brooke, they begin to look for other suspects and BOY do they find some good ones. As soon as you think you know who did it, we get another twist and things go off in a new direction..

Its too bad that the police seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to suspects and are only considering Steve.. Now with the help from the Zoners, Iris' group of friends from school and a mysterious CI, they have to find the evidence to back up their theories..

This story was so good, and has actually made me want to read some Miss Marple and Poirot..

This was a fun mystery. I loved the concept of the girls being inspired by Agatha Christie and using her stories as knowledge to help them. The mystery wasn’t very difficult to solve and I guessed it very early on although it was still enjoyable. I didn’t enjoy some of the characters, but I really just think that YA books aren’t for me. If you’re a fan of YA mysteries then I think you would really like this!

This was a super fun murder mystery! I loved the Agatha Christie references everywhere! Alice and Iris turned out to be quite the duo and I enjoyed reading their story! I would have liked a little more focus on Alice's disappearance, but overall, it was a solid story!

The Agathas is a really fun read that also drives home in a realistic, yet engaging way the true meaning of friendship, the harm that exclusion and jumping to conclusions and thoughtless remarks and snobbishness can do.

Meet Alice, a not-so-typical poor little rick kid, and Iris, a not-so-typical brilliant student who isn’t rich. Alice’s parents are paying Iris to tutor their daughter because…last summer she disappeared for five days and the town turned upside down looking for her. She missed school as she was confined to her home over what some considered a prank.

And then things get interesting. Alice’s former best friend, who stole her boyfriend, disappears. And neither her father nor the police seem that concerned. So Alice, who whittled away her confinement reading Agatha Christie novels, and Iris decide to go looking, notebook and all. Joined by Iris’s friends who have been studying forensics, yep, a body is found, and then things get interesting.

Good book on relationships delivered via a gripping story. Thanks, Netgalley, for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This was a great murder mystery, and I enjoyed reading it. The Agathas is about Alice Ogilve, the rich girl who before this had disappeared for five days this summer and suddenly appeared back in town and became an outcast from her circle and is obsessed with Agatha Christie's novels, and Iris Adams, the "invisible" girl who was assigned to tutor Alice. This unlikely pairing then decide to uncover the truth of Brooke Donovan's mysterious disappearance that led to murder.

I enjoyed this. I've always love YA murder mysteries, and I love when the setting is in a rich town such as this. I liked the main characters well enough (although I had doubts 10% in because as much as I liked Iris, Alice was too dislikeable for me in the beginning), and I liked the Agatha Christie references and the way they help Alice and Iris create this investigation. I also really liked how Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson wrote how the mystery unravels, and I thought it was well-paced at best.

However, as much as it was an enjoyable read and a page turner, that was it. It didn't kept me engrossed and I didn't feel attached to the characters, like they were just there to solve this and that's it. I also didn't really like how there are new characters involved in the last 20% of pages and how the disappearance of Alice is only minimally discussed with this new character coming in at last minute. There are also side characters that I feel like could have had a bigger part in the mystery but I didn't feel personality from any of them at all.

That being said, I would totally recommend this for anyone who wants a short and quick mystery read that will kept you guessing. Definitely something I'd recommend for fans of murder mysteries.

This book had teenagers becoming investigators!!! Alice and Iris were determined to solve a crime, and what they uncovered was shocking. There were points where I thought I figured it out. NOPE! This was a page turner I enjoyed this read.

Agatha Christie? Love. Murder in a small town that's coincidentally has the same name as the hometown of Scooby Doo? Double love. ROLLER RINK?

Uh yeah, you knew I was sold. And if the millions of DMs I sent to Liz Lawson were my review, there would be a lot of exclamation points. Alice and Iris are thrust together as tutee and tutor, and then partners in a teenage murder investigation. There are so many twists and turns (though I did guess a key plot point about halfway through) that you're guaranteed to be surprised at some point. Pair that with the flawless references to Agatha Christie's work, both in fiction and reality, and it's a killer mystery that is unputdownable. (Except when you're texting someone about it, of course!)

I'd recommend this for mystery fans young and old, horse girls, and for anyone who ever wanted to be a detective.

*Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

RATING: 4⭐/5
There are NO spoilers in this review.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death, murder, domestic abuse, violence, sexual content (not talked about explicitly, but still)

⭐ FULL REVIEW: First of all, I just want to say I’ve been a huge fan of Kathleen Glasgow for years now, and I know that she never disappoints. She usually goes for heartbreaking contemporary reads, so I’m really happy to see that she’s delving into a new genre for this book: a YA mystery contemporary.

There are some things that I feel like are the basic ingredients in a Kathleen Glasgow book that can be found in this book as well. Relatable, hard-headed but kind-hearted heroines? Check! A heartbreaking experience that shaped them forever and that they’re stronger because of? Check! Lifelong friendships? Check!

I’m also a fan of mystery and thrillers so I like the fact that this had that same vibe, but it was definitely more geared towards YA, like how there were parts dedicated just for text messages, or group IMs. At the beginning of every chapter, the time and date was also listed, which I thought was a cool thing to be added to a book like this.

I also wanted to really take a moment to talk about the characters. There are plenty of characters in this book, but the two main characters, the two heroines, are literally written so WELL. They have complete backstories, they’re very well-rounded and well thought of, and I really commend the authors for that, because seeing these two main characters, getting to know them, and seeing how they’ll react to certain situations as the book went on was definitely a treat. I love that there’s character development for both of them, even since the middle of the book.

I also really commend the vivid descriptions of the settings, from the old mansion where another person mysteriously died, to the skating rink that definitely gave me an 80s to 90s vibe, even the diner itself the two spent a lot of time in & the town itself too was talked about in such detail that really paved the way for good imagery as you keep reading.

I love how the authors basically took the “just teenage girls” trope and completely spun it around. It was so frustrating to see how the older generation didn’t really take them all that seriously, but I’m glad that it all worked out in the end.

The few things that I didn’t really like include the fact that they all went by their last names. In a book with A LOT of characters, first names themselves can be confusing and easily interchangeable so the fact that I had to continuously try to remember everybody’s FULL NAMES was just annoying. I thought that was a detail that was completely unnecessary.

I also wished I was wrong, but who I thought was the person responsible for the death was right all along, so it did feel predictable, in my case. It could be completely unpredictable for other readers, but it was just really obvious for me for a while there, that I didn’t really feel any rush when everything eventually came to light.

Another thing that I didn’t really like was the feeling of dissatisfaction, especially when it comes to a mystery book. I feel like it was good that things were answered, but there were also a lot of things left unanswered. I do think it was due to the fact that the authors might be setting this up to be a series, since there were a few other mysteries still left unsolved, but I felt like there was an information overload in the latter half of the book that it completely strayed from the plot of this (first?) book. I feel like the pacing of this book was sacrificed to set this up to be a series, and that was a little dissatisfying.

Overall, I still really enjoyed this book, and I love the main characters SO MUCH.

📖 WOULD RECOMMEND TO: Younger readers who are into mysteries, especially those who are fans of Nancy Drew!

I received a digital ARC Of "The Agathas" by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has been on my TBR since January 2022 when I first saw the cover on social media. I was initially drawn to the illustrated cover, with its retro vibes and cool color scheme, and knew I had to read it was I saw the book’s tagline: “Who killed Brooke Donovan? It’s the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks it’s the wrong guy…”

“TheAgathas” story is of how Alice Ogilve mysteriously disappeared for five days last summer and now her ex-best friend has also disappeared, but unlike Alice, Brooke Donovan didn't come back instead, her body was discovered in the water below the cliffs at Castle Cove. Alice partners with her classmate and tutor, Iris Adams, to uncover the truth of Brooke's death. Along the way, the two high schoolers discover that their town and the, people that live there have been keeping secrets of their own.

I was blown away by the concept of “The Agathas” from the book’s beginning. Alternating the perspective of each chapter between Alice and Iris not only gave us insight into the main characters but also gave us different angles of the mystery. Alternating POVs can be a difficult thing to manage. One character’s perspective is often better written than the other’s which can result in the reader dreading the shift and skimming the less interesting perspective’s chapters and missing crucial information about the plot. Luckily, that is not the case with “The Agathas.” Both Alice and Iris had compelling POVs that were equally well written.

The two main characters also had some good depth to them, though they did play into some stereotypes. Alice is portrayed as the typical “poor little rich girl,” raised by a nanny in a huge empty house with parents that are always too busy with their own lives to be around her. This has resulted in Alice having deep-rooted insecurities, but has also made her a very self-reliant individual. That, coupled with her hyper-fixation on Agatha Christie novels, helped her to solve the mystery of her ex-best friend’s death.

Iris is the typical smart outcast harboring a secret of her own. That secret drives almost all of Iris’s actions, from her agreeing to tutor Alice to her forming a partnership with her to investigate Brooke’s disappearance and death. The result is that Iris is a very goal-oriented character who moves through the plot with decisive actions, which is refreshing in a YA story, when so many female protagonists are so questioning of their every decision.

The side characters in “The Agathas” are all relatively flat stereotypes—ranging from the overzealous guidance counselor to the misogynistic detective. Although it would have been nice to see some more well rounded characters, the side characters all worked in the framework of the story. It gave the story the feel of a teen comedy movie and that really set a fun tone for the reader. I was able to perfectly picture a “Mean Girls” style Netflix show of “The Agathas,” which I would binge watch immediately.

Since “The Agathas” is a mystery, I don’t want to spoil it by spending too much time analyzing the plot. So, I’ll leave it at this—it was great. There were excellent twists of all sizes, which were executed beautifully thanks to the chapters alternating POVs. The ending was a great homage to Agatha Christie’s works, as anticipated, and also nicely set up future mysteries in Castle Cove.

As for the writing style, I wish there had been a little more description of the scenes; “The Agathas” was very dialogue heavy. This was not a bad thing, as the dialogue was all well written, but I think some more time describing the scenes could have strengthened the story a little more. Every few chapters there were text conversations between some of Alice and Iris’s peers, which gave the reader additional insight to the events surrounding Brooke’s disappearance. Although I loved the idea, I thought the messages themselves were very awkward. Most of the chat speak used felt very outdated, from the days of AIM instant messaging, which did not blend well with the references to Facebook and TikTok. However, it is extremely difficult to write a believable text conversation, let alone text conversations between seventeen year olds, so this critique should be taken with a grain of salt.

Overall, “The Agathas” is a great YA mystery with a fun setting and a captivating plot. The book reads like a movie and is one that will have you staying up late to figure out “whodunnit.” I absolutely loved “The Agathas” and am so grateful to Random House Children’s, Delacorte Press, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book before it’s released on May 3, 2022. I actually loved this book so much that I added the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition to my shopping cart and have begun stalking the Internet for any news on upcoming sequels. If “The Agathas” isn’t turned into a series, that will be the real crime.

Two girls who come from different walks of life team up to solve the murder of a fellow students. The Agathas was a great read. Alice's obbession with Agatha Christie was a great story line to help drive the plot. The friendship between Alice and Iris was also a great storyline alongside the the murder mystery. Definately recommended.

What. A. Ride. I had so much fun reading this one. Both authors are incredible and putting them together? Chefs kiss. I’m gonna need more. Much much more of this cast of eclectic characters in the future. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Delacorte for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this one! It was a well-crafted YA mystery with some homages to the Queen of Crime herself, Dame Agatha Christie.

The two main characters, Iris and Alice, are well-developed and have depth. The potential murderers are all pretty well-developed too, and the mystery throws enough wrenches in the works to make you keep jumping from suspect to suspect. I think the Dame would be proud of Alice, using her Christie obsession to help them solve the case.

I would absolutely love if this were a series, so here's hoping for more. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie, YA, and mysteries, then you should definitely pick this one up. Highly recommended.

It always feels strange to call some mysteries "fun" when they're solving a murder mystery, but I won't hesitate to say that this one is a blast to read.

This isn't a premise we haven't heard before– girl in a small town goes missing, local kids try to solve the mystery and figure it out before anyone else does– but what makes The Agathas shine is the characters. Alice and Iris, the two protagonists whose perspectives we are in for the duration of the book, both have unique voices that draw you in and keep you captivated until the final page. Alice and Iris lead very different lives when they first meet but their dynamic makes it feel like they're learning about each other for the first time (which they are) while simultaneously already knowing so much about each other. Glasgow and Lawson do an amazing job of crafting this story and characters.

I really loved that Alice and Iris's methods to solving this case were questionable (at best) and that they were unapologetic about it. They did a means-end analysis and it makes for an amazing story. I especially really loved that so much of what allows them to get away with (or at least just be left with a warning) these methods is because Iris and Alice are very aware of the perception of young girls. They both really lean into the perception of girls as unassuming and use it to their advantage.

The side characters are really enjoyable to follow as well– Ricky seemed like such a fun time, I loved her!– which really elevates the story. Sometimes, mysteries can fall into the trap where the protagonists think that them and them alone can solve the mystery and refuse to get help, but Alice and Iris lean into their support system and resources and as a result, really get things done.

This book doesn't take place in the summer (it actually takes place in the late fall/ early winter) but it gives very strong Outerbanks energy and I think this would be a great summer time mystery. I am a sucker for small, sea-town mysteries and this one perfectly fits the bill.

All in all, I really enjoyed this one! It was a fun read and I think that a lot of people would like this one, even if they aren't in the target YA demographic. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that's looking for an accessible, enjoyable YA mystery. So good!

Definitely pick up a copy of this when it releases on May 3, 2022!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Delacorte Press for the Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and mine alone.

"The Agathas" was a very fun book. Alice Ogilvie was the "it" girl at Castle Cove High, until her boyfriend dumped her and then start dating her best friend, Brooke Donovan, which prompted Alice to pull an "Agatha." When mystery novelist Agatha Christie discovered her husband had an affair, she famously disappeared for eleven days, before turning up at a resort under an assumed name claiming amnesia. Alice disappeared, but only for five days, before returning. However, she has been ostracized by her friends as a result.

On Halloween night, at the annual party at Levy Castle, Brooke and Steve Anderson fight and Brooke runs off. The following morning, Brooke is nowhere to be found, her stepfather, Coach Donovan, seems strangely unconcerned by her absence, and Steve, the boyfriend, arrives at school looking and smelling like a mess. The police assume that Brooke has just run off, like Alice did, but Alice knows that Brooke would never do that, and when she cannot get the police to take her seriously, she contacts someone who can -- Lillian Levy, Brooke's grandmother, a wealthy and influential businesswoman.

Iris Adams has been assigned to tutor Alice -- a job she does not really want, but she needs the $3000 Alice's mother will pay her, so her and her mother can escape Castle Cove and her abusive father. Iris also thinks she may have been the last person to see Brooke alive, as she witnessed a fight between Brooke and Steve and saw Brooke run off down the highway, only to disappear into the woods, so that when Iris tried to find Brooke, she was unsuccessful. Alice, Iris, and some friends from the forensic club decide to search for clues in the area where Iris last saw Brooke and end up spotting Brooke's body in the water at the bottom of a cliff. It does not take long before evidence is "found" that suggests Steve was involved in Brooke's death and he is arrested.

However, Alice and Iris have their doubts about Steve's guilt, as there are multiple apparent inconsistencies and the police do not seem to have made much effort to investigate anyone else, even though there are other plausible suspects, including Brooke's stepfather, Coach Donovan, who benefits financially from her death. With the help of Iris's friends, her former babysitter (who is Steve's attorney), and a mystery person providing information to Alice, along with the knowledge of solving mysteries gained from reading Agatha Christie's books, Alice and Iris will try to solve the mystery of Brooke's death.

Mrs. Christie would be proud of Alice and Iris, as they use their skills and resourcefulness, along with the assistance of Iris's friends, the mystery informant, and even an assist from Lillian, to uncover numerous secrets involving Coach Donovan, inappropriate behavior by some of Alice's former friends, police corruption, attempted bribery, and ultimately the truth about Brooke's death. The story has plenty of twists and turns, with some really good surprises. The killer is not someone the reader will likely suspect. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Alice and Iris, two girls from very different worlds who are more alike than they realize. The story has a great supporting cast. I would definitely recommend this book.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.