A YA murder mystery with high school drama, complicated hook-ups, parental drama, a nosy reporter, a helpful lawyer, anonymous messages, a bit of romance, and an Agatha Christie twist! What more could one ask for!

When Alice and Iris team up to find out what happened to Alice's best friend they begin an unlikely friendship that pulls several suspects, friends, and enemies into their sphere.

This novel has realistic dialogue for teenagers, handles trigger warning situations with nuance and caution, and never feels over the top.

If Alice and Iris decide to solve another murder together - sign me up!

Wow! I was not expecting that ending. I loved reading this book. I really thought it was two different people who did the murder. But I was completely off in who I thought it was.

4.5 stars

In a delightful tribute to Dame Christie herself, Glasgow and Lawson's The Agathas is a wonderfully twisty YA thriller that definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Featuring a pair of teen sleuths from opposite sides of the affluent town of Castle Cove, this book has so many classic tropes that readers will love - corrupt cops, secret identities, people getting framed - along with a great story of female friendship. Honestly, the only thing that knocked the half star for me was a few brief moments where the editing made it hard to follow the logic.

I've been really on the fence with YA lately, but I'm so glad that I decided to pick this one up. There is a lot of potential for a series to continue after this book and I am crossing my fingers that it gets picked up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

These characters were interesting, and the premise was unputdownable! My students are constantly looking for murder mysteries. This novel fits the bill! I highly recommend.

What a fun, well-developed YA mystery told from the POV of two teenage girls. Alice is a former popular girl who is shunned after her boyfriend dumped her and she disappeared for 5 days, a la Agatha Christie. Iris is a studious girl assigned to tutor Alice to bring up her grades. Alice's former best friend is Brooke, who her boyfriend dumped her for, and who is murdered, Iris may have been the last person to see Brooke alive. Alice and Iris become friends as their tutoring sessions turn into sleuthing sessions. Alice is a devotee of Agatha Christie and utilizes techniques and suggestions from her novels. Iris has some serious stuff going on in her life. I wish Iris's chapters were a bit more developed. All in all, I enjoyed the interplay between the two girls and the mystery was twisty enough to keep my interested.

A really fun YA detective story, which kept me guessing about "whodunnit" until the very end! The improbably allyship--and then friendship--of the two strong female MCs was very welcome, too. I also appreciated the issues of class that came into play in the plot. A keeper to recommend in my Young Adult Literature course!

This is a great ya novel. I love the authors writing style and how descriptive it is and easily flows from chapter to chapter. The storyline is simple but fun and interesting. Highly recommend!

The Agathas was everything I ever wanted and then some. Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson wrote a story that was so well written I found myself flying through the pages, unable to put the book down, pondering what would happen next. My favorite piece of this entire story was how believable the characters were. Plus, the cover? AMAZING.


The writing is clear and clean, and very immersive. The book hums along at a good clip, but the pacing makes sure we're given time to breathe between plot-intensifying moments. The story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story.

This was a sit on the edge of your seat kind of whodunnit murder mystery. I was all over the place trying to guess who committed the crime. At one point, I did suspect the killer but quickly dismissed it and moved on. Don’t be fooled.

This is a grea a story of two unlikely classmates who come
together and find a brewing friendship and become Agatha Christie sleuths-in-training to find the murderer of a classmate and long-time friend.

I was so excited to see the premise of The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson. It sounded like it was written just for me. Agatha Christie? One of my favorite authors. YA and thriller? Love it. Strong girls getting shit done and solving a mystery? Sign me up!
So I suppose my expectations were very high going in, and maybe that's why I felt this book just didn't quite deliver. It's written from a dual perspective, which I usually like, but found I had a very hard time keeping track of. The mystery and twist were a bit "meh." It's not that the book was bad, it was just... fine I suppose. I'm not disappointed that I read it, but I am disappointed it wasn't as great as I hoped.

Loved this, it was a quick exciting read with characters you really start to love. I thought I figured out the end and my guess was correct but they keep in curve balls for the end to keep you on your toes. The set up is perfect for a series and I would definitely continue reading them.

Agatha Christie meets Encyclopedia Brown with a side of Mean Girls! Young sleuths everywhere will applaud the Agathas. Absolute engaging mystery with a great story as well! It definitely took me to the last page to figure out.

Over the summer, Alice Ogilvie disappeared for a few days mysteriously after discovering her ex-boyfriend, Steve, had started dating her now ex-best friend, Brooke. After Brooke mysteriously disappears and ends up dead, Alice teams up with her tutor, Iris, to try to prove that Steve is innocent. Inspired by her love of Agatha Christie clues, Alice is determined to find the true culprit.

I really enjoyed this story! There were some subtle nods to Agatha Christie that were great. I think it would have been better if both Iris and Alice had loved Agatha, not just Alice. It made the title make less sense. But overall, I liked the mystery of this a lot and liked the characters. It did seem to end in a way where there could potentially be more, and I definitely would read them!

YES!! kathleen glasgow and liz lawson are truly the dream team: breathtaking suspense and raw emotion collide in this fantastic mystery :)

Iris and Alice could not be more different. Despite haven’t gone to school with each other for 10 years they still know nothing about each other and despite Alice’s fall from grace is one of the popular girls after a stunt the previous summer they still seem worlds apart from each other. That is until they decide to follow in the footsteps of the great Agatha Christie and try to solve the murder of a classmate Brooke. For readers of Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie with the Hardy boys this book will certainly resonate. It was so fun to see young women working together as detectives to find justice for their friend. While the book is certainly light hearted points it also deals with some difficult issues like domestic violence, neglectful parents, and drug use. This is a great murder mystery and I can’t wait to get it for my classroom.

This is a very young adult YA book for an adult reader. I say that in comparison to other YA books that I hand to adult readers without hesitation because they don't have the kind of petulant tone that sometimes crops up in this one. That being said, there's a lot to love here. Alice and Iris are each dealing with some seriously heavy things, making it easy to root for them and for them to establish a true partnership with each other so they can have a real friendship to rely on.
While I love the title, it seems like it's a fun name for the series and not something that really is a part of this story. Though Alice's obsession with Agatha Christie novels is certainly what's coloring almost every aspect of her life. Without spoiling too much, there's a horse/car chase that was an unusual treat. There will definitely be more books to come and I will be happy to read them, especially as one is likely to be an old-time Hollywood mystery.

One of the best young adult books to grab this summer is The Agathas, the forthcoming cozy thriller by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson. Although it stands on its own perfectly well, The Agathas is an homage to Agatha Christie novels told from the alternating points of view of Alice and Iris. Alice is a wealthy teen with a passion for Agatha Christie mysteries who is something of a mystery herself after disappearing for a period of time. Iris is Alice’s slightly nerdy classmate hired to be her tutor.

When Alice’s former best friend Brooke disappears from a party, Iris is the last one to see her alive. And so the fun begins, and The Agathas is definitely fun. Yes, there is a dead body and some sexual shenanigans, but the graphic stuff is all off stage as Glasgow and Lawson keep the focus on the plot’s whodunit aspects.

There are suspects galore. Brooke’s boyfriend Steve cannot account for why he was disoriented for hours after the party. Brooke’s stepfather, a gym teacher who has bedded more than a few of his female colleagues, may stand to benefit financially from Brooke’s disappearance. What about Cole, the hunk from the skating rink who may have had a brief fling with Brooke? Alice herself is a suspect. After all, Steve dumped Alice to take up with Brooke.

Under this tightly-constructed plot lurks the theme of toxic high school cliques, a topic that frequently interests teen readers, especially when some of the cliques are hostile to each other. Every paragraph in The Agathas will have readers wondering if new information is an important clue as Alice and Iris methodically work to solve the mystery surrounding Brooke. Some of the plot twists are wild, but it’s all in the same spirit of fun and humor that permeates the entire novel. The references to Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot will delight Agatha Christie fans, but they are not a distraction to those unfamiliar with those books. I wouldn’t be surprised though if The Agathas leads some young readers to look into Christie’s work, in addition to seeking out Glasgow’s earlier young adult books and Lawson’s 2020 debut novel The Lucky Ones.

Back matter includes a resource section for those struggling with the serious issues embedded in the plot’s twists and turns, as well as an engaging interview-style Acknowledgements section in which Glasgow and Lawson discuss their co-writing process and tell which character is drawn from which author.

The Agathas is scheduled for publication on May 3, 2022 from Delacorte Press.

I enjoyed the alternating POVs in this YA mystery. I loved Alice and Iris, and I hope to see them solve more mysteries in future books!

The setting reminded me of Veronica Mars—the wealthy community and its dark secrets and one of the main characters an outcast from the most popular group in school. Alice’s obsession with Agatha Christie was a fun element to the story, and I suspect there are Easter eggs for Christie fans sprinkled throughout the book. Reading this makes me want to bump some Christie up my TBR pile.

The mystery was a tricky one, and I never came close to guessing who the murderer was. I wasn’t thrilled with the lengths Alice and Iris went to in their investigation, and I felt like Iris’s roller skating friends could have been developed more. I loved that they hung out at a roller rink, though.

I haven’t read that many YA mysteries, but this was a fun one, and I hope it’s the start of a series.

This was such a fun YA mystery! I thought both main characters (Alice and Iris) were thoroughly developed with a solid amount of depth. I enjoyed the integration of Agatha Christie quotes and details about her life sprinkled in the book too.

The mystery itself was good. I felt like some parts were handed to the girls a little too easily, but it is YA so I expected some of that. The twists and turns were fun and exciting though. I hope this becomes a series. I would love to read more about Alice and Iris.

I can not write a review for this book because I serve on Florida Teens Read committee, but I can say that I will put it on the Long List for the 2023 cycle.