A YA mystery with a dash of Riverdale style and a dollop of Nancy Drew clue-hunting , “The Agathas” is an entertaining page-turning who-done-it that will be popular with teen readers this spring and summer.

Co-written by authors Kathleen Glasgow and Liz, this thrilling read features once-popular girl Alice and quiet outsider Iris as they’re forced together by a bumbling school counsellor for tutoring. When one Alice’s friends goes missing, the two team up as teen detectives using Alice’s new found love for Agatha Christie novels as a formula for solving the crime.

Written in dual narrative, with interchanging chapter, readers are given opportunity to experience the story through both Alice and Iris’ mind. Although I appreciated reading from both perspectives, the similarity in both characters voice and interactions led me to - at times - lose track of whether I was reading Alice or Iris’ chapter. I think the novel could have been equally successful from only one character’s perspective - preferably Iris who has a more heartfelt and nuanced storyline.

My other criticism of the novel is the overly-exaggerated finale that seemed better suited for a cheesy 90’s action film rather than a moody and highly-stylized mystery. I’m good with the who-done-it reveal and a satisfying epilogue that suggests another Alice & Iris story might be a possibility, but the frantic and high octane climax just didn’t sit well with me.

Overall, “The Agathas” was a fun read with a variety of twists and turns that will keep readers guessing along with two charismatic heroines to cheer for. Sincere thanks to Penguin Teen Canada and Netgalley for an advance readers e-book.

A super fun and unique spin on Agatha Christie that is sure to inspire young readers to read the OG mystery novel queen. The story starts off with a few trope-y setups but once the mystery starts to unravel it becomes an entertaining twisty read. Plenty of humor and relatable person-to-person conflict make this a book a fantastic YA read for middle schoolers and early highschoolers.

4 1/2 stars. The Agathas is a gripping young adult mystery. It is told from the perspective of two narrators: Alice, a wealthy teen who has become a social pariah because of something she did several months before the book starts, and Iris, a teen from the poor side of town who takes a job tutoring Alice. When they first meet, it doesn't appear that they have anything in common. But after Alice's former best friend disappears (who hurt her by dating Alice's old boyfriend), Alice and Iris discover that they are both interested in the disappearance, although for different reasons, and frustrated by the local police investigation (or lack thereof). Alice is a possible suspect and Iris really wants the reward money. The two team up to try to find the missing girl. There are so many twists to this mystery that it is hard to put down. If you are a fan of Karen McManus' books, you will really enjoy The Agathas.

I would have thoroughly enjoyed this regardless, but all of the nods to Christie were just the cherry on top. Top notch mystery filled with plot twists, clues, and LoL moments. Highly recommended!

I was very interested about the concept and since it is a retelling of a story written by the infamous Agatha Christie it intrigued my more. The characters were channeling Agatha Christie upon conducting an investigation about a mysterious death of Alice’s ex-bestfriend. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it at first because it seemed like a typical bestie stole my boyfriend drama but it took a huge turn when the mystery started to take over the story. It was fun following their investigations especially when both Alice and Iris work so well together and I love how the author managed to put everything together and not miss any details. I also really enjoyed all the plot twists and turns, I didn't even expect the last one, and the scene with the horse cracked me up a bit. Overall, it was a great YA mystery book and I certainly would love to read a sequel. Thank you so much NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me a copy of this book.

What a great mystery!! I know so many of my students will love this. I’ve said this before about YA thrillers and mysteries. Yes they’re obvious to me. Because I’m an adult. But I love it when an author can keep me engaged even if I’ve figured it out. Glasgow and Lawson are a dynamic duo when it comes to the mystery genre! This book was exciting, fast paced, twisty, a smidge graphic with dead bodies (very PG13 level but enough to keep it interesting), and everything a mystery novel should be.
I will hype this up in my 7th grade classroom.

LOVED this mystery. Alice seems to have everything, money, friends, athlete boyfriend and then it is all gone. Alice's best friend is no linger her best friend, not since she started dating Alice's ex. Alice takes off during the summer and no one knows from her for 5 days. Iris stays under the radar; its just her and her mom and she longs to leave Castle Cove behind. Iris is assigned to tutor Alice and they soon join forces to solve the biggest mystery their town has seen in 10 years.

I am always looking for good thrillers for my middle schoolers, and The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson is going to be a perfect addition to my library.

Here’s the set-up: the coastal California town of Castle Cove has seen its fair share of missing and dead girls over the years. In the latest case, rich teen Alice Ogilvie disappeared for five days over the summer, running away from a bad breakup the way Agatha Christie once did. So when Brooke Donovan disappears on Halloween night, everyone assumes that this is a copycat case. No one seems worried – not law enforcement and certainly not Brooke’s stepdad. But Alice knows Brooke and knows that she wouldn’t just run away. Alice joins forces with her tutor, Iris Adams, to solve the case, using the detective skills she’s learned from her beloved Agatha Christie novels.

This book is so much fun! Told in two perspectives, we see different points of view of the same town and the same people. Alice is rich and privileged while Iris and her mom are struggling to pay the bills and recover from a traumatic past. While I figured out the whodunit, I enjoyed every minute of this novel and cannot wait to share it with my students. The end hints at a sequel and I’m hoping to see more of Alice and Iris in the future!

Hand this to fans of Who Killed Zoe Spanos and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder; recommended for 8th grade and up. Thank you to #netglley for the e-galley; the audiobook is also excellently narrated.

I really liked this one. It was a fun mystery, and I didn't call it. Two unlikely friends team up to solve a murder mystery. I will be buying this one for my high schoolers.

Thank you so much to #netgalley for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review.

This was a very fun and twisty mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. I really liked the two main characters and their dynamic with each other. While I do think the killer was a little obvious, it was enjoyable to follow to clues and try and solve the mystery. I think this will be a big hit with mystery loving teens.

When I heard about this book I was super excited for it. I am ALWAYS for a YA amateur sleuths mystery! And this one had a teen who had a love of reading?! YES! I was here for it. And this was from two authors that I’ve heard nothing but great things about. I just KNEW this was a Nikki book. Unfortunately some news I got while I was reading took some of the enjoyment away.

I’m just gonna start with the elephant in the room. I know you’re wondering about the news that I found out. Well, the two girls in this book base themselves off some of the characters by Agatha Christie. And as a book reader, this is partly what made me want to read this. I LOVE books about bookish characters. But as I was looking through social media at some books by Christie, (since I haven’t actually read any myself) I found that she’s not as great as she’s made out to be. In fact, she was racist. Now I know that this had nothing to do with Liz Lawson and Kathleen Glasgow. They might not have known either. But I after finding this out, it kinda took some of the enjoyment I had of this away. I hated the way it felt like they were glorifying her. And yes I know, she’s still being glorified by the whole world, but that’s exactly why we don’t need more? Maybe that’s just me, but after I found out that info it just kind of felt yucky.

18 As for everything else, if I ignored that, it was a pretty decent story. I thought the mystery was well thought out and well written for it to be written by two people. Sometimes that can make things feel disjointed or have some red herrings released early on, but this wasn’t the case. They seemed to have a healthy balance that never took me out of the story.

The mystery itself was good. I didn’t guess the killer, but I also don’t remember trying to after getting the info. If nothing else, that’s what took me out of the story. If that makes sense. But I think if that certain thing doesn’t bother you, it will keep you entertained and will definitely keep you guessing. One thing that annoyed me though, was the info dump at the end when they were finally doing the tell all. It made the ending feel SO RUSHED. Like this whole book was leading up to this and it’s over already?

The characters were cool, but Alice was snobby lol I remember wishing her chapters were over. I felt like she was mean girling Iris. But I needn’t have worried. Iris held her own against Alice and made sure that she got what she wanted to. I loved that they were headstrong and nosey too. Those are both qualities that make for good amateur sleuths. Definitely worked in their advantage too since they really had no business even being concerned about what happened in this case. (Well after the real police involvement lol)

The narration of this was a full cast, and y’all know how I am about my audios with a full cast! They are always bussing! Idk, it just hits different. Don’t get me wrong, I also like when it’s one narrator that can do all different voices, but if it’s within your budget, why not use multiple people? With this audio, I hadn’t listened to hardly any books from any of them (only from Sophie), so I was excited to learn more about them and potentially listen to more. They did a great job with their parts, the inflections, all of it.

This would have been a lot better for me if I hadn’t heard the things I did. I ended up listening to it all the way through so that I could form a real opinion on this one. And even though it felt icky at times, I still enjoyed it.

You know when you read a book that is exactly your thing?? That is what The Agathas is for me.

It’s mystery, it’s strong female friendships, it’s Agatha Christie, it’s sleuthing, it’s police not having a goddamn clue, it’s inner struggles, and it’s standing up for friends and for yourself.

It also doesn’t hurt that it’s written by Liz Lawson and Kathleen Glasgow! The Lucky Ones absolutely DESTROYED ME and I would read it again in a heartbeat.

But let’s get to the characters!

Alice is a mean popular girl. Or at least she used to be before she went missing last summer. Now, no one is talking to her and well, you can’t really be mean to anyone when no one is talking to you.

She’s also not doing that well in school and that’s where Iris comes in. Iris wants to disappear like Alice did but unlike Alice, Iris has a very serious reason for wanting to hide. And unfortunately, Iris doesn’t have the money Alice does so she can’t just get up and leave town.

At first, their relationship is purely tutor and student. But that changes when one of Alice’s former friends, Brooke, is found dead and they work together to try to discover the killer. They both know it’s not Alice’s ex-boyfriend (who the police think it is), but with only so many resources, they have to work hard to figure out who it really is. (Iris knows a lawyer and OMG, she is SUCH A CHARACTER)

Iris also wouldn’t mind the reward Brooke’s grandmother is offering to the person who finds the murderer.

For me, it’s the details of Alice and Iris’s lives that make this book perfection. Iris’s home life is especially riveting because it’s so terrifying. You can feel her stress and the terror she feels due to her father and wondering if/when he might show up again.

I really liked Alice’s home life too. Her parents are almost never there, but her housekeeper/nanny/friend is so wonderful that she almost makes up for it. She cares for Alice in a way her parents can’t even when she’s sneaking out of the house to find murderers lol.

But really, the best part of this book is Alice and Iris’s friendship. They don’t take shit from each other, but Iris is there for Alice and Alice is willing to beat up Iris’s abusive father. It’s one of the best friendships I’ve ever read.

And THE MURDER. I had no idea who the murderer was until the final moments of the book and it surprised the hell out of me. At first, I was like “it’s definitely Brooke’s dad” but then they ruled him out and I had no idea. I did not expect it to be this person (no spoilers!). I love being surprised!

I am giving The Agathas 5 out of 5 stars. If you love murder mysteries, you need to read this book!

The Agathas by Liz Lawson and Kathleen Glasgow is available now

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley, Delacorte Press, and the authors for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! The Agathas is a fun and captivating YA mystery that follows our two main characters, Alice and Iris, as they try to solve a recent murder.

Brooke, one of Alice’s old friends, is found murdered and they decide to try and figure out who truly killed her. The pacing of this novel was amazing and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time while reading. I couldn’t put it down! I had to know what was going to happen next. I didn’t expect the many plot twists throughout and I was impressed at how everything tied together in the end.

I really liked the friendship between Alice and Iris - especially with them being from two different social groups. Alice is popular and rich, while Iris is the opposite. However, as they work together they begin to learn more about one another and start to form a true relationship. I enjoyed that they both had different motives for wanting to solve the murder as well.

And of course, I also really enjoyed the Agatha Christie references throughout. This is a great YA mystery and I’m happy to see the hype that it’s getting on social media because it deserves it! I highly recommend this one.

Alice Ogilvie and Iris Adams could not be more different. When Brooke Donovan goes missing and ultimately winds up dead, all fingers point to Alice’s ex-boyfriend Steve. Convinced that he is innocent, Alice and Iris join forces to figure out who did it. But time is running out.

I would describe “The Agathas” as mysteriously fun. It features quotes from many Agatha Christie novels including Murder on the Orient Express, Death on Nile, and more. It took me a little while to really get into the story. Once the characters were all in place and everything was introduced, I was hooked. I loved that Iris and Alice come from two completely different backgrounds. I also enjoyed the dual perspectives. I got major Scooby Doo vibes while reading. There were a few overly cheesy moments but overall, this was a good read. I look forward to reading more from these authors. This book really sets things up for an additional book or maybe even a series .I would definitely check it out.

My students are always looking for a good mystery, and The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson will definitely not disappoint! The story is told from two different points of view, with the popular girl (Iris) and outcast (Alice), joining forces to solve a murder of their classmate.

Not only is the story full of suspense and action, but it also dives into the struggles of high school, fitting in and the feelings of being ostracized, and finding friendship in the most unlikely way.

I will definitely be recommending this book to my students and plan to purchase copies for my classroom library.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Agathas

I was able to read and listen to this book thanks to @NetGalley @penguinteen & @prhaudio

All thoughts are my own!

Alice Oglivie is finally back at school after being on house arrest. Alice went missing and suddenly reappeared five days later with no explanation. When the disappearance happened, all eyes were on Steve, Alice’s boyfriend, who dumped her for her best friend Brooke. Alice feels now that she’s back in the mix, her friends will accept her with open arms. Boy was she wrong.

Iris Adams has been assigned to tutor Alice since she’s fallen a bit behind. Iris and Alice couldn’t be any more different-or so they think! The sudden disappearance of Brooke, Alice’s former best friend, brings the girls together in search of answers!!

The Agatha’s was a really great read/listen!! Lately I’ve found YA books to be a little too full of drama and angst, but this one was a balanced amount!! The narrators did a great job with the audiobook and if that’s your thing, definitely listen!! The Agatha Christie vibes were well executed without being too redundant. I really enjoyed Iris and Alice’s banter and relationship. To top it off, I was not able to figure out the twist in this one!! Overall a really good YA suspense/thriller read!! 4.25 stars from me!!

The Agathas was a cute YA mystery that mimicked a much darker Nancy Drew and of course, young Agatha Christie.

I loved the trope of two girls who are completely different becoming friends. I really appreciated the fact that it didn’t focus a lot on romance either but more on the theme of friendship. There are crushes but they don’t overshadow the plot of the book.

I did feel like there were a lot of plot holes near the end but it was obviously opening up to a sequel which I would definitely read.

4 stars.

This was a decent story. People have been comparing it to AGGGTM and Truly Devious but the only similarity I saw was the teen detectives thing. This book had a lot of nasty cliques/rich kids and a lot of drama which isn't a problem but its definitely not my favorite thing to read about. Other than that, the teen detectives angle was very good and I liked how everyone came together to solve the crime.

Modern day YA Agatha Christie detectives try to solve the mystery of who killed Brooke Donovan. The Agathas, Alice and Iris, are on a mission to figure it out, with the help of the Zoners. Told from dual perspectives of Iris and Alice, this story keeps you guessing. Did Coach kill his own daughter? Was it someone unknown? Was it her boyfriend Steve? With hints & “rules” from the mistress of mystery, Agatha Christie, the girls do a deep dive of all possible suspects, with fingers pointing at the most obvious, but is it? Definitely a story for those wanna be detectives!

A fun and camp mystery romp perfect for Gen Z. This book blends mystery, wit, with a strong narrative tone that makes it accessible for readers of all ages