The Agathas was a good book, but not a great one. If you like YA mysteries, you may enjoy this book, but there are parts of this book that just dragged for me.

Alice Ogilvie is a poor little rich girl - her parents travel all of the time, so while she lives in huge mansion, her closest companion is her nanny, Brenda. She has "friends" who party together, but spend most of their time sniping at and backstabbing each other.

Several months ago, Alice's boyfriend, Steve, and her best friend, Brooke, fell in love and she felt betrayed, so she disappeared for several days. Like her hero Agatha Christie, Alice left a couple of signs of struggle, and abandoned her car on a road out of town. When she came back, she was in a lot of trouble, her friends all hate her, and she's fallen behind at school. The school counselor assigns Iris Adams to tutor her.

Iris is smart and driven. She wants to escape Castle Cove with her mom, and go somewhere else where the Thing can't get to her and her mom. She is definitely not part of Alice's crowd, and doesn't really want to tutor someone who she thinks is a spoiled brat, but the $3000 Alice's family is offering her to tutor her will help them escape quicker.

Alice goes to the annual Halloween party her friends throw, thinking maybe she can get back into their good graces, but they want nothing to do with her. They throw her out, after a confrontation with Brooke and Steve. Iris happens to be in the area shortly afterwards, and sees Brooke and Steve get into a fight. Steve seems really wasted, and pushes Brooke. She runs away, right past where Iris is, and disappears.

The next day, Brooke is missing, but her stepfather, Coach Donavan, doesn't seem too worried. He figures she's just pulling an "Ogilvie" and disappearing for a few days after the fight with her boyfriend. But Alice knows her former best friend, and knows she'd never do that, and Iris is haunted by the fact that she didn't try harder to follow Brooke and make sure she was okay (and the reward money offered by Brooke's grandmother is a huge bonus, too).

When they find Brooke's body a few days later, Steve is arrested. Iris and Alice realize the police are focusing on convicting him, and are ignoring the fact that there were other people who could have committed the crime. So they decide to run their own investigation.

I did enjoy this book, and there were some great twists. But the story stagnated a few times, and the way everyone treated Alice didn't really ring true to me. Even if she had worried everyone and acted like a spoiled brat when she disappeared, the reaction was very severe. She had to be home schooled? All of her friends decided to never forgive her?

But the ending of the book was very satisfactory, and it set up the possibility of a sequel. I would give the authors another chance and read another book about Iris and Alice!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

WOW. I loved this book and completely devoured it in a few days. As someone who is a huge Agatha Christie fan, I just knew that I would love to see an amateur sleuth utilizing the detective skills of the queen of mystery herself. I truly hope that this is a series as I would love to read more!

A YA mystery that expertly weaves Agatha Christie quotes throughout. Finding inspiration and guidance from Hercule Poirot, the two unlikely and polar opposite young heroines take it upon themselves to investigate a murder (a la Nancy Drew). This mystery explores family, friendship, belonging and the complex lives of high schoolers.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

This was a nice blend of murder mystery and comic relief. Not too creepy. Solid pacing. Fairly deep dive into the main characters, Alice and Iris. Secondary characters were well drawn. A sequel would be welcome!

This mystery has so much heart! There is nothing like a small town mystery to get your imagination going! Even though Alice and Iris get themselves into a lot of trouble in the meantime, they have the purest and best intentions to solve this mystery! They were a joy to read about and I can’t wait for more books in this series!

The Agathas is a great intro into Agatha Christie's mysteries for YA readers! This book caught me by surprise and I really enjoyed the mysterious intrigue, the dual narration, and all the twists and turns.

I could see this story being made into a TV show, shot similarly to the show "Cruel Summer" in that there are distinctly two perspectives but instead of the characters pitted against one another like the show, they'd be working together to solve the mystery of their classmate's disappearance.

This book had me hooked! Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. Alice and Iris are quite the partners in (solving) crime, and very easy to like. The plot was believable enough, the pacing quick, and the overall atmosphere mysterious enough to keep my attention. I had suspicions about the guilt party early on, but it wasn’t a total giveaway, with enough plausible suspects to keep me thinking it through. I found the side characters to be well fleshed out and mostly enjoyable as well. What I liked most was the Agatha Christie connections, especially the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. While I went into this thinking it was a standalone story, I believe the door was left open enough for a follow-up, which is definitely read as well. Solid read!

There’s a lot more to Alice Ogilvie and Iris Adams than meets the eye. When Alice’s former best friend, and boyfriend stealer, Brooke Donovan disappears, Alice is determined to get to the bottom of it. While they may seem like an unconventional pairing, Alice and Iris soon discover they may need each other more than either realizes if they hope to unravel this mystery…and survive. A story revolving around mystery, money, and an unlikely friendship, have Alice and Iris bitten off more than they can chew?

Inspired by the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie, Glasgow and Lawson have written a teen detective novel full of twists and turns, bordering on slightly past believable at times, that also addresses real struggles young people are facing today.

As someone who hasn’t picked up a YA book in over a decade, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed The Agathas. If you’ve ever wondered who can solve a mystery better than the local police department, the answer is two seventeen year old girls. I can’t wait to see what Alice and Iris get up to next.

4.5 stars.

I love Agatha Christie novels and YA mysteries. This was a delightful YA hat tip to the wonderful world of Agatha Christie novels, and I enjoyed the story so, so, so much.

The Agathas is a dual-narration mystery about the murder of a wealthy teen, Brooke, living in the wealthy Pacific Coast cliff-adjacent town of Castle Cove. Our two narrators, Alice and Iris, have been thrown together when Iris is hired to tutor Alice. Alice is a wealthy member of the "Mains," the clique of the popular kids who host large parties in their ocean-view mansions. Alice has been ostracized by the group for disappearing for five days the year before and she's lonely spending her days alone in her mansion with just her caretaker while her parents jetset across the country for important business endeavors. Iris dreams of escaping Castle Cove, where she lives with her mom in a one bedroom apartment in constant fear of the return of her abusive father.

Iris is thrilled for the fat paycheck in exchange for getting Alice's grades up to snuff, but Alice quickly needs Iris's help for a different kind of project -- solving her ex-BFF, Brooke's, murder. Brooke was last seen fighting with her boyfriend and running away from a party, and her body is found several days later washing up on the rocks of the cliffs below the town. Since Alice grew up reading Agatha Christie novels, she and Iris begin investigate with combination of sneaky snooping, secret informants, and a crew of fun characters from the Forensics Club.

It's important to understand going into this book that it is the first in a series! If this had been a standalone, I might have been expecting a different type of book -- more thriller, more twisty. But the series is setting Alice and Iris up to solve several murders (a few of which are mentioned in this book!) in the subsequent stories. The story is a good old-fashioned mystery story, complete with secret clues, red herrings, and hidden pasts come to light. Very Agatha Christie!

Readers who love A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, One of Us Is Lying, and A Study in Charlotte will love this book. The focus is on the mystery elements within the politics of this particular town and the story content is very solidly YA (with minimal romance/sex and even minimal violence, despite the murder-y themes). You can see the longer plot arcs of the series being developed here, too, and I'm so excited for the series to continue!

After her ex boyfriend falls in love with her best friend, Alice turns to Agatha Christie to cope. When, 6 months later, that best friend goes missing, Alice teams up with her tutor, Iris, to become Hercule Poirot/Miss Marple.

This book is a lot of fun, but it does have some unnecessary tropes-- I was just waiting for the inevitable fight between the two girls, and the privileged vs unprivileged theme was definitely skated over.

However, this book is entertaining, and if it introduces young readers to Agatha Christie, then I'm on board.

I am OBSESSED!! I think I'm just generally a sucker for a good YA mystery, and I cannot wait to buy this for my library and force it into the hands of my students (who are all big A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER and Agatha Christie/classics fans). The epilogue makes it seem like this is being set up to be a series, and I cannot wait.

Also, since this is a murder mystery, I feel like I need to say that I had so many guesses, and none of them were right.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lovers of all the best teen thrillers and mysteries are going to love this. The classic twists and turns are there along with things you didn't see coming. This book was a thrill to read.

The Agathas took me completely by surprise. I love to read YA murder mystery/thrillers and am open-minded about clichés in this genre.
To my surprise I found these expected clichés really well integrated with new twists and they even seemed kinda fresher to me.
Rich girl.
Poor girl.
Typical high school cliques.
Prejudices.
This could have gone wrong quickly and seemed like it had been read a hundred times.
But it didn't - on the contrary.
The typical tropes got a lot more depth, the characters developed and friendships were formed. I especially liked the characters themselves, their motives were understandable and they all had their secrets and chips on their shoulders.
The writing style itself was extremely enjoyable, partly funny, often suspenseful and somehow also cozy throughout the book.
All the references to Agatha Christie were really fun and made me smile a lot. I also enjoyed the murder mystery itself. It had an exciting build up, was great to puzzle along with, and there were some twists and turns I really enjoyed.
Overall, it's definitely a very good YA Murder Mystery book that plays with clichés, has a well thought out mystery and yet is also cozy.
But you might want to read the trigger/help sites at the end of the book, because besides all the coziness, we get some pretty heavy topics like: domestic violence

The Agathas is the perfect YA mystery for fans of Agatha Christie. It is fun and filled with twists galore, secrets, red herrings, and fun nods to the master herself throughout. When two girls come together to try to find a missing girl and prove the police's main suspect's innocence, they use Agatha Christie's complete collection to teach them how to solve a mystery. Boy, this really was such a fun time! The mystery is extremely solid. The story is incredibly fast-paced and addictive. Glasgow and Lawson's writing blended flawlessly. I truly cannot rave enough about this fresh new mystery. Highly recommend you check out The Agathas today!

5 stars plus - Among the best of the best, perfect fit

I loved this! As I read, I kept thinking, "Please be a series, please be a series." I loved the two central characters as well as the small peer group around them. The authors do a great job balancing character development with the mystery elements so neither gets short changed. And the plotting of the mystery was masterful. This will be one of my favorite books of 2022. (Language, references to sex and domestic violence)

Fantastic young adult read, particularly for those who also love Agatha Christie. If you enjoy murder, mystery, thrillers, etc. you'll love this fast-paced read. It's the first novel I've read of Kathleen Glasglow, but I will absolutely pick her up again!

[Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an e-ARC of The Agathas, available everywhere now].

Last summer, Alice Ogilve's boyfriend, Steve, dumped her. Shortly after, she pulled an Agatha for five days and disappeared. No one knows what happened or where she went. With school back in session, it's all anyone can whisper about. Until, that is, another one of Steve's girlfriends vanishes after a fight. Everyone is convinced Brooke is pulling an Alice/Agatha but Alice isn't so sure. Calling in for reinforcements, she's able to enlist the help of Brooke's grandmother to put pressure on the local police force. Convinced Steve is their prime suspect, they're not much help. Using the substantial reward money Brooke's grandmother is offering, Alice talks Iris, her tutor, into helping her find out where Brooke went. The purpose of their mission soon changes, however, when Brooke's body is discovered at the bottom of the cliff. Now their focus is more on the who is responsible and why. They'll soon learn that Castle Cove has its own secrets and not everyone in the town wants them digging around.

The novel had an intriguing premise but ultimately, failed to deliver. Lengthy, drawn-out, and bogged down by too many extraneous details, I soon found myself skimming the pages. The characters felt similar as well. The way that they treated law enforcement, the entitlement that they felt to access certain information and "pitch in" with the case. Not even references to Agatha Christie and her novels helped keep my interest.

Y’all, I just finished this, and I’ve never been this happy in my whole life! Why am I so happy? Well, I’ll tell ya!

This is a YA mystery about a missing teen and the search for the truth. Alice and her tutor, Iris, need to figure out what’s happening.

Guess what they use to help them! Guess!!!!!

The complete works of Agatha Christie!!!

Because, as the synopsis says, “If there’s anyone who can teach the girls how to solve a mystery, it’s the master herself.”

Y’all, AGATHA!! Heaven! I’m in Book Heaven!

Okay, excitement overload is complete, so let’s get down to business:

As I said, this is a YA mystery, and it’s the best one I’ve read so far this year. The characters are captivating. Alice and Iris both have problems, secrets, and private struggles, and both are in need of a friend—in need of each other. To witness their trust and friendship grow is one of the most enjoyable and authentic parts of the book. I believed them, and I believed in them, making them fun characters to root for. The mystery is solid, and I had a blast searching for clues along the way.

If you are a fan of Agatha Christie, you’ll want to pick this up. The nods to her and her works are wonderful. For instance, the school’s guidance counselor is Ms. Westmacott, named in honor of the pen name Agatha used for her six “romance” novels. However, if you’re not a fan of Agatha, no worries. It isn’t an imperative. You’ll still have a rollicking good time with it.

Grab this one ASAP! It’s a favorite of the year for me, for sure.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Agathas is filled with endless clues, twists, secrets, and betrayals. From the very first chapter, I was completely hooked and wanted to know every little thing. It was honestly pretty hard to put this book down. It hurt my heart to press pause when it came to real life things. Eventually, I made me way through this and I was completely happy with everything. Well, okay, not all that happy because it's a murder mystery but it was so good!

After meeting the characters, it was very hard to figure out who was to remain a suspect and who was just acting suspicious. One would think the clues would help make the suspect pool a bit smaller but not for me. Nope, it's like I continued to add more and more people until the very end.

Before I knew it, things were revealed, and we've got our murderer! I'm still thinking about the ending and secretly hoping we get a sequel real soon. I don't think I'll be able to wait long for another book but will try to be patient if it does become a thing.

In the end, I'm really happy that I got the chance to jump into this book. I absolutely devoured this murder mystery and fell in love with the main characters. Definitely need more mystery fun for these kids! Plus, I need more magic from Kathlee and Liz!

✨ It's a good thing she went missing last year...

💜 When Brooke Donovan goes missing, it's up to her estranged best friend to use Agatha Christie's methods, and some new partners, to find her.

💥Yet another awesome YA mystery! In this book we follow Alice who is notorious in her own right. She disappeared "ala Christie" the year before. So she enlists the help of her tutor, Iris, and her zoner friends to help investigate using Agatha Christie's character's techniques. The twists? SO GOOD. This is fast paced and extremely enjoyable. There are a few characters, but they are easy to keep track of and are written so uniquely.

My face at the end: 🤓☠️

🍪 I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from @Netgalley and Delacorte Press.

💯 For more details on the books we read, be sure to follow me on TikTok (@zaineylaney). I will give you a list of reasons to read! Or join us on Youtube (@zaineylaney) for our monthly wrapups and snap book decisions.