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.

!! Missing person !! Alerttttt. But ohhhh wait....is it really a missing person or is someone actually dead?! You guessed it. A murder mystery in the small town of Castle Cove is what happened. Someone killed Brooke Donovan and now it is the chance for her ex-best friend Alice to figure it out. Alongside Alice, a new founded tutor/friend Iris, will help her try and solve this mystery. When reading this book, I LOVED the alternating views between Iris and Alice. Both insights were compelling, as well as truthful in all aspects. With short chapters, I was able to finish this book within 3 days of starting it and loved every second of it! If you need a "palette" cleanser type of book, then this is for you. Definitely recommend this young adult book to add to your shelf. :)

The Agathas was a pretty damn gripping read and a fantastic tribute to one of my favourite writers of all time.

Any book that pays homage to Agatha Christie instantly has my heart and the intricate plotting of The Agathas was worthy of the Queen of Crime herself. The way Glasgow and Lawson combined their fiendish brains together meant that a twisted concoction of secrets, alibis, and red herrings was formed. In many ways, we have the classic Christie set-up of an isolated location, pretty closed in community and basically everyone having a reason to want someone gone. I loved the way they transported this to a YA setting, creating this network of messed-up relationships and entanglements. The entire book is a love letter to the genre and its undisputed queen, but the way Christie’s books are also woven into the plot is ingenious. One of the characters is a big fan of her books and relates the events to plot points. This creates this meta, fantastically enjoyable humour and cheeky wink to the readers. It feels like a book that will go off and inspire a new generation to pick up her works.

That being said, this gem stands well on its own. Snippets of Christie are woven in, but this is a unique and well-crafted story. I loved how all of the narrative threads were pieced together into a complex and fascinating mystery. This was a tricksy little story with plenty of shocking twists and turns that kept me glued to the page.

The dual narrative is handled really well, adding enough seeds of doubt and unreliability in both our narrators. They’re flawed people dealing with their own secrets and trauma, but somehow you just root for them. Despite knowing they could be lying right to your face, you want to believe their version of events and for the truth to shine through. They both have such distinctive voices, with Iris’ snarky closed-off nature betraying a deeper survival instinct and a life spent running away from her past. Alice is cocooned in seemingly the perfect life of privilege, popularity and power but her troubles bubble just under the surface. The way the two of them interact is brilliant, with plenty of humourous dialogue and nuanced conversations about privilege, particularly in terms of wealth and class. Also, the wider supporting cast is fascinating, particularly the extra teammates for solving the mystery. I would happily read more books featuring this feisty firecrackers of a found family. The atmosphere between them all and the vibe created is a playful, fun and relaxed one, but they also always have one another’s backs. You get a modern-day Nancy Drew vibe of teenagers solving all the cases ignored and dismissed by the authorities.

On that note, this book really digs into the idea of the ‘perfect’ victim. It questions why some cases are seen as more worthwhile than other and how issues of privilege, race and class complicate this further. One death becomes national news, while another is forgotten and dismissed. The Agathas asks why justice is selective and dependent on the status of the victim. It also is a pretty feminist book, discussing why women’s testimonies are often ignored and dismissed as irrational or melodramatic. This is a pertinent and timely narrative, looking at recent news. Both protagonists and their suspicions are dismissed for being teenage girls. Lawson and Glasgow interrogate why that is in a thought-provoking and complicated analysis that is further expanded by questions of privilege and victimhood.

The Agathas is a layered mystery, combining thrilling plot lines, fascinating characters and important questions surrounding the politics of justice and victimhood.

I’m a huge fan of mysteries, as well as both Katheen Glasgow and Liz Lawson, so I’ve been excited for this title since it was announced. I’m happy to report that it does not disappoint! THE AGATHAS is an intriguing mystery set in small-town coastal California The story is told from two alternating first person points of view: Iris (written by Glasgow), a hard-working, financially struggling teen desperate to escape a complicated and dangerous home life; and rich girl Alice (written by Lawson), who’s coping (badly) with the relationship between her former best friend, Brooke, and ex-boyfriend, Steve, as well as the social fallout of her own recent mysterious disappearance. When Iris is hired as a tutor by Alice’s chronically absent parents, neither are thrilled with the other’s company. But when Brooke disappears on Halloween after a public fight with Steve, Iris and Alice are determined to find out what really happened that night, clear Steve’s name, and seek justice for Brooke. Inspired by Alice’s fondness for Agatha Christie mysteries, the two girls launch an investigation that digs deep into the roots of the town, uncovering secrets and corruption they’d never imagined.

I absolutely loved reading THE AGATHAS! The writing styles and narrative voices are on par with my high expectations for both authors, and the plot is fun, complex, and intricately executed. Iris and Agnes are wonderfully developed and authentic, and deal with their traumas, demons, and problems in realistic ways. The secondary characters are solidly drawn individuals, with unique personalities and distinct voices; none of them are throwaways, and nearly everyone on the page has secret of their own or a link to tragedy. I highly recommend this book to fellow mystery lovers (and Glasgow/Lawson fans), teens and adults alike.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Random House for the early read!

This book surprised me - totally caught me off guard. I was expecting a decent plot - I mean using Agatha Christie's novels to solve a local murder? A student and tutor? Creative yeah - but entertaining ? Attention grabbing?
F#ck yes!
Alice and her boyfriend, Steve, broke up. Alice disappeared for a few days - just like Christie.
Now Iris, Alice's tutor, is desperate to disappear. But she needs money. And Alice's help to solve the mystery of Steve's latest girl friend's disappearance, with the promise of a hefty reward.
Entertaining. Creative plot. Fast paced. And fun.

Despite it's title, The Agathas felt very Veronica Mars-inspired to me, taking place in a high school at an oceanside California town, featuring both sides of Veronica: Alice the popular girl, and Iris, the outcast. It sounds from the acknowledgments that Kathleen Glasgow wrote Iris’s narrative and Liz Lawson wrote Alice’s. But the whole thing was so seamless that I never would have guessed. I had my eye on the culprit right from the start, and was happy to be correct. Must have been all those years reading Agatha, watching Veronica, and also Nancy Drew.

The Agathas was a really fun read, with lots of clues and suspects. If you’re a YA mystery reader, I think you’ll love this one – it definitely makes my list of favorite YA mysteries.

A fun mystery with multiple nods to Agatha Christie books. Teens should enjoy this book and some of them might even seek out Christie afterwards. A few mature items in the book but should be appropriate for most 7th graders and above.

This book is a fantastic example of how to do a YA mystery really well. Its a bit tame for the most part but it throws in just enough suspense and edginess to keep things interesting. This one had great characters, a well done atmosphere and a mystery that will keep you reading.

Oooooo…I dug it! I really really really hope they get together and write more about The Agatha’s, because I could really get into a series of books with these two protagonists. I love the well-developed characters, all the way down to the seemingly least important of them. And I kinda wish Crystal Cove were real. It’s such a great “home” for the Agathas and the sleuthing they do. It’s a great read. 💜💜💜📚

3.5/5
The Agathas was an interesting thriller, but something just… fell flat. It was basically an average YA thriller, and nothing really stood out about it. The suspense wasn’t really there until the end, but the mystery was interesting enough.

I thought the plot twists were a bit too predictable and a bit of a letdown. The characters were alright, they had semi-distinct personalities but seem to characterize character archetypes more than anything. The setting was alright, if not a bit forgettable. The pace was good and I sped through this pretty fast, but for some reason it was just not for me. I would still recommend if you’re looking for an engaging thriller to read this summer!

The Agathas is a clever novel. Alice and Iris, high school students who meet when Iris is hired to tutor Alice, decide to work together to solve the murder of another classmate, Brooke Donovan. Alice provides the insight of Agatha Christie whose books she read when on a mandatory lockdown do to her own disappearance a few months before Brooke's death. Iris provides the book smarts and a close group of nerd friends to assist in the investigation in small town Castle Cove. Authors Glasgow and Lawson provide all the teenage angst with this group of intelligent characters who are driven most of all by loyalty and friendship. The Agathas is a wonderful novel for adults and young adults. Highly recommended.

WHAT A BOOK!!! "The Agathas" was a mysteriously, thrilling young adult novel by two great authors. Love the colab.

I'm a sucker for a good teen drama. Add in some murder mystery, and I'm instantly hooked.

After basketball-star Steve dumps Alice Ogilve she disappears for five days. Once she returns, she isn't talking. Then, mysteriously, another one of Steve's girlfriend's disappears. Only she doesn't come back. Now there is a reward up for grabs, and Iris Adams decides she's going to help Alice solve this mystery and clear Steve's name. Luckily, they have the complete works of Agatha Christie to help her along.

This is a great story for anyone who is a fan of "One of Us is Lying" and "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder." I hope this turns into a series!

If you love Holly Jackson or Karen McManus like I do this is the book for you. It filled all those missing pieces of me that was looking fir a new mystery series. Two teen detectives set out to find a missing girl in this twisty fantastic new series.

In Castle Cove, Alice is quite lonely after being dumped by her friend group after some previous drama. When one of her ex friends goes missing and a huge reward is offered, Alice puts her love of Agatha Christie to good use and sets out to find her friend with Iris. Coming from two different social groups and working together leads to some shattering of stereotypes and the building of what true friendship really means. I have to say getting to know the characters isn’t just a way to solve the mystery, it’s an excellent part of the book and will have you rooting for both of them to grow as people and in their newfound friendship.

Hop in and ride along as Alice and iris, and Agatha in spirit, set out to find Brooke and find out what really happened. I cannot wait for book 2. This is one of my favorite reads of the year.

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! Kept me guessing until the very end, and the twist was super unexpected. Hoping this turns into a series—couldn’t recommend more!