Ratings20
Average rating3.9
Last summer, Alice Ogilvie’s basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. She's not talking, so where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve’s girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice’s ex–best friend. And it doesn’t look like Brooke will be coming back. . .
Enter Iris Adams, Alice’s tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn’t have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke’s grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter’s whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn’t so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.
In order to get the reward and prove Steve’s innocence, they need to figure out who killed Brooke Donovan. And luckily Alice has exactly what they need—the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there’s anyone that can teach the girls how to solve a mystery it’s the master herself. But the town of Castle Cove holds many secrets, and Alice and Iris have no idea how much danger they're about to walk into.
Featured Series
2 primary booksThe Agathas is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2022 with contributions by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson.
Reviews with the most likes.
I enjoyed all the references to Agatha Christie and other mystery series. There were plenty of secrets to uncover by several characters. I liked the way that they built Iris and Alice's friendship. I was able to figure out who did it before the reveal, but not too much before the reveal.
Normally I never rate a book as low as 2 stars, but between the cringy dialogue, the extremely predictable murderer, and the fact that the MCs both had “secrets” they were keeping from the reader that had nothing to do with the plot and once revealed they weren't surprising anyway because I had time to figure it out on my own, I lost interest in this book around 30% of the way in.
The first part was great, and I was intrigued enough to hope it would get better, but it was just lackluster for me. Although, I do suspect that if I had read this at 12 or 13, I would have loved it. The premise is fun, the main characters have a lot of potential for younger readers. It just wasn't my cup of tea.