The Agathas Books in Order

The Agathas series drops classic mystery vibes into a modern California beach town and lets a mismatched pair of girls run the show. It starts with Alice Ogilvie, once the queen of Castle Cove High, who pulled a dramatic disappearing act after her boyfriend dumped her and came back to a town that no longer trusts her.

Alice is rich, theatrical, and obsessed with the novels of Agatha Christie. Iris Adams is her opposite, a quiet, working class girl who tutors Alice for much needed cash and goes home to a cramped apartment and an abusive father who refuses to stay gone. When Brooke Donovan, Alice's ex best friend and the town's golden girl, vanishes and is later found dead, everyone is ready to blame the obvious suspect. Alice, haunted by her own fake disappearance and convinced the police are getting it wrong again, ropes Iris into investigating.

In The Agathas, their search for the truth about Brooke's fate leads them through clifftop mansions, hidden parties, and the social minefield of Castle Cove High. They team up with members of the school's forensic club, pore over Christie paperbacks for strategy, and slowly uncover how money, image, and old secrets intersect in their supposedly sleepy town.

The second book, The Night in Question, raises the stakes by moving the action to Levy Castle, the decaying estate that gave Castle Cove its name. During the school's Sadie Hawkins dance, held inside the castle, Alice sneaks off to poke at the unsolved 1940s death of film star Mona Moody. Instead she finds classmate Rebecca Kennedy collapsed in a pool of blood and another former friend, Helen Park, holding the possible weapon. The police are ready to close the case. Alice and Iris are not.

Chasing answers this time means digging into the old Hollywood scandal around Mona's fall from a balcony while also dealing with the fresh tensions at school and at home. The series shows how one town can be shaped by the stories it tells about itself, whether that is a glamorous movie myth or a convenient lie about a troublesome girl.

Across the books, the tone balances banter and danger. There are secret passages, creepy stormy nights, and clue filled school projects, but also panic attacks, court dates, and the slow work of Iris and her mother trying to stay safe from her father. Alice's almost comical flair for drama sits alongside very real loneliness. Iris's determination to stay small and unnoticed keeps colliding with the fact that she is braver than she thinks.

Readers who like their mysteries with a strong emotional core will find a lot to love here. Each book delivers a complete case while also nudging the characters forward, testing their friendship, and widening the lens on Castle Cove. By the end, The Agathas series feels less like a single puzzle and more like a portrait of a town where the truth has been buried, and two girls who are tired of letting other people write the story.