The Night in Question

By: Kathleen Glasgow, Liz Lawson

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Holly Linneman, Mehr Dudeja

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

How do you solve a murder? Follow the lessons of the master—Agatha Christie! Iris and Alice find themselves in the middle of another Castle Cove mystery in the sequel to New York Times bestseller The Agathas, by powerhouse authors Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson.

A PEOPLE MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER
A READ WITH JENNA JR. SELECTION

Last October, Alice Ogilvie's ex-best friend, Brooke Donovan, was killed—and if it weren't for Alice's unlikely alliance with her tutor, Iris Adams, and her library of the complete works of Agatha Christie, the wrong person would almost certainly be sitting in prison for the crime. The Castle Cove police aren't exactly great at solving crimes. In fact, they're notorious for not solving crimes.

Which is why, on the night of Castle Cove High's annual Sadie Hawkins dance, Alice takes the opportunity to explore Levy Castle—the site of one of Castle Cove's most infamous deaths. Mona Moody—­the classic film star—died there almost a century ago, and Alice is pretty sure the police got that invest­igation wrong, too. But before she can even think about digging deeper, she walks right into the scene of a new crime. Rebecca Kennedy, on the ground in a pool of blood. And standing over Kennedy? Another one of Alice's ex-friends—Helen Park.

The Castle Cove Police Department thinks it's an open-and-shut case, but Alice and Iris are sure it can't be that simple. Park isn't a murderer—and the girls know all too well that in life, and in mysteries, things are rarely what they appear to be. To understand the present, sometimes you need to look to the past.

Castle Cove is full of secrets, and Alice and Iris are about to uncover one of its biggest—and most dangerous—secrets of all.

©2023 Kathleen Glasgow and Elizabeth Lawson (P)2023 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"A delight for teen Poirots, chock-full of puzzling clues and swirling tensions."—Kirkus Reviews

Fun Mystery!

A few months ago, Alice Ogilvie and her friend Iris Adams solved the murder of fellow high school student Brooke Donovan, much to the chagrin of the local police who had arrested the wrong person. Now it's the night of Castle Cove High School's Sadie Hawkins Dance. It is being held at Castle Levy, a beautiful estate where movie star Mona Moody died over eighty years ago. Alice uses the dance as her chance to check out Castle Levy. She does not think that Mona Moody's death was an accident, and she is hoping to find evidence to prove her theory. What she finds is former friend Rebecca Kennedy, bloody and unconscious, with another former friend, Helen Park, standing over her holding a knife. Helen says she didn't do it, but the police don't believe her. Alice and Iris listen to her story and think she may be telling the truth. Now it's up to them to find the person who tried to kill Rebecca.

This is the second book in The Agathas series. Alice and Iris are both big fans of Agatha Christie. They use the investigative techniques they learned by reading Agatha Christie books to solve these murder mysteries. I love how they stop and go over what they know so far, who their suspects are, and who they have proved innocent. This keeps everything straight in my head and makes the story enjoyable. The story was fast paced. It felt like a cross between Veronica Mars and a Scooby Do mystery. Very entertaining. I hope there will eventually be more books in this series, but right now there are only two. My rating: 4.5 Stars.

Absolutely wonderful

Great narrators and super entertaining mystery! I will recommend it to my HS students for sure.

Alic is a brat!

This book is well written. The references to Agatha Christie and Poirot are quite fun if you are a long-time Christie fan. And if you are not, I think you will find the words of wisdom to be valid without being heavy handed.

Again, this story centers around high school students Alice Ogilvie and her tutor, and friend, Iris Adams. While attending a party at a very posh home known as Levy Castles. Alice wants to see where a 1940’s starlet met her end under mysterious circumstances. After winding her way through the labyrinth hallways, Alice discovers one of her classmates bleeding from several stabs wound. As soon as Iris finds her way to Alice, the pair team up to find out whodunnit?

I took off one star because this story drove me a little bit crazy in the middle when Alice became self-absorbed and kind of obnoxious. It is hard for me to enjoy an unlikable character. It was distressing to see Alice become so very obnoxious when compared to her demeanor in book one.

But I pushed through with the book because the mystery was interesting. Iris’s mom doesn’t like the bad effect that Alice is having on Iris. Iris is told to take a break from Alice. We see the girls working on the case and communicating via text messages. Fortunately, this separation leads Alice to do a little self-reflection and ease up on the overpowering attitude.

The biggest surprise is when Alice’s parents return home after Alice has been reported for skipping school. My heart hurts for Alice’s pain and confusion when her neglectful parents start issuing orders on the behavior they expect from her. How dare they do this when they are absent from parenting most of the time.

I loved the twists and turns in the plot. And the way the story was resolved worked well for me. RECOMMEND.

Enjoyable

I chose this book and the first based on the narrator and I’m glad a took the chance. Can’t wait for the next one!

Fun teen style mystery

I listened to this story with my young teens. They really got into it. I love a good mystery and now so do they. I unraveled the plot early but the kids couldn’t until near the end. We hope there are many more in this series!

Not bad

Story ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The plot is pretty solid. I couldn’t guess who the main antagonist is until the authors drop major hints about the person’s identity later on in the story.

Narration ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Maybe it’s just me, but I find one of the narrators too intense. She reads most of the her lines - even the chapter numbers - with gloomy solemnity. Thankfully, she lightens up a little by the fourth quarter of the book.

Trigger warning: Domestic Violence