Review of The Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

My Review of The Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson will look at this second installment in an Agatha Christie inspired teen mystery series!

Jen’s Quick Take on The Night in Question

The Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

To be published by Delacorte Books on May 30, 2023

Review of The Night in Question

I really enjoyed The Agathas (book one in this girl detective series) a lot – you can read my review here.

Can you read The Night in Question without Reading The Agathas?

I wouldn’t’ recommend it. The girls’ relationship is the center of the book and it develops a lot over the two books!

What I love about this series:

The feminist bent, the Veronica Mars coastal California vibe*, and of course, the Agatha Christie inspiration, though Agatha appreciation wasn’t as much of a thing in this second book. But maybe because there is a LOT going on. 

One of my favorite parts of the first book was the prickly relationship between popular girl Alice Ogilvy and her more down-to-earth tutor and classmate, Iris Adams. In this second book, the girls are friends (or at least a good deal more friendly?) and while I’m all for teamwork (and friendship), I missed some of their former enmity.

What I liked Less about the night in question

Second books in a series, especially a mystery series, can be tricky. While I still love this odd couple crime solving duo, I didn’t enjoy The Night in Question quite as much as The Agathas. 

Second, and maybe this is a problem of an adult reading a young adult book, I really could have used a bit more recap of book one incorporated into the plot. Or a character list, at least. All I remembered of book one was Alice, Iris, and Brooke. 

There were a bunch of secondary characters, these two cliques called the Mains and something else,** and a bunch of other Castle Cove high school students I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to remember, or not.  And a storyline set in the past about movie star Mona Moody, who I’m pretty sure was in the first book, because she had to do with Brooke. And Levy Castle, which must be inspired by Hearst Castle.*** 

I was confused for the first two-thirds. This is a very high school focused book with a lot of characters, plus there’s a whole second set of characters and relationships in the past AND many of the current characters are related to those in the past. Maybe a character list and a geneology chart? There was a map, though. I love a map!

I also felt like The Night in Question took a while to get going. The last quarter of the book was really fun and more fast-paced.

So I remain a huge fan of this series, and it looks like, from the authors’ interview after the book ends, that there will be a book three, so I am excited about that and will definitely try it. ***

* I feel like Alice is old popular Veronica and Iris is sadder-but-wiser Veronica. I have always meant to re-watch Veronica Mars and do a post on ALL the books inspired by the show. 

** I just remembered: the Zoners. I am not a fan of these weird clique nicknames, which I feel like came out of The Outsiders. I was not a fan of them in this Netflix show and have asked every person under 25 I can find if this is even a thing in 2023 and have not heard one “yes.”

*** Maybe in another post I will do a deep dive into Levy Castle/Mona/Charles Levy and Heart Castle/Marion Davies/William Randolph Hearst

**** They still need to solve Mona’s mysterious death, right? So that means I need to work on remembering all the characters in the past and the present. I can make the character list. I better get going!