I mostly write about SQL Server, but I have a soft spot for Kusto. The Kusto Detective Agency is a set of data-mystery challenges - I worked through them a while back and decided to replay the whole thing and write it up.
What's a Kusto Detective Agency?
It's essentially a series of exercises where you tackle problems and uncover insights from data. Think of it as solving a mystery, but instead of clues and suspects, you're working with data sets and queries. You can try it yourself here: Kusto Detective Agency
Why I am replaying the challenges
There was a new challenge on June 8th, 2025 called Call of the Cyber Duty, with a grand prize of $10k. I had already completed the previous challenges, but it had been a while, and I needed a refresher to keep my skills sharp.
I've completed both full seasons and some holiday challenges as well. The only one I skipped is Digibus Real-Time Crisis, because it involves Fabric.
Change of order
At the time of writing, the order of challenges in the menu doesn't match the chronological release of the seasons, and names have been added to them:
- Season 1
- Now named New Shadows Over Digitown
- 5 cases
- Difficulty level = master (est. completion time 20 hours)
- Listed second in the menu
- Season 2
- Now named Echoes of Deception
- 10 cases
- Difficulty level = expert (est. completion time 20 hours)
- Listed first in the menu
I'll adhere to the newly preferred order: Season 2 first, then Season 1
Badges
Season 1 (New Shadows Over Digitown)
Season 2 (Echoes of Deception)
Holiday Challenges
Thank you for reading