A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, not everything is as it seems. But can you prove it?
In Fairview, Connecticut (or Buckinghamshire, England, for the British version), two murders have depressed the small town. A high school girl, Andie Bell, goes missing and is presumed dead. A few days later, Sal Sigh, Andie’s boyfriend, is found dead with a text message to his father admitting to Andie’s murder and with the drugs within his system, police classify his death as a suicide.
But even though it’s been five years, Pip can’t shake the feeling that something’s not adding up, and she intends to find Andie’s killer herself, even if it leads the murder to Pip instead.
Teaming up with Sal’s younger brother, Ravi, the two find themselves on a journey inside Andie’s shoes, which are ones of mystery, love, and betrayal. During their investigation, Pip slowly loses herself in her work, reflecting the life of average high schoolers.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder does such a good job of making the life of Pip realistic in the sense of the everlasting pressure of high school, the issue of sexual assault, and how you never know how loyal your friends are. Andie Bell’s case makes it clear to Pip that what happens behind closed doors stays there.
This book follows such a gripping storyline and has both Pip and the reader absorbed in Andie’s life, allowing readers to make their own theories about the case. Pip has such a great mindset that the reader can quickly fit into and understand her motivations, despite how bold they may be.
Molly Conway, a 10th grader, and an admiring reader of the series. “If I were Pip, I don’t know if I would have been able to take on the challenge that she did that she faced many different troubles going through this event.”
The author, Holly Jackson, has a way of writing around the truth so perfectly that the reader can’t solve the mystery on their own, but allows a perfect revenue of hints that the reader may have missed or overlooked, which ensures the ending doesn’t seem random or impossible to guess on purpose.
WMC teacher and book lover Mrs Loux says, “I thought it was gonna go one way and then you know it’s that red herring idea like you think it’s going to be this and like oh it’s going to be solved now and then it goes completely a different direction; I liked that.”
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder makes such a crazy storyline equally paced and understandable. The reader can easily engage and make their own theories, and with how connected the two other books in the trilogy are, it is so satisfying to perhaps keep those theories and predictions for future storylines.
Pip is such a great character that I love so much and can fit into her ever-working mind so perfectly. Her connections with other characters show so much of her personality and is such an important part of her development to her being able to rely on others after her fixation on the case takes over.
I truly love all of Holly Jackson’s books, and even though A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder may seem like a poster child, I feel she really shows strength in her writing and I love how visible it is to see how much care and effort she puts into her works to make the story really flow.
Last year, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder launched a live-action version starring Emma Myers. While the internet felt that the progression from book to TV series was rocky at best, I actually really enjoyed the show and felt that it helped further develop the characters and allowed the beloved story’s legacy to grow even more. I usually don’t like when book adaptations have one of the more popular actresses of the time instead of someone who really embodies the character *cough cough Sydney Sweeney cough cough*, but I think Meyers did a great job of fulfilling Pip’s personality and embracing her madness to the best it could be.
So until season 2 arrives, bringing to life the second installment of the series, Good Girl, Bad Blood, I will continue to enjoy all of Holly Jackson’s works in all their glory.
