A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a young adultmysterycrimedebut novel by British author Holly Jackson. The novel is the first in a series of three novels and one novella: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2019); Good Girl, Bad Blood (2020); As Good As Dead (2021); and Kill Joy (2021). All books were published by Electric Monkey in the United Kingdom and by Delacorte Press in the United States and ONE Verlag in Germany.
The plot follows an investigation carried out by seventeen-year old true crime enthusiast Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi, a student in the fictional town of Little Kilton, Buckinghamshire.[nb 1] In the novel, she investigates the murder of popular student Andrea "Andie" Bell and the suicide of the supposed perpetrator Salil "Sal" Singh under the guise of a school project. Her objectives are to exonerate Sal, who she is convinced was falsely accused, and to uncover the true perpetrator, who Pip believes is still at large.
Five years prior to the events of the book, a murder-suicide occurred in the small town of Little Kilton, Buckinghamshire[nb 1] when popular schoolgirl Andie Bell was brutally murdered. Andie's boyfriend, Sal Singh, while initially only a person of interest, was later believed to be the killer after ostensibly sending a text message confessing to the crime and then taking his own life. Seventeen-year-old Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi, however, is convinced that Sal was innocent and that the real perpetrator is still free. She asks Sal's brother, Ravi, to help her with the investigation she has launched under the guise of an EPQ project. Ravi hesitantly refuses after their weird first encounter, but later agrees to assist her. Each interrogation Pip carries out puts her in greater danger, yet she persists, even after she begins to receive violent threats in the form of both a written note and a string of text messages, and her dog Barney is stolen and drowned. She finds evidence that Andie was illegaly selling drugs to students, including Sal's friend Max Hastings, and was having an affair with Mr. Elliot Ward, a history teacher at Pip's school, and the father of Cara Ward, Pippa's longstanding best friend.
Pippa discovers that Mr. Ward had pushed Andie into a desk in a moment of fury. When Andie went missing, Mr. Ward, believing that he had killed her, murdered and framed Sal while staging it appear to be a suicide. Several days after Andie's death, Mr. Ward noticed a girl, Isla, walking through the street, and, mistaking her for Andie, kidnaps her and locks her in his attic.
Becca, Andie's sister, confesses that Max had drugged and raped her with rohypnol sold to him by Andie. In anger, Becca had pushed Andie, who fell, convulsed and died. While still in shock, Becca had hidden Andie's body in an old septic tank in a farmhouse near Pip's home. Becca also admits that, while the written note that threatened Pip to "stop digging" was written by Mr. Ward, she was responsible for the aggressive anonymous text messages that Pip received afterwards. When Pip attempts to confront Becca for her actions, she is drugged and almost strangled to death by Becca, but is saved by Ravi.
With the truth now public, Sal is posthumously exonerated, and Becca and Mr. Ward are arrested for their roles in the double-homicide.
Reception
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder was named one of the best books of 2020 by Barnes and Noble[2] and received the following accolades:
This section needs expansionwith: the end of the book. You can help by adding missing information. (September 2025)
Pip, after having created a podcast called A Good Girl's Guide To Murder based on the events that took place in the previous novel, is being hailed online as an aspiring detective. In spite of this, Pip promises to herself that she will never take on another case after having lost her beloved dog Barney, and so narrowly having avoided death herself, in her prior case. Her friend Connor Reynolds, however, approaches her, asking for an investigation of the case of his missing brother, Jamie Reynolds. Pip initially refuses, instead putting in a word with DI Hawkins, an officer, but when the police take no action she decides that she will investigate one last case, citing a feeling that Jamie had not simply run away, but rather had been abducted.
Pip starts digging into Jamie's past and present, conducting interviews and piecing together clues. As she gets closer to the truth she realizes that Jamie's case is connected to something dark and dangerous. Furthermore, it seems as though somebody is always one step ahead of her and trying to stop her from uncovering the truth.
Good Girl, Bad Blood was shortlisted for the 2021 YA Book Prize.[7]
As Good As Dead (2021)
Following the events of Good Girl, Bad Blood, Pip has been left psychologically traumatised, implied to have PTSD, and is unable to sleep at night. With her life already at an all-time low, things take a turn for the worse when she becomes the target of a relentless, anonymous stalker. The stalker sends her constant messages, asking her the same question "Who will look for you when you're the one that disappears?" At first Pip tries to brush off the threats hoping that it's just a troll, but as the messages become more frequent and the stalker's presence looms closer and closer to her home, she begins to realise that the danger is real, imminent, and inescapable. Despite her pleas the police refuse to take her seriously, leaving Pip to face the stalker alone.
Armed with two past experiences in solving murders and uncovering the truth, Pip starts to dig deeper into the mystery using her own resources and contacts, interviewing people and following leads. But the further she goes, the more she realizes that the stalker is someone who is closely tied to her past cases and has a vendetta against her. The stalker seems to know everything about her every move, every thought. She eventually discovers that the stalker is a dangerous serial killer who has been active for years, targeting bright young women like herself. The killer seems to be one step ahead of her at all times, leaving her feeling like she's being constantly watched with no possibility of escape. The stakes are higher than ever, and this time, she's not just trying to solve a case, she's trying to save herself from becoming the killer's next victim.
As Good As Dead received a positive review from The Guardian, who named the book "a taut, compulsively readable, elegantly plotted thriller."[8]
Kill Joy (2021)
Kill Joy is a prequel novella set shortly prior to events of the first book in the series. Pip is invited to a friend's birthday party, set up to be a 1920s themed murder mystery dinner. At first Pip is not excited about the idea of a mock murder investigation and would much rather stay home and work on her school project for the upcoming academic year, but she decides to attend for the sake of her friends.
As the night wears on though, Pip finds herself drawn into the investigation surrounding the fictional murder case of Reginald Remy. Using her sharp intellect and keen eye for detail, she pieces together the clues and is soon caught up in this game of intrigue and deception, finding herself becoming more and more invested in the case, and is determined to be the one to crack it open and uncover the truth.
As the night comes to a close Pip is left with the realisation that she is unable to resist the pull of the unknown, and that perhaps this game is not just a game but a prelude to a bigger, more important, real-life investigation into a locally infamous tragic murder-suicide that she could perhaps try her hand at solving.
In September 2022 it was revealed that BBC Three had commissioned a television adaptation from Moon-age Pictures, penned by Poppy Cogan.[9] In June 2023 the author, Jackson, revealed that production of the television series had started, and announced that Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal were cast as the respective lead roles of Pip and Ravi.[10] In March 2024 she shared a small clip of the show with a July 2024 release date.[11] This adaption was released on Netflix in the U.S. and the majority of other territories except the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, on August 1, 2024.[12][13]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
