A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Series

I heard a lot of raves about this book series on the internet, but I didn’t take too much note of it. The title made it sound very YA, and slightly kiddish. But last year after loving the Truly Devious series, I thought I’d explore more books in this style – hence A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

About the series

As of now, this is a trilogy of three books. The protagonist of this series is lovable Pippa Fitz-Amobi – an intelligent and tenacious high school student with a penchant for unraveling mysteries. Driven by her insatiable curiosity and an unyielding sense of justice, Pippa finds herself caught up in a series of unsolved murders that shake the tranquil town of Fairview to its core.

I have currently read the first two books.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

~ Synopsis from Goodreads

Thoughts

This book surprised me! I didn’t expect it to be so good, with such a solid mystery and great characters. Think Nancy Drew but modernized, with a strong enough plot and no unnecessary romances or crushes. The book starts with a bang – Pippa has a school project for which she needs to relook at an old murder case (a rather tenuous reason to investigate the murder, but it works).

Soon, she’s interviewing all the characters, making case notes, and rattling many people. She and her friend (adorable Ravi Singh 🥺 🥰) go about the investigation systematically. The book takes us step by step through the investigation – Holly Jackson takes a multimodal approach to share Pip’s investigation; the narrative switches from the third person to interview recordings to pages in a diary to email exchanges, which keeps it interesting and adds an element of realism.

The last part of the book is a little weak. The killer’s motivations seem a bit sus, and I found the ending a little unbelievable.

But overall, I thought it was a really fun book. I buddy-read it with my daughter; it was such fun speculating on all the characters, motivations, etc.

Good Girl, Bad Blood

Pip isn’t a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she must break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds disappeared on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie, then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way, and this time, everyone is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

~ Synopsis from Goodreads

My Review

Things turn darker in this book. Pippa is the local celebrity in her town; she’s got a podcast (which I love as I have lately been into true crime podcasts); Ravi is now her boyfriend; life is good.

However, one day Jamie Reynolds – her friend’s brother, goes missing, and she’s asked to investigate. In what I now recognize is Jackson’s trademark style, she goes all-in, interviewing the concerned people, recording the investigation as a podcast, and everything as per the template.

But this time, the mystery was structured better. I didn’t see any of the twists coming, and the ending was intense. There’s a very addictive quality to both these books, and we were reading these books back to back.

My daughter also read the third book and says the series turns even darker and stupidly unbelievable. She also let out some spoilers, and now I cannot forgive her for spoiling the book for me 😭 😭. I will have to wait a while to somewhat forget the spoilers, so taking a short break before I continue with As Good as Dead.

Have you read these books? What did you think of them? Any in the same genre you’d like to recommend?