Everyone in Fairview knows the story.
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.
But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?
Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.[1]
I really enjoyed this book; it’s set up like a school project, with maps of the town, screenshots of text messages between characters, phone call transcriptions, case files and notes, and interviews. It switches between the notes of her capstone project and the actual story, which gives the book an interesting layout and keeps you engaged.
The book is labeled YA, but it includes themes like murder, kidnapping, drug-dealing, racism, bullying, sexual assault, violence, and profanity. It’s a good mystery, and the thrill of it keeps you on your toes. The ending was very unexpected, but to try and keep this spoiler-free, I’m not going to get into details about that.
Pip is a very hardworking and bright, straight-A student. She’s an enjoyable character who feels realistic and relatable throughout the entire novel. She goes to extreme measures to find out who the real killer is: going to house parties and approaching drug dealers, breaking into people’s houses, impersonating people’s friends to gain information, and doing other very dangerous things to try and solve this case. As the story progresses, we see Pip lying to her family and friends, keeping things from people, and overall straying from the innocent persona that everybody knows her as. We see similarities to her and Andie; everybody thought Andie was this perfect girl, but in reality, she had a ton of secrets nobody knew about, similar to the secrets Pip kept while trying to solve this case.
On the other hand, one thing that felt very unrealistic to me about Pip was how she reached certain conclusions. It felt like she knew everything; she made so many assumptions all by herself, but somehow always managed to be correct. At certain points in the novel, it felt like she was just extremely lucky.
My favorite character in this book is probably Ravi. Ravi is Sal Singh’s brother, and he helps Pip throughout her investigation. I don’t have any complaints about Ravi; he’s likable and adds a significant amount to the enjoyment of the book. His humor, attitude, and so many other things about him make the experience of reading this book more enjoyable than it already is. By the end of this book, it is revealed that Pip and Ravi are somewhat of a couple. If it were done any other way, them getting together would feel artificial, or like fan-service, but it was surprisingly natural. The buildup of their relationship from cold and tense to friendly was written really well, and it never took up the main plot; that was always saved for the mystery.
Overall, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a pretty good book, and I recommend that you guys reading this try and pick up this book at some point. The sequels
- Jackson, Holly. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Delacorte Press, 2020
