“What’s wrong with me? … I might seem like the ideal student: homework always in early, every extra credit and extra curricular I can get my hands on, the good girl and the high achiever. But I realized something just now: it’s not ambition, not entirely. It’s fear. Because I don’t know who I am when I’m not working, when I’m not focused on or totally consumed by a task. Who am I between the projects and the assignments, when there’s nothing to do? I haven’t found her yet and it scares me. Maybe that’s why, for my senior capstone project this year, I decided to solve a murder.”
― Holly Jackson, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Every community has a story that haunts the residents. The town of Fairview is not exception to this. Five years ago, popular high school senior Andie Bell went missing and her boyfriend, Sal Singh, was accused of her murder. Not long after Andie went missing, Sal killed himself, leaving the community bereft with questions and her family without a body. It was all anyone could talk about for years. Now five years later, senior Pippa Fitz-Amobi has decided to reopen the Andie Bell case as her senior capstone project. Pip believes that Sal was innocent and that the only way to find the real killer is to do her own investigation. This means digging for answers to a case that everyone else believes is closed. With the help of Sal’s younger brother, Pip reexamines this closed case. It doesn’t take long before Pip ruffles someone’s feathers enough that they start threatening her. This case takes a dangerous turn for all those involved.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the first book in the series of the same name by Holly Jackson. This series debut was intriguing from the start. Pip is smart and driven to solve this case, sometimes to the detriment of her own safety. Each character in this story is well-developed, while the plot wasn’t too predictable. The plot twists were unexpected. I also enjoyed that the author was able to weave in multiple storylines without it becoming too convoluted and confusing. All in all, a great read for both teens and adults.
Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2019)
- Good Girl, Bad Blood (2020)
- As Good as Dead (2021)
Interested in this book? A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the October See YA Book Club pick (it was also made into a series on Netflix!). We will be discussing this book on Wednesday, October 1st at 6:30pm at our Eastern Avenue branch. For more information about future See YA book picks, visit our website.
Join our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.
Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm. Stop by the service desk for more information.
October 1 – A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
November 5 – Rez Ball by Byron Graves
December 3 – Uglies by Scott Westerfeld