"A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" Series Review

July 6, 2023

"A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" is a novel by Holly Jackson, with two sequels, namely "Good Girl, Bad Blood" and "As Good as Dead". As someone who loves to read and watch TV or movies, I know a very normal complaint is that sequels just aren't as good as the original, but that complaint simply doesn't apply. In fact, one of my favorite books ever is the third book in this series.

So, in this review, I'm going to guide you through the story lines of each book and what makes them not only unique, but amazing.

As I said, the first novel in this trilogy is "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder". This book introduces readers to the main character, Pippa Fitz-Amobi, an introvert senior in high school with good grades and a passion for true crime. For her senior capstone project, Pip decides to investigate into a case that was closed 5 years prior, that she believes just simply can't be right. The case is centered around two people, Andie Bell and Sal Singh. When Andie Bell was found dead one night, the police took "the path of least resistance," as Pip would say, and decided that evidence led to Sal murdering Andie, and then feeling so guilty he killed himself. However, Pip knew Sal, and believes he truly couldn't have committed such a horrible crime.

On her journey, Pip gets help from her friends and meets new people, most importantly Ravi Singh (my FAV), and ends up solving the case and exposing the truth, which was really Pip's goal from the start. The book ends on a happy note, leaving readers satisfied.

Now, on to the things I loved about this book. Of all three in the series, this book had the most complicated case in my opinion. At first, there was so much going on it was almost hard to follow, but absolutely everything came together in the end, leaving no questions unanswered. Also, I loved seeing Pip and Ravi go from strangers to friends and thensome.

This book truly had my heart racing at many points, almost as if I was Pip and I was about to go confront a drug dealer or some other outrageously brave thing Pip did. As someone who is relatively new to the mystery genre, this book is definitely a great place to start that will probably get you hooked on mysteries for life. 

Now, on to the sequel, "Good Girl, Bad Blood". While this book seems to have a trend of being people's least favorite in the series, I rated it 5 stars, soo.... still amazing. This book begins with Pip making her podcast, called A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, which, as Ravi would say, definitely has pizzazz. As she is doing so, she also states that there won't be any more seasons of her extremely popular true crime podcast, because of the danger she put herself and her family in while investigating into the Andie Bell case. However, when her friend's brother, Jamie Reynolds, goes missing, and there isn't anything the police will do, Pip barely has a choice. This sequel is filled with plot twists, and, once again, edge-of-your-seat moments.

I loved how this book was just as good of a case as the first book, involving the same characters and some new ones, with a lot more of Ravi and his nicknames. It's an absolutely exceptional sequel the first novel, and so perfectly fitting for the series.

The ending of this book is gut-wrenching, and even though I mostly only cry during dog books, I shed a few tears at the end. In contrast to the first book, this book ends on a rather eerie note, making me extremely eager to start the next book, which I did in the same day I finished this book.

With that being said, let's move on to "As Good as Dead". This is genuinely one of my favorite books and even though I don't typically reread books, I will definitely come back to this one. The novel begins just about where the last one ended, and Pip is suffering from extreme PTSD (I won't say why in the interest of not spoiling anything). The first 100 or so pages of this book are much, much darker than the rest of the series, considering the fact that the reader can see what Pip is thinking. The novel introduces the idea of Pip investigating into an old case about Jane Doe, believing that this case will be cut and dry and will allow her some closure, unlike her last case. Solve the Jane Doe case to get her out of her misery. However, once Pip starts to see some weird signs all around her, she realizes she may be being stalked. She is told by her mom that it's all just a coincidence, and by the police that there isn't much they can do. But when Ravi, her cornerstone, believes her, she knows she isn't crazy.

The fact that this book is Pip solving a mystery about herself, "sav[ing] herself to save herself", makes it just a little bit darker and scarier, but nevertheless even better. Again, not spoiling anything, put there was a major plot twist in about the middle of this book, and that was when I realized that this was going to be one of my new favorite books. It seems totally unexpected from the Pip she started out as before even investigating into the Andie Bell case, but Pip has gone from a person who believes in the truth and right over wrong to someone totally different. This mystery novel is one of the most full circle books I have ever read, which is kind of hard to explain, but you will get it if you read it. Literally everything from the first and second book plays a part in this novel, with parts of this case explaining parts of other cases she investigated and everything just makes sense in the best way possible. Finally, THE ENDING. It was the best and most perfect possible ending for this book and this series. Wow. Just wow. 

The "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" series is a trilogy of thrilling mystery novels circling around Pippa Fitz-Amobi and her true crime obsession, with tons of plot twists and edge-of-your-seat moments. If you are even the slightest bit interesting in murder mystery, READ THESE BOOKS.