A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder~ Holly Jackson
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder~ Holly Jackson
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the story of Pippa (Pip), a straight A student, who decided to EPQ (Extended Project Qualification done in your last year of school as an extra qualification in top of A Levels) on the murder of a local girl, five years beforehand. The victim’s boyfriend is thought to have killed her and then committed suicide out of guilt. Pip believes he didn’t do it and teams up with his younger brother to solve the case.
Jackson writes Pip as a real straight A, dorky student. She’s awkward and hyper-fixates on certain things and loves her friends and family. There are a lot of jokes made about her dedication to her homework and getting good grades, but Pip is not bullied over it and that was a refreshing change.
The switch between third person chapters and the production log written as part of the EPQ didn’t interrupt the flow of the novel, in fact, I would say it improved the flow. The production log often included the evidence that Pip gathered. Some of that was interviews with witnesses and I think putting them in the production log as a transcript improved the pacing of the novel instead of including them in the chapters as a big chunk of dialogue. It also made it a little more distinguishable from other stories.
The relationships in this novel are really well written. Pip and her family have a brilliant relationship that isn’t made a plot point, it’s just there. Her relationship with her friends are also refreshing to read as there is no drama between them, they just care and support each other. Even when one of the friendships becomes a plot point, Jackson continues to write the friends as supportive and still loving each other even when things are falling apart around them. Probably the most prominent relationship in the book is Pip and the alleged murderer’s brother, Ravi. The two of them start of on a bad foot but then decide to team up. It’s obvious that it is set up to eventually be a romantic relationship, but I like many, many YA novels, the romance is an afterthought. They are friends first and foremost, detectives second and anything else comes after that.
I enjoyed this book a lot. There were moments where I felt so much second-hand embarrassment for Pip as she tried to navigate areas of life that she had no clue in (the house party scene). There were also moments that I had to take a moment to remind myself that as realistic as the EPQ parts were, they were fiction. As someone who did attempt an EPQ, I did pick it apart somewhat. But that was just me being a little judgemental.
A very important part in a murder mystery case is whether or not I guessed the resolution before the end of the book. I didn’t. It wasn’t a surprise, nor was it that I was kicking myself for missing something. It was very well written by Jackson.
Overall I give it four stars and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. As a final note, this book dealt with more mature themes than I expected including rape, drugs, underage relationships and obviously murder.
C🌙
