A Good Girl's Guide To Murder

They sat there, watching as I chose yet another book that wasn't them. For three months, they waited patiently for their chance to be in my reading spotlight. To be savored, or more accurately devoured like a juicy burger. But for what now feels like excuses rather than legitimate reasons, I passed them by. It didn't matter how many times I heard my younger sibling talk about them or how multiple bookworms sang their praises for the series. Until one sunny Sunday, my hands, or more my finger, clicked on A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, the first of the series baring it's name.

Okay, so definitely a dramatic way to start a series review, but I felt this trilogy deserved it. And let it be known, at the point of initially writing this, I haven't finished book three, As Good As Dead, something I'm sure will be resolved very, very soon. For this story, though, the focus will be on books one and two, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and Good Girl, Bad Blood.

Something tells me As Good As Dead will need to have its own article.

Now a warning: walk away if you haven't read these two books. There will be spoilers, though I will keep quiet about certain major events.

A quick "spoiler-free" summary

Holly Jackson transports us to Fairview, Connecticut, a small town where 17-year-old and high school senior Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi becomes the resident detective, starting with a case assumed to be closed five years ago - the murder of Andie Bell. The police and most of the town believes boyfriend Sal Singh, who allegedly committed suicide soon afterwards, killed Andie. Pip, under the guise of a capstone project to find the impact media has on police investigations using Andie Bell as a case study, is determined to prove Sal was innocent. With the help of Ravi Singh, younger brother to Sal, and others in town, Pip searches for the truth of what happened five years ago, at whatever cost.

Book two follows Pip's second case, the disappearance of Jamie Reynolds. With younger brother Connor Reynolds, now boyfriend Ravi, and subscribers of the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder podcast, they run against the clock to find Jamie alive. Pip also deals with the aftermath of the events in the book prior, following the court proceedings of Max Hastings and dealing with the bad blood of several in town, especially Nat de Silva.

The covers

Both covers do their job of giving us a glimpse of the story before you even start. To those who have read these books, you can pick out certain details, such as the intertwining red threads representing Pip's murder board in book one, while the headphones links to the podcast in book two. Even in the way the title is written out, with book one's being typed and book two's written on what appears to be scotch tape, hints at what is inside. Although the trilogy is considered to be a mystery triller, the background color indicates that things will be darker with each book. It makes me wish I had paper copies of the books rather than just having them on my Kindle.

The characters

I know I have a well written story in my hands when the side characters are so well developed, each one an essential part of the tale no matter how small a part they actually play. Holly Jackson finds this balance of flaw and strength for each character, creating people you can relate to, even the quote on quote bad people. Well, not Max Hastings, (or Jason Bell, Howie, you know the ones I'm talking about), we just hate despise them.

Pip's arc is one of my favorites. Though it is difficult to read at times, you can see how each revelation, how every moment changes her. She wants to help people and do the right thing, but is willing to push the moral and legal boundaries to do so. Pip also tries to look at people as a whole, not just black and white, but also their shades of gray. I saw it especially with how she tried to handle things with Becca Bell and Stanley Forbes. Even though they both did bad things, Pip saw it for what it was, humans who made really horrible mistakes. It did not inherently mean they were evil.

I also quite enjoyed how Holly Jackson peels back the layers of Andie Bell. On the surface, she was a pretty girl who seemed to have a perfect life. But throughout both books, you could see how much Andie hid from many people.

The relationships

(This includes friendships, enemies and romantic relationships.)

Of course, I love Pip and Ravi's relationship. I think the most impressive thing is how strong their bond is despite everything. Let's be honest, if your romance with your partner intertwined with the darkest secrets and cases in town, things would have ended real quick. But for these two, there isn't any question if Ravi would be there to help Pip blackmail (no sorry, persuade) and break into yet another house.

This doesn't mean Ravi blindly follows Pip's lead because he is in love with her. They have built a trust in each other, and as Ravi says Pip is annoyingly right most of the time. Because of that love, Ravi is also there for Pip in her darkest and terrifying moments, no matter how dangerous it could be for him. He becomes her light, her voice of reason, the person who always seems to know what to say to keep Pip going. And ladies, don't we all want that type of guy in our life.

Nat de Silva and Pip's eventual friendship was a great plot twist for me. I could understand the tension between the two of them, mostly from Nat's end, but still. Fresh from a prison sentence, this child comes up bringing up events and people in your past you screwed you up so badly you are still dealing with the damage. I wouldn't like that kid either, even if it was obvious she was just trying to help. But to have Pip be the one to break the news of the outcome in the Max Hasting case to Nat was a genius move; it was a turning point for them.

The story

Without giving too much away, all three stories are connected, so don't try to read them out of order. Even though the initial case is solved in both books, it doesn't mean you are done with that story. Instead, it carries into the next book, creating a foundation for the coming events and I like that.

Another thing I would like to point out is Holly's gift of foreshadowing. Though she does a great job of it throughout the books, there is one in particular that I believe is noteworthy. Near the end of A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, chapter 48, Becca laces Pip's tea with Rohypnol, causing Pip to be rushed to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. But before Holly outright tells us Pip has been drugged, she hints at it with phrases such as "her mouth felt dry, and there was an awful tremor in her throat," and "feeling unsteady." (pages 370-371 on Kindle). At first, you chalk it and other clues up to Pip reacting to Becca's confession until Pip starts to stutter and skip over words. It adds to the suspense and tension of the moment, and it is absolutely perfect. Plus, the formatting at the end of the chapter is so great.

All in all, this series so far is worth every bit the hype and praise it has received. So I guess the mystery I have to solve is why am I working on finishing the finale As Good As Dead right now?

Be on the lookout for the second part of this review focusing on book three As Good As Dead.