A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the first in a series of twisty young adult mystery novels. My kid loves it and when I asked them why, they said, "this is the kind of mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s very exciting and formatted in a way that makes it hard to put it down.” 

I was fully prepared to dislike this book. I thought it was going to be twee and safe, and I was wrong!

I loved how the setting of this book transported you into small-town life in the UK. There are many fabulous young adult thrillers about (think McManus!) set in the USA, but I really enjoyed a UK teenage experience being brought to life by Jackson. 

I’m also a sucker for books that use intertextual sources: Excerpts from diaries, recorded interviews, and a map kept it highly engaging.

I’m also happy to report that while this book series ignited my… show more.

In A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, everyone in Pippa’s small town knows that five years ago, Sal Singh murdered Andie Bell. But Pippa disagrees. For her senior project, she sets out to unravel the cold case of Andie’s murder. Narrated using media like police interviews, newspaper articles, and Pippa’s project notes, this book asks the question: Is something true just because everyone believes it? Read if you’re a justice seeker who loved Nancy Drew as a kid or if you’d totally open the locked basement door in a scary movie even though you know it’s a bad idea. 

If I am to mention one book that would leave you all breathless, in a world of crime and mystery it would be... Drum roll, please. 

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. I am a secret YA fan. I love them all and if one day I had 25 hours in a day I would definitely reread most of them.

The crime in the book was a cold case, and it was interesting to see the mindset of a small town. They all pointed an easy finger, without actually looking at all the facts. It opened my mind to… show more.

Told through interviews, prose, and text messages, we watch a small-town murder mystery come to life when the Nancy Drew-esque detective resurrects a murder case that happened years ago that doesn’t quite sit right with her. I love the characters and it was intriguing to dive into a YA Mystery that doesn’t quite read like all the others. Highly recommend the second one in the series as well.