The novel A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the first book in a thrilling and bone chilling trilogy, published in 2019 by author Holly Jackson. The plot centers a murder in a quiet town called Fairview of a young school girl by the name of Andrea Bell, who was allegedly killed by her former boyfriend Salil Singh, who then committed suicide to escape the consequences of his actions. Sal’s closest friend’s threw mud on his alibi after his death, causing the investigation to be closed quickly. Five years later a question arises for the protagonist, Pippa; “Did Sal truly murder Andie, or was it all just a cover up for the real monster?” Could the investigation for a school project fulfill her research, or would she simply become obsessed with finding out who really killed Andrea?

Pippa’s capstone project became the number one priority in her life, she was always big on due dates and good grades. She didn’t believe Sal to be a murderer because he was loved by everyone, but the police gave up too quickly and ignored major pieces of evidence that would prove Sal’s innocence. She does loads of web searching to gather as much information about the investigation, in order to start her own way of interrogation. Pippa lists names of people the two suspects were close with, including friends and family members. Early on in her interviews, she noticed that a few alibis never really fit together how they should’ve, the time never really matched up. As Pip continued with her project, she grew the need to talk to Sal’s little brother Ravi Singh, the spitting image of Fairview’s so-called monster. Ravi wasn’t very welcoming when she first attempted to communicate with him, but the more the story unraveled the closer the two became.

As the days went by Pip’s “Persons of Interest list” (POI) racked from just one to at least 7 possible suspects. The further the investigation went, the more of the truth about the sweet and innocent, button nosed, Andie unfolded. Pip found out that Andie wasn’t as nice as everyone thought she was. She was a bully, and would blackmail students into dropping out of plays. She’d even degrade her closest friends about their looks or social status. Andie was also dealing drugs at Calamity parties to the students that went to her school. However, she had a reason though, as her father was cruel, neglecting, and children mirror the choices their parents make. 

Will Pip find out who really killed Andie and framed Sal, or was the investigation all for nothing? So far she’s doing a good job at filling in all her missing puzzle pieces and ranking up her POI list. Maybe one of Sal’s friends grew jealous of the couple and framed Sal for their crime. Could her punching bag finally come and punch back, or was it maybe a grudge held against an unsuspected person on the sidelines of her life. Read for yourself, but only at your own risk.