A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Book #1
by Holly Jackson

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA mystery, suspense

Using her senior school project as a guise, Pip decides to dig into the cold case of a girl that was supposedly murdered by her boyfriend, who then killed himself, five years in the past. At first, she just wants to come up with reasonable doubt that Sal Singh killed his girlfriend, and it’s not long before she comes up with quite a few potential suspects. But the more she digs into her town’s secrets, the more someone doesn’t like what she’s doing, and Pip and her loved ones might be in danger.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from this book—something more shallow, maybe, or full of teen angst—but instead I found it to be an enjoyable, fast-paced mystery that kept me guessing! There was a major Veronica Mars feel to the story (a show that I love), though Pip is much less jaded than Veronica Mars. Pip’s progression through the clues, adding suspects to her list, and re-arranging those suspects all coincide with her attempt to maintain her friendships and get a college application and essay done on time. There were some decisions that Pip made that I thought were pretty terrible, all the way up to the end, though I don’t know if that’s a fault in the writing or in her teenage decision-making skills. And I have to admit, at some points along the way, I was worried the ending and reveal would be anti-climactic, but it was anything but. Even when you think you know what’s going on, there’s a little more to uncover.

My 13-year-old daughter read this book as well; she might be a little on the young side for its target audience (not even being in high school yet), but she loved it! For those who want to know about content, there is some language, including 3-4 f-words, and plenty of references to teen sex and drug use, though nothing explicit. If you’re concerned, I’d definitely recommend reading it before your teen does (especially a younger teen). In the end, though, I’m glad I read it and look forward to continuing the series.

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