A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Scare Factor: 💀💀| Plot: 📕📕📕📕| Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length: 📖 395 pages | Genre: YA Murder Mystery | POV: Third
Dates Read: 04.11.24 – 05.04.24



✴✴✴ TW: Talks of a M*rder-S*icide, Explanation of mode of s*icide (IN BOOK AND REVIEW) ✴✴✴


🕊️ ➞ Tropes:

🕵🏻Whodunit🕵🏻
❓👤Red Herring 👤❓
🚫Trust No One 🚫
❄️📰📁Cold Case 📁📰❄️
🕵🏻 Teen/Amateur Sleuth 🕵🏻


🕊️ ➞ Synopsis:

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.



🕊️ ➞ My Thoughts:

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder left me wanting more, and thankfully there is! I enjoyed the way Jackson ended each chapter with some type of evidential entry to the case and the way it kept me guessing. The plot moved a bit slow at first but picked up quickly as Pip began gathering more and more information and evidence of what happened that night. Honestly, my heart goes to Sal… the poor guy’s mentor and teacher was f*cking his girlfriend and then said mentor just k!lls him because the boyfriend is always the main suspect. P*do k!lled two teenagers, and let’s not forget statutory r@pe. Sal just wanted to graduate and go to Yale, he was a good kid.

Not my heartbreaking over a fictional character…



Andie Bell was awful. I was hoping she was d3ad the more and more I learned about her. She was a bully, and oh I’m sorry…. WHAT TEENAGE BOY USES ROH*PNOL TO GET H*GH?! The fact that she, as a young woman, was okay with selling that stuff to entitled rich boys is just a testament to her character. She reminded me so much of Allison DeLaurentis from Pretty Little Liars; manipulative, cruel, and with a false sense of self-entitlement.

Another thing too… The people of this town are so narrow-minded and bigoted that if it weren’t for the fact I grew up in a similar town, I’d be positively baffled. Truly made me wonder if they thought about the words they were speaking. Smh.

OH AND…

Can we talk about how sh!tty of a friend Jess was to Becca? I called what happened that night IMMEDIATELY by Becca’s behavior. Jess acted selflessly and meanly for no reason other than her ego. I felt for Becca and maintained a soft spot for her even in the end.


I recommend A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder! If you grew up reading Nancy Drew, you’re going to love this series! Having read this alongside a friend (we used Fable, and I definitely recommend that too), we absolutely ate this book up and quickly moved on to the next one! Any excuse to go to Barnes and Noble is an excuse I will always accept. If you’ve read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Reeling & Spiraling,

L.B.





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