I always complain that there aren't enough young adult mysteries that are actual mystery novels, and it is always the number one requested type of story at our library, so I was so excited to have the chance to read this one! I love the format of the novel and the feel of looking through evidence. It was such a fun and utterly immersive read - highly recommend!

I am late in my review - but we did already purchase this for our library and have had two students (10th graders) check it out, and they could not put it down! I am sensing a good school book club pick!

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House, for a complimentary copy of the ebook! Here is my honest review of both the ebook and the audio (which I own):

I listened to the audio while reading along and that gave the book a fantastic feel! But even without the audio, the book would have drawn me in. The story was great and reminded me of a cold case I watched once on Investigation Discovery--which is still unsolved. Fortunately, Holly jackson didn't leave us hanging...her book doesn't leave answers. Using a college application project as the format--with transcripts and recorded interviews--was ingenious! The audio made this format even more interesting since there were different narrators for the different characters in the college application paper. I loved the dynamics in Pip and Ravi's relationship and most of all, I loved that there was not only one simple answer to the question: "Where is Andie and what happened on that Friday, the 18th?".
The last chapter also made me think that this would make a great first book in a series. There are a lot more secrets in Fairview than just this Andie mystery. Let's have a sequel, please!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book!

Wow! I had a hard time putting this one down for any length of time. The book centers on Pip, a teenage girl whose senior capstone project is a murder from five years before. She wants to prove that Sal Singh is innocent of killing Andie,, his girlfriend. In a case where nothing is how it seems, she questions everything...even those she loves. Will there be justice for Andie? Was Sal innocent? Pip doesn't know, but she's going to find out.

I love how this book is more than a murder mystery. It's about family, and how they can be made or broken based on the choices people make. The murder mystery angle was well done as well, keeping me guessing the whole time, which is hard to do! Every clue Pip uncovers is as if the reader is uncovering it, so when twists happen for Pip, the reader is right there.

The book kept me engaged the entire time, and I am excited that this is a series! I can't wait to read the next one!

I enjoyed reading this book a lot and will definitely recommend it to anyone who likes murder mysteries or some of the newer crime podcasts.

Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a YA murder mystery that follows Pip, who has been thinking about a local murder investigation from a few years earlier, the outcome of which has never set well with her. The case in question involved local high school students, Andie Bell and Sal Singh. Andie went missing and Sal, who was her boyfriend at the time, immediately becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance. When Sal takes his own life, everyone assumes that he killed Andie and committed suicide and thus the case was closed. Pip doesn’t buy it. Sal was one of the sweetest people she has ever known and she refuses to believe for one second that he hurt Andie. Pip therefore decides to use her senior project as an opportunity to re-examine the case and find the real killer and she enlists Sal’s younger brother, Ravi, to help her.

This was such a fun read for me. I loved watching Pip in action. She’s a very sharp young lady and has a real knack for being able to sift through clues and put together the pieces of a five year old murder mystery. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing as Pip followed the evidence and recorded her findings in her project journal. I also really loved that we were given the excerpts from Pip’s journal so that we could get inside of her head and follow her thought patterns as she sifted through what she found. In addition to the thrill of feeling like I was right there with Pip as she investigated, there was also growing tension and suspense as Pip starts receiving anonymous threats warning her to back off or else.

While the case itself and Pip’s journey toward the truth is riveting, I also really enjoyed A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder because of the growing friendship between Pip and Ravi. Ravi of course never believed his brother was capable of murder and has always wanted the opportunity to prove Sal’s innocence. Instead of having that chance, however, Ravi, as the brother of an accused murderer, has pretty much been ostracized by the community. I loved that Pip reached out to him and gave him the opportunity to help clear his brother and get closure, and I especially loved that a true friendship between Pip and Ravi grew from them working on this project together. I’m also excited that this book is the first in a series so I’m hoping we’ll get more of both Pip and Ravi in the next installment.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is one heck of a wild ride and I highly recommend it to fans of YA thrillers.

This book hit me with some strong Serial vibes right off the bat (which is a good thing). I didn't know how similar a story it was going to be, but luckily it wasn't a copycat case or anything. I thought the premise of Pip's investigation was interesting, if a little far-fetched. With that being said, it does stay in the realm of mostly plausible. I hate when YA thrillers take a turn for the completely unrealistic and there's no possible way you could have figured out who the killer/bad guy is.

Pip as a character was mostly likable. There were a couple of times where I felt like her FAMILY was in danger and she should have gone to the police or at the very least told Ravi or HER PARENTS and she didn't. That was a tad bit frustrating. Secondary characters were basically non-entities besides Cara. I'm not really sure why the author gave Pip more friends or even parents for that matter, because they literally did nothing the whole book. The plot was pretty interesting, though it was clear from the very beginning that Sal was not going to be the killer (though it would have been an AMAZING ending if he had been).  I felt like the ending wasn't super satisfactory--there were some definite loose ends--but it looks like it's going to be a series so hopefully some stuff will get cleared up later.

Overall, I liked this book. I thought it was a pretty good thriller and I buy the ending. I wasn't anticipating it being a series, though, and I'm not super interested in reading another story with the same cast? Just doesn't seem as plausible that there'd be another case for Pip to solve. So with that in mind, I really wish the author had just tied up all the loose ends in this book. But as a single book, I would definitely recommend!

Purchase: Hardcover | Kindle

Overall Rating: 4
Language: Moderate
Violence: Moderate
Sexual Content: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate

Note: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone in Fairview knows the story of Andie Bell, the pretty and popular senior who was brutally murdered by her boyfriend Sal Singh…who then killed himself before he could officially be convicted. Five years later, Pippa has decided to do her senior project on the effect social media played in the case, though she has an ulterior motive: she doesn’t believe Sal was guilty. With the help of Sal’s younger brother, Pippa digs into the case, uncovering a truth she might not want to know.

Anyone who’s a fan of Serial or Veronica Mars will feel right as home within these pages. It’s on the longer side, especially for YA, clocking in at 400 pages, but I tore through it, eager to discover what really happened the night Andie was killed. Was she being bullied? Was she the bully? Are drugs involved? Is she even truly dead? All these questions and more are raised and I happily followed along until the end. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has received enough praise already that there are now three other books slated for this series – and I, for one, can’t wait to see where Jackson goes from here! (Also, not-so-silently weeping that she was born in 1992.)

Scheduled to post 2/22/20.

THE DOG DIES.

Okay, now that we've gotten THAT out of the way (I just put my dog of 14 years down at the end of January, you know how hard I ugly cried when the damn dog died in the story? books should come with warnings about that, and it didn't happen until maybe 2/3 of the way through the book),  A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER is definitely a riff on Serial's story on Adnan Syed. Or The Case for Adnan Syed on Netflix (Netflix? HBO?). Many, many similarities there, but this a positive, conclusive ending in this book. Where Syed's story takes place in, I think, Marlyand, this story is set in Connecticut, where traffic circles are called rotaries, not roundabouts. Just FYI, as someone born and raised in Connecticut. I'm not from Fairfield, or Fairview, as the story calls it, which I can understand why, but kept all the names of the surrounding towns the same, but I'm familiar with the area as a frequent Metro North traveler into the city. I could actually picture the Fairfield stop in my head when they were talking about it. And my ARC of the book had a lovely little Freudian slip in it. One of the footnotes at the beginning of the story did say Fairfield, not the fictional Fairview. Wonder if that got picked up on final edit.

The story itself was definitely compelling and while Pip makes some wildly bad decisions regarding her safety over the course of the book, it wasn't so far outside the realm of reason that it took me out at all. Once she started peeling the layers back on that onion, Pip couldn't stop and I can't say I blame her. What started off as a semi-innocent project quickly turned into an obsession that didn't go anywhere she originally intended it to go. As these things are wont to do.

As for characters I liked Pip and Sal's brother, whose name escapes me. I liked his sense of humor and I think they worked well together and whatever feels were developing between them were kept as far off the page as possible, which I totally appreciate. I think delving too deeply into that part of their lives for most of this book would have been pretty inappropriate and as the reader you only get a hint of it at the very end. I fully support that.

Andie's development you can see coming a mile away and she was never meant to be this innocent thing that got senselessly murdered. I wouldn't go so far to say she deserved it, and the book doesn't say that, but people have a tendency to canonize the dead and Andie wasn't someone who deserved that. The book was not shy about pointing that out. I think as human beings we need to be better at these things. Kobe Bryant comes to mind. While he wasn't murdered, his death was felt by the people closest to him, but just because it was premature doesn't mean we should ignore the controversy of his past and pretend none of it happened. Andie was the golden girl, but that doesn't mean there wasn't blackness in her heart. And as the story unfolds, you see just how black her heart got.

The only part of the book I wasn't too thrilled about was the ending. I liked how everything ended; I just didn't like how it was conveyed. There are two separate confessions just kind of dumped on you as two separate monologues to Pip. I was kind of meh about that. The first time it happened I was like okay, but that's not an unreasonable thing for this kind of book. And then it happened again and I wanted to be like, was there no other way to get that information out there?

But other that I loved the book. Super addictive and compelling and I kept trying to guess who the killer could have been (I was partially right with my initial guess). I found A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER hard to put down and felt winded when it was finally over. A great read and I look forward to reading more by Jackson!

4

This book was a fantastic surprise! I would class this as one of my favorite YA mystery/thrillers I've read recently. It's up there with One of Us is Lying, which is an ultimate favorite.

What worked for me:
-The protagonist is an intelligent, quick-on-her-feet teenager. I totally bought into the idea that she's investigating this murder as an independent school project, and I loved that she's rational and sympathetic.
-Great supporting cast and romance, too, even though they don't feature TOO heavily!
-IMPECCABLE. PACING. Never a boring moment.

What didn't:
-My understanding is that this book was originally published in the UK, but they're publishing a US version now. I'm not sure if it was originally also set in the UK, but the version I read is set in the US. I looked up this info intentionally because sometimes the characters speak as if they are from the UK (i.e. greeting each other with "Alright?" and using "cheeky" to describe people). Not a big deal, but it took me out of the story a little bit! If it had been set in the UK, it would have made more sense to me.

For Pippa’s senior project, she has decided to research the impact of social media on murder cases, though really, she is trying to find the true murderer in an old case. Several years ago, teen Andie Bell was murdered by her high school sweetheart, Sal Singh, who committed suicide shortly afterward. Pippa looked up to Sal when she was little and refuses to believe that he would ever commit murder. Enlisting the help of Sal’s younger brother, Ravi, Pippa begins digging into the past. However, she begins to receive more and more threatening notes. Has this murder really been solved, or is Pippa getting closer to the truth?

I truly enjoyed this novel. It moved quickly and I was completely invested in the mystery. While things wrapped up extremely quickly, and it felt like a British book (though it was set in America), I will be recommending this book to many readers.

If you were raised on a steady diet of Nancy Drew, now voraciously consume true crime podcasts while you sit in traffic, and always secretly wished you could solve a cold case yourself, then you will love this book.

You’ll follow the spunky, smart Pip as she attempts to clear the name of Sal Singh, a high school senior who is believed to have murdered his popular girlfriend Andie Bell. But what starts as a school project in journalism quickly evolves into an insidious plot that could devastate the lives of everyone around her.

This book is an easy read with likable characters and a mystery that has a satisfying ending (that wasn’t too easy to solve)! I particularly loved two things - Pip’s relationship with her family, particularly her step-father (I feel like great family relationships can be hard to find in YA books) and how well technology was used throughout the book. So many times, modern YA authors can totally neglect to use every day pieces of technology that would make complete sense in a specific situation (like Find My Phone!), and so I was pleasantly surprised to see how effectively Pip used these functions to aid her investigation.

I can’t wait to see more from this author!

Hi, my name is Alison and I’m obsessed with murder.

Normally, I don’t read YA books, but I heard amazing things about this one so I made an exception. I don’t regret that decision one bit. This was such a fun one.

Immediately the story drew me in. A murder? A mystery? A highly relatable character? I’m here for it.

The pros:
-Pip may be one of my favorite fictional characters, ever. I’d like to believe that I would be just like her in another world.
-The way that the book was split up into interviews, maps, police reports, and notes from Pip’s school project really added to the book. (Extra points for creativity.)

The cons:
-It was little slow in some places. It didn’t last long though, I promise!

I strongly recommend this book to all of you!

This book is out now-what are you waiting for?!


Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

The audio of this book was ABSOLUTELY fantastic! I will definitely be recommending it to my more mature students. A very thrilling tale, well plotted, and had some real gems of insight from main character Pip. A perfect read for fans of Kara Thomas, Karen McManus, and Courtney Summers.

Two days after Andie’s disappearance, her boyfriend Sal commits suicide confessing to her murder. Now, five years later Pippa, a budding journalist who believes in Sal’s innocence, uses Andie’s presumed murder as a final project. Determined to solve the mystery, Pip enlists the help of Sal’s brother Ravi and what they find could be dangerous. A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER is filled with details and clues, but over all Jackson kept the story moving along with the use of transcripts, police reports and Pip’s notes. In the end they did figure out who the person responsible was and it was not who i had thought it would be. This book is a mystery that definitely keeps you guessing.

A perfectly acceptable teen mystery. I enjoyed Pip’s perspective, a hard-working journalist teen who loses herself in homework and likes to follow the rules. Her senior capstone project is essentially to catch a killer and solve a notorious murder in her hometown. The players in the puzzle are all close to her, so the project makes sense. We have to suspend our belief at very dramatic turns of this novel, but that’s to be expected. There’s more freedom to be a modern-day Nancy Drew in a YA novel. As an adult reading this, I kept flinching at her choices—no, don’t break into that house and then type up your attempted burglary into your capstone project! The dialogue was also sublimely average, and I may have done a few solid eye rolls. I give this one a three out of five—I’m not its intended audience, but had I been I think I would have really enjoyed it.

Aaaaand this is another thriller that didn't quite thrill me. I usually love books that have different perspectives to tell the story, but it was annoying in this case how it alternated between the character (told in third person) and the paper she's writing (told in first person). There was something just really lacking for me, and maybe it resonates with many others but to me it was a dud.

Mystery is my least read genre because I don’t usually find them enjoyable. I’m bored by all the grandiose thinking and sleuthing (and the person they originally think it is definitely isn’t the killer). However, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I was making my own guesses and theories as to what happened.
I love Pip and her dedication to her senior project. She wants to prove the innocence of the alleged murderer and nothing will stop her. She was a lot of fun to read about and is definitely much braver than I would ever be in her situation. I loved her and Ravi’s friendship, as well as how she maintained her pre-existing friendships too, even though almost everyone ended up being a suspect at some point.
Another genre I don’t read alongside of Mysteries is Romance. I can’t stand romance subplots taking over the narrative of an otherwise enjoyable book, but I cannot applaud the romance in this book enough! I loved how deliciously subtle it was and didn’t distract from the story plot. It left me rooting for them to get together, something I hardly ever do.
So I am not an expert as to whether this was a good mystery or not, but it kept me entertained in a way that not many other mysteries do. It had wonderful characters and great friendships, as well as a very good romance subplot! I loved every second of this and hope everyone gets a chance to give this a try.

This was a fun YA read - but I do think you need to suspend some belief to really enjoy. It is like a YA version of a true crime podcast, where a high school senior is reviewing and analyzing a “closed” murder case that occurred five years ago in her hometown. I really liked the ending and thought it tied everything together, but not in a predictable way!

Thanks to NetGalley and a Random House for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Holly Jackson and NetGalley for an early access to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Towards the end I knew the book was ended and want it to keep going. The development of Pip was impressive and each of her family and friend experiences was spot on in the perfect amount of detail. I will be purchasing this book AND waiting for the next in the series!

I really liked this book, it was like 'One of Us is Lying', but so much better. The characters are great!