The Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Reviewed by Natalie O.

Grade 12

Can you imagine solving a murder for a school project? That is the premise of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. This book is a solid young adult mystery with compelling characters and an interesting story line, even if the author doesn't quite stick the landing.

This book follows high school senior Pippa Fitz-Amobi, who decides to investigate the murder of a teenage girl in her small Connecticut town for a school project. Everyone in the town is convinced that the boyfriend of the murdered girl, who committed suicide shortly after her disappearance, is the culprit. But Pippa is not so sure. She teams up with the boy's brother to try and solve the case, and uncovers all kinds of secrets along the way.

Overall, I thought that book was a solid, if generic, mystery. The author does a good job of slowly building tension throughout the story in order to keep the reader engaged, and I genuinely cared about the characters. However, the premise of the story isn't very unique, and I don't feel that it was particularly memorable. I also felt like the mystery was resolved very quickly and we didn't get enough exploration of the case or build up to the solution. There were a lot of suspects, and I feel like there were just too many things going on for the author to go into any one possibility in depth, which led to a feeling that there were a lot of untied loose ends and the sense that everything that happened after the 50% mark was rushed. The last thing I want to say is that the author is from the UK, but the story is set in America, and the characters consistently use British slang and phrases. I feel like an editor should have flagged it, but it was also stuff that I think the author should have been able to differentiate herself. It kept taking me out of the world of the story.

I would give this book a solid 3 out of 5 stars. Even with some of the narrative problems, I enjoyed reading it. I think this would be a good book to pick up if you're not somebody who reads a lot of mysteries and you're just looking for a fun whodunit. If you're somebody who has read a decent amount of mysteries or thrillers, I think this book may be a bit predictable or generic for you. Overall, I felt very lukewarm about this book, but I would still recommend it if you're looking for a quick and fun read. I have also read the Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson, and I would say that it has a similar style to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, but I found the plot and the mystery aspect to be much stronger if you are looking for something else.