The Book That Kept Me Up All Night: Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

The book starts with Pippa Fitz-Amobi, an 18-year-old high school senior who thinks the alleged murderer of Andie Bell, Sal Singh, who committed suicide due to being guilty, was not her murderer. Being curious, she decides to reopen a 5-year-old closed case and to investigate it herself.

But she needs help, or at least information that she, as an outsider, cannot access, information that the police will not give her, so what does she do? She approaches Ravi Singh, Sal’s younger brother, whose life did a 180 after Sal’s alleged guilty conscience-filled suicide.

The book blurb

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.

Then what? Is Pippa able to discover anything new? Something the police overlooked? Did Sal murder Andie, his girlfriend? No one knows for sure, the police never got a direct, irrefutable evidence, just Sal’s suicide note confessing to the murder. And is Sal truly guilty of killing Andie? What happened to her body? Cause no one has ever discovered it.

The answer to all these interesting questions lies in this book, beautifully written by Holly Jackson.

The story is filled with the thrill of discovering the reasons for Andie’s death, her real self, because we all know by now, high schoolers have a lot of secrets. Did her secrets cost her life? Or did her life(style) cost her life?

The Book Vibe

The book also captures the struggles of living in a small town, where everyone knows everyone and everything. The struggles sneaking around, in the night, in houses, through phones, and of course, people’s minds.

There’s never a dull moment in this book—it keeps you guessing with every page, wanting to find what’s next constantly. The book is filled with twists, funny encounters, twisted characters, and shocking discoveries.

The view might differ for a few people who may have different approaches and may critique the ending too rashly. For them, all I’d like to say is, remember it’s fictional, not every twist needs to make sense and be logical to be entertaining. Adopt different approaches to look at the end if at all you struggle, but one thing I can guarantee, even if you struggle, you’ll love/like the book.

I loved how the main characters were portrayed. While Pippa was the anxious, overenthusiastic one who loved finding new things and making discoveries and finding new clues, and getting to the bottom of things, we also had Ravi, on the other hand, the calm to her chaos. The analytical, the cautious one, but don’t take him to be the boring type, you’ll always find him just a step behind her, even if he doesn’t agree with her, there he’d be, right beside her, supporting her completely, in everything.

Spice? Romance?

Though the story lacks romance with the spice level being on the negative side, the chemistry between Pippa and Ravi is enough to get you through the first book with the anticipation of what happens between them in the second book, which doesn’t disappoint.

But if you are after spice? Then sadly, this series might not be your cup of tea. And the perfect piece for all the mystery lovers, who love young detectives and small-town mysteries, with its bordered forests and the small town, one bakery, and everything.

Content Warning: suicide (method explained), self-harm, murder, underage drug/alcohol use, drunk driving, animal death, rape (using rohypnols)

The Takeaway

Do give it a try, though it is a part of a trilogy and you can’t read a book from the middle, you can stop at any book, every book has a complete ending. Perfect next read for the fans of the ‘One of Us is Lying’ series. Even if you have watched the series, it is like Harry Potter, nothing beats the books, not even the movies.

⭐ 5/5 stars: Would re-read it any day.