Can you make a school project out of a murder investigation? That’s exactly what Pippa tries to do in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Good Girl – the blurb
The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.
But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth . . . ?
Nancy Drew
I love my teenage detective novels. Ever since devouring Nancy Drew as a child I’ve been hooked. Middle grader equivalents (Robin Stevens aside) don’t quite hit the mark for me these days, a fact I simply put down to being older, but that doesn’t stop a girl from trying which lead me to A Good Girl’s Guide on a trip a while back to Edinburgh.
School swot (for want of a better word) Pippa decides to choose the murder of local girl Andi as her extended project. We are then treated to diary extracts, production log entries and actual story as her investigation progresses. The style felt very modern and I was reminded of Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories (which co-incidentally I think is a great step up into adult crime).
Fresh and cool
It wasn’t just the style that was modern however. Pippa was from a blended family and issues of race were relevant to both her and the suspected murderer. It felt a lot of boxes were ticked from her gay best friend to the death of a parent. Whilst I’m not sure any of these added to the story they didn’t distract from what was shaping up to be a very good murder investigation. It was methodical, the tension increased and I found myself glued to the pages.
The denouement was perhaps slightly more complicated than it needed to be but overall my love continued to the last page. Pippa is a brilliant, likeable character and I really enjoyed the interaction between her and Ravi. I also loved the fact it was set in England as so often we are transported to the US of A for anything modern, punchy and fresh. It’s a shame it felt very much like a one off as I would love to pop in on Pippa again (not sure how authentic this would actually feel though). Teens and adults alike will enjoy and I for one am celebrating the fact that Nancy Drew is not dead.
