Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi is 17-years-old, and it’s the school holidays. Instead of enjoying her break, she has chosen to work on her EPQ. Her topic? Investigating the disappearance of Andie Bell, of course. “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” is a television series based on Holly Jackson’s bestselling book trilogy of the same name.
The first season is based on the book “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder.” The second and third seasons have not yet been commissioned. We are currently waiting to see if the other two books will also be adapted.
Back to our review.
Good Girl Investigates A Disappearance And Death
Pip lives with her mother Leanne, stepdad Victor, and half-brother Josh. Five years earlier, she saw Sal Singh searching for his girlfriend, Andie Bell, at their school. Not long after, Andie goes missing and Sal confesses to killing her before taking his own life. In the present, Pip becomes obsessed with discovering the truth.
Right from the start, Pip felt something wasn’t right, as Sal had always been kind to her and didn’t seem like the evil person, he was being made out to be. Pip teams up with Ravi, Sal’s younger brother, who believes Sal didn’t murder Andie. The pair becomes very close. In their corner is Cara, Pip’s best friend, and Cara’s sister Naomi, who has a history with Andie.
As the story unfolds, the investigation becomes dangerous, with Pippa receiving threatening text messages telling her to back off her case. On the insistence of her mother and Cara and Naomi’s father, Elliot, Pip is forced to focus on a school project about gothic literature. But she still investigates Andie’s disappearance on the side.
Good Girl In A Dangerous Situation
Pip realises how dangerous the case is becoming when she seeks answers from Max Hastings, who associates with Andie and other women close to her, one of whom he raped. She also becomes a target of stalking, and someone kills her family’s dog, Barney. It is later revealed that Andie had been in a relationship with Elliot, Cara and Naomi’s father, just after his wife died. She then started blackmailing him by ordering him to give her money.
Pip believes it was Elliot who killed Andie, but it turns out he didn’t. However, he did kill Sal and framed him for Andie’s death. It is later revealed that Andie’s sister, Becca Bell, had killed her accidentally during an argument and stood by watching her die, not knowing what to do.
Becca also tries to kill Pip by drugging her tea and leading her to where she dumped Andie’s body five years earlier. When Cara realises something’s off, she and Ravi look for their friend and realise how much danger she’s in. They use the Find My Phone app to track Pippa’s movements, leading to the police making an arrest and recovering Andie’s body.
In the end, Pip and Ravi finally get together. Throughout the series, there is some setup for more, like the DT Killer, referenced briefly during Pip’s overnight camping trip with her friends.
I’ve been a fan of Emma Myers since she started playing Enid on Wednesday. She embodies Pip very well. Emma and Mathew Baynton are the only cast members I recognised, as Mathew was on the US version of Ghosts and served as a producer. Everyone else in the cast is unknown to me.
Verdict
I liked the series, but I didn’t love or hate it. There could’ve been more family interactions between Pip and her family, especially her stepdad, Victor, who essentially raised her. Her dad died when she was a baby. I love that Victor never judged Pip and loved her. There is a moment that stands out regarding their relationship.
Pip discovers that Victor stayed at a hotel around the time Andie went there with Elliot and she naturally thought he was cheating on her mother. Victor and Leanne explain that around the time of Andie’s disappearance, they were having marriage issues. They make it clear there was no cheating. Vic went to the hotel to give his wife some room until they could work on their problems, which, as evident by the story, they did.
Honestly, the show could have been longer. There was enough material to make it more detailed. Also, with a television series, there is more opportunity to go into more detail. Another thing they could have done is move the setting to America. Depending on which edition of the book readers have, there is either a British setting or an American. Since the show is on BBC1, the creators decided on the British setting.
The setting doesn’t affect the story in the slightest. But the reason we would’ve preferred the American location. Only because American book readers would have been able to identify easier with where the story was taking place. Many viewers would be American. Though, the books are written by British author, Holly Jackson.
