I binge-watched the latest murder mystery thriller series on Netflix during a stormy evening—the perfect setting for this disturbing television show. Having picked up the popular book A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson many years ago, the title was immediately familiar to me even though the intricate plot twists and turns had long been forgotten. This is the perfect way to get swept up by a television adaptation of a mystery murder series—to go in knowing it will be good, but not quite knowing why.
The series, which contains six riveting episodes, follows teenager Pippa Fitz-Amobi’s investigation into the five-year-old murder of older classmate Andie Bell and the accused perpetrator, her boyfriend Sal Singh, who was thought to have killed himself out of guilt after killing Andie. As Pippa strikes up a friendship veering on romance with Sal’s younger brother, Ravi Singh, she begins to suspect Sal is not the murderer after all and starts her own investigation into the cold case under the guise of her senior project. The show artfully builds tension and suspense with its excellent soundtrack, spooky and disorienting club scenes (set at exploitative “calamity parties” where young women are often preyed upon), frightening written threats delivered to Pippa, the clever insertion of apt literary references and the atmosphere of distrust that begins to overwhelm Pippa as she “interviews” her suspects and realizes many people are concealing secrets. Each new episode brings an unexpected twist and unveils a shocking discovery about the different characters in the show, which makes the show hard to stop watching.
Why This Series Is So Disturbing — And Compelling (Spoilers Ahead)
What makes this series so compelling is that there is not just one perpetrator that is uncovered as the series unravels, revealing that sometimes the worst predators are not the ones we would expect but the wolves in sheep’s clothing who hide in plain sight and are the ones closest to us. Not only does Pippa uncover that Andie was sexually exploited by her English teacher, Mr. Ward, the father of her best friend and someone who has been an integral part of her own life as an authority figure, she finds out other chilling discoveries about people she knows during the course of her investigation. For example, another classmate of hers, Max, drugged and raped Andie’s sister, Becca — who is actually (spoiler alert) the real killer. Becca accidentally killed Andie in retaliation when she realized her sister who was the one who sold the drugs that made it possible for Max to rape her. In one particularly horrific scene, Becca even kills Pippa’s beloved dog, Barney, as a way to keep her away from the investigation and tries to throw Pippa into the same well where she “buried” her sister’s body. Mr. Ward is also discovered to have been the one who suffocated Sal and is keeping another woman hostage in the attic, Jane Eyre style. Talk about plot twist upon plot twists!
As Pippa searches for justice to hold all those involved in horrific crimes accountable, she places herself in further danger to find the truth, but the end of the series reveals that she is more than willing to go the distance to expose the people who need to be exposed. The series and the book drive home the fact that we must be careful who we put our faith and trust in and remain vigilant. Some of the most psychopathic and disturbed characters in the show, like Mr. Ward who abuses his authority to prey on teenagers, are not the ones we would expect, the true murderer has a more tragic backstory than we would suspect, and it seems almost everyone is guilty of something and has something to hide. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is now available to stream on Netflix and BBC Three.
