A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2019) is Holly Jackson's debut novel. Jackson, 30, had long wanted to write a novel. She started to write A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, a "true crime obsession." Prior to writing the novel, Jackson devoured countless books, podcasts, and documentaries about true crime. Said Jackson in an interview: "I became a true crime obsessive and wanted to write a book which replicated this 'real' amateur detective angle." In doing so, she wanted to answer one question: "What were the challenges of having a teenage girl as your 'detective'?"
Jackson's novel is set in a town beset by tragedy. Everyone seemingly knows the story of Andie Bell and her boyfriend, Sal Singh. One day, Sal Singh decided to kill Andie Bell and then kill himself. For a long time, much of the town accepted that turn of events as fact. It is anything but that. As a part of her senior capstone project, Pip decides to reopen the case and investigate if Sal really killed Andie. After a lengthy and often contentious investigation, she ultimately determines that Sal didn't kill Andie; someone else in the town did. And that person doesn't like Pip digging around.
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is being adapted into a television series of the same name. No release date has been set, though the adaption will air on the BBC (or British Broadcasting Corporation). That novel was turned into a television series because of the positive reviews the novel received when it was published. In their review of the novel, Kirkus Reviews called the novel "A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense."
