Searching for the truth
At the start of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Andrea Bell is murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh. Much of the town of Little Kilton, the setting of the novel, is convinced that Sal was the one who murdered his girlfriend. However, a young woman, Pippa Fitz-Amobi, does not believe Sal killed his girlfriend. Instead, Pippa thinks Andrea's true killer is out there. And she is determined to figure out their identity. She will stop at nothing to search for the truth: who killed Andrea, and will they kill again? To find the truth, she starts an investigation with the help of her friends.
Finding justice
The person who the town of Little Kilton thought killed Andrea, her boyfriend, couldn't be brought to justice because he killed himself. However, Pippa Fitz-Amobi and her friends never believed that and sought to bring the natural killer to justice. To them, giving justice to Andrea meant finding the killer and taking them to the police, where the killer would be put on a trial. Pippa also uncovers a web of deceit and corruption within the town of Little Kilton and brings those responsible for both to justice, leaving the community whole. This shows the importance of finding justice for victims of violent crimes (or just bad situations) and underscores the tenacity of Pippa's character.
Being authentic
Being authentic is an important theme in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. "The people you love weren't algebra: to be calculated, subtracted, or held at arm's length," Pippa said in one of the most popular quotes of the novel, "across a decimal point." In other words, Pippa feels that people should never be calculated. They should be true to themselves and not act in a way that is dishonest, self-aggrandizing, selfish, and greedy. If people stayed true to themselves and who they are, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder argues that the world would be a healthier, happier, and more productive in which murders don't happen.
