Pip wears brown Run Star Hikes throughout this show.
The young adult genre of literature has long been a treasure trove for television and film productions. Franchises like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, and The Chronicles of Narnia have been turned into major motion pictures and shows. There has also been a massive rise in the true crime genre over the last decade, with podcasts, documentaries, and network TV all putting out mystery after mystery. So when the young adult mystery crime novel A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson was released in 2019, it wasn’t long before a TV adaptation was in play. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a British mystery thriller television series based on the first novel in Jackson’s series and stars the ensemble cast of Emma Myers, Kitty Anderson, Zain Iqbal, Asha Banks, Raiko Gohara, Jude Morgan-Collie, Yali Topol Margalith, Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Henry Ashton, Carla Woodcock, Mathew Baynton, Gary Beadle, and Anna Maxwell Martin. It was released in the UK on BBC Three on July 10th, 2024, and internationally on Netflix on August 1st, 2024.
Pip and Ravi go on their first walk together.
Pippa ’Pip’ Fitz-Amobi (Myers) lives in Little Kilton, Buckinghamshire, England, and is entering her final year of school prior to attending university. She is gearing up for her EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) and she decides as a topic to investigate the local 2019 disappearance of Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies) from five years earlier. A popular student, Andie was dating classmate Sal Singh (Rahul Pattni) when she disappeared, with police suspecting him of being responsible for her murder. However, before he was ever charged, Sal allegedly confessed to killing Andie and then took his own life. Pip believes that this is super shady and that Sal was innocent. She is determined to find out the truth, recalling seeing them both right before Andie’s disappearance. That image of a tearful Andie and a distraught Sal is burned into her memory.
Ravi comforts Pip as their investigation takes a turn.
After initially being rebuffed by Sal’s brother Ravi (Iqbal), Pip begins her investigation by interviewing Sal’s friend Naomi Ward (Al-Khudhairi). Naomi is the older sister of Pip’s best friend Cara (Banks), and their father, Elliot (Baynton), is an English teacher at their school. Naomi tells Pip that Sal actually had an alibi for the night of Andie’s disappearance, though she is cut off when their conversation is interrupted. Pip then meets with Sal’s friend Max Hastings (Ashton), and he claims that Naomi is lying to protect Sal and that the alibi isn’t real. She approaches Ravi again, and after she tells him that she believes Sal is innocent, Ravi shows her Sal’s phone. He has always believed that someone else sent the confession text from his phone due to the difference in grammar. This leads them both down a dangerous path toward the truth.
Pip walks her dog through the streets of Little Kilton.
This show is a great introduction to the true crime genre for young adults, while still being compelling enough for adults. Myers continues her great work from another Netflix young adult mystery series, Wednesday, although her British accent here is a little jarring. She excellently plays Pip as a determined, rebellious, and clever girl, which is accentuated by her brown Chuck Taylor All Star Run Star Hikes. A bit rugged but down for an adventure, and the adventure they go on in this show is very satisfying. Since the first season only covers book one of the four book series, there is plenty of room for this cast and the character of Pip to go. Here’s hoping whatever mystery she covers next she is wearing chucks!
The first step in solving a five year cold-case murder is to buy muffins.