A Good Girl's Guide To Murder: Making a Nerd's P.O.V sound not-so-bad

'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' is the debut novel of Holly Jackson that revolves around a murder that took place in a small town five years ago and a teenager determined to crack the case as she believes the person accused has nothing to do with the crime.

Overview:

Author: Megan Goldin

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

My Rating: 4/5★

Blurb:

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

This was an amazing read for me, short and satisfying. I particularly liked this book for finally giving me a YA heroine I could relate to. The leads that are typically featured are either extremely unrealistic or too one-dimensional and so for me, Pippa stands out from the crowd. I really love the way she's been written; she is shown as a nerd obsessed with solving the cold case of her town yet one who isn't lacking social graces. To put it crisply, she has the right amount of awkwardness and is pretty realistic.

Now moving on to the mystery, it was a solid one. It began in a decent way and slowly becomes intense. It had our resourceful and smart heroine pull out all the big guns; from documenting the process of investigation in her project journal to making a full-blown murder board complete with spools of thread connecting different pieces of evidence and suspects. Suspects begin to grow just like any other but I love how most of them seemed believable and were decently justified at the end. The end tied up the points neatly and I almost didn't see the twist coming..almost.

Another aspect I loved about the book is the narration: it is crisp and fast-paced. The author maintains the tempo till the end and I wasn't bored reading it! The story is narrated in a multi-media format, mixing up conversations and transcripts typed up in her journal, making it more interesting to read.

There is a sequel out, which has rave reviews. Can't wait to check it out!

If you grew up reading Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys and have a penchant for YA books, then this is for you! Do pick this up, you won't be disappointed.

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~Reviewed by Kaveri (@bibliophilerants)~

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