*SPOILERS AHEAD! If you have not read “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” “Good Girl, Bad Blood,” and “As Good as Dead,” I would consider avoiding this article as it will touch upon surprising plot points of each book in the series. I will reference details that a potential reader would not want to know before reading these clever and exciting books. So please, go read the books and then read this article!! Coming from someone who isn’t a huge reader, this book is a page turner, a nail biter, and the best books I have ever read.
“What’s wrong with me? I might seem like the ideal student: homework always in early, every extra credit and extra-curricular I can get my hands on, the good girl and the high-achiever. But I realized something just now: it’s not ambition, at least not entirely. It’s fear. Because I don’t know who I am when I’m not working, when I’m not focused on or totally consumed by a task. Who am I between the projects and the assignments, when there’s nothing to do? I haven’t found her yet and it scares me. Maybe that’s why, for my senior capstone project this year, I decided to solve a murder.”
Pippa FItz-Amobi thinks she can solve a murder. She thinks she knows better than the police and she is going to disregard everything the police worked for solely because she has a gut feeling. For Pip, she doesn’t care. She has no fear or worry, unfortunately, she never imagined she would be the one fighting for her life, she just wanted the chance to free someone from blame, someone who was dead.
But why? Why would she risk everything just to prove the innocence of Sal Singh, the supposed killer of Andie Bell, 5 years later? Why change the opinion of a town that has believed in something strongly since 2014? Why challenge the police and their conclusion? After all, Sal killed Andie, right? That’s what everyone knew- what they believed. But Pippa Fitz-Amobi wasn’t so sure, not yet at least. If only she knew what she was getting herself into when she decided to write her school capstone project on this closed case. If only she knew, the love, the hate, the murder, the kidnapping, the friendship, the heartbreak, caused by the chain reaction from her. if only she knew, or at least thought, there would be no story. But there is a story, so let’s talk about it.
The first notable relationship in the story is that of Ravi (Sal’s brother) and Pip. The way their relationship evolves throughout the series is pretty unbelievable. When Ravi first meets Pip, she is just a “bothersome” girl, butting into the problems of his life solely for the purpose of getting a good grade. Well this was what he thought, but it was far from the truth. Pip was very involved in investigating the murder of Andie Bell. And yes, at first she was investigating this for her own reasons, but eventually it wasn’t about just her. It was about Ravi, and even more- it was about Sal.
Pip had known Sal. Not well of course. But Sal was Pip’s best friend Cara’s, sister’s friend. A connection not close at all, but close enough for her to know Sal, and for her to meet him before he died, and to realize that this didn’t seem like a person capable of murder. She wanted to prove his innocence to help restore Ravi and his family, who were broken. She wanted the reassurance that people really are good. And good people don’t murder.
By the end of the first book, their relationship really starts to grow- along with their feelings for each other. By the second book, they are dating. When her next case comes about, Ravi is there, just like he was when his brother was Pip’s first investigation. This shows that Ravi is not just helping Pip for the freedom of his brother’s name, but for Pip.
We see just how dedicated Ravi is to Pip in the third book, “As Good as Dead,” when Ravi helps Pip cover up a murder. Although that just makes Ravi seem despicable or evil, he did it because he knew Pip must have had a reason to kill this man. After all, good people don’t murder, right? Well they do, out of self defense. But there would never be enough proof, never a way to guarantee the freedom of Pip. She didn’t want to go to jail, she couldn’t go to jail. And she couldn’t go to jail because she knew it would break everyone around her. Her family, her friends. It would break all of her followers. But maybe, she deserved to go to jail, and she knew this. But Ravi could NOT accept the idea of Pip in jail. He did everything in his power to make sure she didn’t leave.
But is their relationship too good? After all, it does seem a little improbable to readers.
Walker Lewis, a 14 year old student at Scarsdale High School who read this series over the summer, says:, “Their relationship is extremely compelling, but it is also in a way unrealistic. It felt very out of the blue… And then out of nowhere, they just fell in love. And don’t get me wrong, it is written beautifully, but when I think about it, their love feels very pushed, very… inorganic.”
Although Ravi was as good as he could be to Pip, did she deserve it? After all, the list of bad things she has done is pretty long. And Pip herself is very controversial. She is set out to be “the good girl” and “the perfect student.” But frankly, she is a little crazy. And although she has done everything for a reason, does that make it ok? How did other readers feel about Pip?
Miles Weinstein, a student at Minuteman High School, thinks that Pip is “a crazy person. And I think she would agree with me calling her that. She did deserve jail time, yet I still believe that as a reader I was on her team and supported her.”
Dalia Mansell from Rye Neck High School, says: “At the start of the book she was very innocent and curious, however as she grew she matured and so did her actions. She was also very traumatized. In real life I would want to be friends with her, and I would support her. I don’t think she is crazy, just very traumatized, and she needs help.”
This book series really dives deep into the emotions of its characters, the details of the plot, and the relationships between characters and events. The author does a fantastic job writing and telling this story from the perspective of Pip and really allows the reader to relate with the characters. This is a book series everyone should eventually read. I have enjoyed it so much, and had even more fun discussing the plot with my friends, whom I read this with. This series is special and like no other. Pip helps the reader see the “realness” in being human and how we change, we cry, we make mistakes, we do things we will never forgive ourselves for, but ultimately, change and mistakes are ok, and as Pip would say, “I’m not sure I’m the good girl I once thought I was. I’ve lost her along the way.”
