A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

I hope you are all safe and well.  I spent two weekends in New Hampshire (masked and socially distanced), which was fantastic.  I finished this before we left for Loudon, and promptly forgot to do the review before we left for LinWood.  

I wanted to like this.  I really, really wanted to like this.  It is set in Fairview, which is really Fairfield, CT. But, unfortunately I found it too similar to a mix of Dark Places (seriously, the ending is wayyyyyyy too similar), My Sister's Grave, and One of Us is Lying or All Eyes on Her (perhaps if I hadn't just read All Eyes, I might feel differently?).  There were also some glaring geographical mistakes that someone from Southern CT would notice right away. 

Andie Bell was beautiful and popular.  5 years ago her AP student boyfriend Sal Singh (read: brown skin, different culture than most in town) killed her.  He then killed himself. 

Now Pip, a senior, has decided to complete her capstone project on media literacy (didn't I say that in the review for All Eyes?) using the Bell/Singh murder-suicide as a case study.  She breaks her privacy commitment and reaches out to the families (wouldn't that disqualify her anyway?), befriending Sal's brother.  

The two reinterview witnesses, read transcripts, look at photos, etc.  Everything that happened in Dark Places and My Sister's Grave.  By the time I got to the end I was rolling my eyes and the ridiculousness of the plot twist, since I'd already read it! Ugh. 

Would this be a good murder mystery had I not read the aforementioned books so recently?  I'm not sure.  My bias in reviewing might be clouding my judgement.  Also, this was actually published BEFORE All Eyes, I just read it after.  Well, find it on the new shelf when we go back and decide for yourself!

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.