Detective Megan Carpenter
mystery
Series · mystery
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2019). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is As Good as Dead.
- Books
- 4 known books (3 novels + 1 novella)
- Published
- 4
- First published
- 2019
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2019) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
For her senior capstone project, Holly Jackson's Pip Fitz-Amobi decides to reinvestigate the five-year-old murder of Andie Bell -- a case the town considers closed since Andie's boyfriend Sal Singh was named the killer before taking his own life days later. Published May 2, 2019 at 431 pages, the trilogy opener is presented partly through Pip's own project files, interview transcripts and podcast scripts, and what starts as a school assignment pulls her toward danger she never anticipated.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder - Book 2:
Good Girl, Bad Blood
Good Girl, Bad Blood followed on April 30, 2020 at 416 pages, turning what began as Pip's academic exercise into her own true-crime podcast investigating a new case while she deals with the psychological fallout of what she uncovered in book one. Holly Jackson builds the trilogy around escalating personal risk, and this second entry is where Pip starts actively being targeted for her digging.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Good Girl, Bad Blood - Book 3:
As Good as Dead
As Good as Dead closed the trilogy on August 5, 2021 at 504 pages, the longest of the three novels, bringing Pip's amateur-detective habit to its highest cost yet to her sense of safety and who she can trust. It completes the case-of-the-book structure wrapped around Pip's continuous arc that Holly Jackson built across all three novels.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of As Good as Dead - Book 4:
Kill Joy
"Kill Joy" is a 160-page novella published February 18, 2021 -- earlier by date than "As Good as Dead" but listed after it in this series' publication order -- and the data marks it as the series' chronological starting point.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kill Joy
The order the story's events happen in, novellas slotted where they belong.
- Book 1:
Kill Joy
"Kill Joy" is a 160-page novella published February 18, 2021 -- earlier by date than "As Good as Dead" but listed after it in this series' publication order -- and the data marks it as the series' chronological starting point.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kill Joy - Book 2:
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
For her senior capstone project, Holly Jackson's Pip Fitz-Amobi decides to reinvestigate the five-year-old murder of Andie Bell -- a case the town considers closed since Andie's boyfriend Sal Singh was named the killer before taking his own life days later. Published May 2, 2019 at 431 pages, the trilogy opener is presented partly through Pip's own project files, interview transcripts and podcast scripts, and what starts as a school assignment pulls her toward danger she never anticipated.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder - Book 3:
Good Girl, Bad Blood
Good Girl, Bad Blood followed on April 30, 2020 at 416 pages, turning what began as Pip's academic exercise into her own true-crime podcast investigating a new case while she deals with the psychological fallout of what she uncovered in book one. Holly Jackson builds the trilogy around escalating personal risk, and this second entry is where Pip starts actively being targeted for her digging.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Good Girl, Bad Blood - Book 4:
As Good as Dead
As Good as Dead closed the trilogy on August 5, 2021 at 504 pages, the longest of the three novels, bringing Pip's amateur-detective habit to its highest cost yet to her sense of safety and who she can trust. It completes the case-of-the-book structure wrapped around Pip's continuous arc that Holly Jackson built across all three novels.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of As Good as Dead
About A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
For her senior capstone project, Pip Fitz-Amobi decides to reinvestigate the five-year-old murder of Andie Bell, a case everyone in her small town considers closed: Andie's boyfriend Sal Singh was named the killer before he took his own life days later. Pip doesn't buy it, and as she starts interviewing witnesses and digging through old evidence for her project, she uncovers a town's worth of secrets that were far more convenient to bury with Sal than to actually solve. Presented partly through Pip's own project files, interview transcripts, and podcast scripts, the true-crime framing device makes the mystery feel uncomfortably close to real amateur-sleuth investigations, and Pip's methodical, obsessive approach to the case pulls her — and the reader — steadily toward danger she didn't anticipate when this was just a school assignment.
Holly Jackson built the trilogy around escalating personal risk: what starts as an academic exercise in book one turns into Pip actively being targeted, then running her own true-crime podcast investigating new cases while dealing with the psychological fallout of what she uncovered the first time. It's a case-of-the-book structure wrapped around one continuous character arc, as Pip's amateur-detective hobby costs her more and more of her sense of safety and who she can trust.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder?
Three novels — A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Good Girl, Bad Blood, and As Good as Dead — plus the short prequel novella Kill Joy.
What order should I read A Good Girl's Guide to Murder in?
Publication order: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Good Girl, Bad Blood, As Good as Dead. Read the novella Kill Joy after the trilogy, or at least after book one, even though it's set just before the story begins.
Is A Good Girl's Guide to Murder finished?
Yes, the trilogy concludes with As Good as Dead (2021). Holly Jackson has since written other standalone thrillers rather than continuing Pip's story.
What is Kill Joy about?
A short novella set before the main trilogy, showing Pip solving a murder-mystery party game at a Christmas gathering — an early, lower-stakes glimpse of the investigative instincts that drive the rest of the series.
Is A Good Girl's Guide to Murder based on a true story?
No, it's fiction, but it's written in a true-crime-podcast style (interview transcripts, case files, blog-style narration) that deliberately mimics real amateur-sleuth investigations.
If you like A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
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