Around the end
of 2024 I heard about a series on Netflix called A Good Girl’s Guide to
Murder. The reviews had been decent but not exceptional and considering the
plethora of ‘good’ streaming shows I still need to follow I would likely have
ignored it altogether. However in January on a trip to the local library I happened
to see Holly Jackson’s book of the same name and I took out on a whim.
I will confess
that it wasn’t until I was nearly through the book (the first in a
trilogy) that it even occurred to me to look on Netflix and see if they shared
the same material. When I learned the truth I decided to do something I rarely
do and that’s check out the limited series adaptation of a novel after having
read the book. It took me a couple of minutes to learn something I don’t think
I’d processed in my reviews: while Jackson’s trilogy is set in a small town in
Connecticut Poppy Cogan had adapted it to a small town in England.
Did this deter
me from watching the series? On the contrary I now wanted to see it more than
ever. Jackson’s novel is a cracking good read, well set with a more than
likable heroine and a lot of twists along the way. I now intend to read the
other two novels in the trilogy. But honestly I approve of moving Good Girl’s
from New England to England for multiple reasons.
First of all,
reciprocity: America at this point has adapted so many of the British dramas in
so many forms and as far as I know they’ve adapted so few of ours in return
(aside from Law & Order) that turnabout is fair play. (And honestly,
after what we did to Broadchurch I’d say we owe them a debt.) Secondly,
there’s my belief that the British have this gift for making everything better
with their accents (I mentioned that in Perfect Couple.) And lastly, it
actually makes the bulk of Pip’s decision to solve a murder that took place in
her small town more logical than it does here. A teenage girl decided to do
what amounts to her senior thesis trying to prove that the young man accused of
killing a woman five years ago? In America, you’d think that girl was strange.
In Britain, I’m honestly amazed it isn’t an option for college recommendations
given how many unexplained murders have been taking place in rustic villages
for the last century and a half.
The setup for
those who haven’t read the book is essentially the same. Pip Fitz-Amobi (Emma
Myers) is a young schoolgirl on the verge of going to college. She is, to put
it mildly, something of a geek. She’s thinking of doing her college project on Jane
Eyre and her friends joke that her great love is Nicholas Tesla. She is the
daughter of a barrister (black in this version) and an overprotective mother
who want her to get out more. She has a brother that she adores and a dog she
loves very much. (I have to tell you that last part bothers me because I’ve read
the book.) When she was in middle school she knew Andie Bell and Sal Singh. Sal
was nice to her and she’s never been able to believe that he killed Andie and
then committed suicide. There’s a part of her who suspects that the rush to
judgment is because Sal was not only her boyfriend but Hindi and the fact that
his ‘confession’ and suicide seems a little strange.
As in the book
she goes out of her way to try and meet Ravi (Zain Iqbal) who initially is very
dismissive. Nevertheless Pip goes out of her way to form a murder board, starts
to deep dive into Andie’s history and starts tracking down her friends. This
becomes awkward because one of them Naomi is the big sister of her best friend Cara
and Cara doesn’t want her to dredge this up. Nevertheless she decides to start
talking to Andie’s friends and within a short time knows she’s on the right
track.
So far in the
first two episodes Cogan is basically following the brunt of Jackson’s novel,
albeit with some appropriate British twists. When Pip decides to go get
information on Max Hastings she decides to serve drinks at a party which is
honoring “Stars of the Silver Screen.” She doesn’t know until she takes the job
she’s going to have to dress as a star which appalls Naomi who she’s roped in.
She encounters Max Hastings and gets answer when she decides to take shots for
each question she asks – leading her to get drunk for the first time in her
life. Immediately after that she gets into a row with Naomi and ends up walking
off her buzz by going to the Singh house. (Ravi’s mother answers the door and when
Pip says she came a while to get her says dryly: “From a galaxy far, far away?)
Not long after
they go on a camping trip and they discuss things in a British tone. In this
case they play the British equivalent of an Ouija Board, which involves a
pencil moving towards yes or no. They attempt to summon the ghost of Andie
Bell. That night the girls need to go to the bathroom outdoors and Pip sees
something in the darkness. She tries to shake it off but when she gets back to
her sleeping bag there’s a warning note telling her to ‘Back Off’. Pip doesn’t
tell anyone about this, a decision she will come to regret.
When Pip and
Ravi go on a stakeout involving catfishing, they are eating crisps and not
chips. They discuss the kind of food you should bring on a stakeout. Ravi still
refers to her as ‘Sarge’ because “you haven’t made Detective Inspector yet’. Pip
is also organized in a different way: unlike the novel where she records and
types down most of her thoughts in a journal we see her form a murder board which
takes most of the original book to get to.
There are
certain twists that I’ve already seen and others I know are coming. We already
know that Andie is not the girl next door we expect: she’s having an affair
with ‘secret older guy’, has sent nudes to one of her best friends and has been
dealing drugs at calamity parties. I’m pretty sure what will come next having read
the original book but I also know that adaptations aren’t necessarily cast in
stone. What I do know is that Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is far more
than I expected it to be from the somewhat tepid reviews online and it does have
a certain level of spark and fun that we don’t always associate from the cozy mysteries
we’ve come to love and find on BritBox and Acorn.
I’m not stunned Netflix
renewed it for another season, as there are two more books of material already
written by Jackson about Pip’s adventures after this novel ends. Honestly I’ll
be fine making my way through the rest of the series as it unfolds. I don’t
expect it to contend for awards any time soon or have a huge following beyond
the YA crowd. But that’s fine with me. It’s more than good enough for me – and honestly,
I’d recommend seeing this adaptation before The Perfect Couple. Your expectations
will be higher for the former and will go unrewarded. In this case, it’s better
to be Good than Perfect.
My score: 3.75
stars.
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