Love them or hate them, books to movies or series adaptations will always be there to pull the audience. This time we have a fan favourite read, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, in the form of a series on Netflix and BBC. The series is based on Holly Jackson’s book of the same title, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
The plot follows Pip Fitz-Amobi (played by Emma Myers), a young girl who is unsure whether schoolgirl Andie Bell (played by India Lillie Davies) was killed by her lover Sal Singh (played by Rahul Pattni) five years ago. What simply looked like a murder to everyone in town (Little Kilton) turns out to be completely different and twisted. The challenge is how far will the murderer go to protect Pip from learning the truth if Sal Singh turns out not to be the murderer.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder feels like if Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars had a baby together. Little Kilton is a small town, and everyone knows each other. Pip is our friendly Sherlock Holmes who wants to go to Cambridge and has always been fascinated by the Andie Bell murder case. Now, she has decided to make it the subject of her school’s Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).
Despite her kind personality, Pip starts tackling her research with some much-needed bold, or, you can say, straight-on-face demeanour, where she is relentlessly following individuals to learn what they know about Andie and Sal. All this is quite entertaining and smart work with a lot of embarrassments.
GOOD MORNING, PIP ⭐️
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is now playing! pic.twitter.com/4TizM6jIAA
— Netflix (@netflix) August 1, 2024
As you will catch her, dressed up like a star at a garden party where one of her suspicions is expected to be present. Just like Batman needs Robin, this little Sherlock also needs her Dr. Watson, aka Ravi (played by Zain Iqbal), Sal’s brother, with whom she starts running these investigations both by heart and mind.
The deeper this duo dives into the case, the messier it gets. But for Pip, nothing is that hard because our homegirl is Hermoine Granger’s long-lost sister (in a good way). The show has so many moments that will make you grip your armchair and hold your breath.
TEAM PIP AND RAVI YES #agggtm pic.twitter.com/SXVs74WaFe
— cass (@dickgrcyson) July 2, 2024
Pip’s friend group plays an important role in the plot without taking over from Pip’s main quest to discover the truth. Together with Pip’s parents, they make it simple to determine how each case development affects our main character in each episode, particularly in the case of Cara (played by Asha Banks), whose sister Naomi (played by Yasmin Al-Khudhairi), who was Sal’s best friend and accompanied him before Andie’s disappearance.
Whenever something gets adapted from a book, there will be comparisons. And as they say, you can’t please everyone, which is a big case here. When the lead cast was announced, I felt they looked exactly like I would imagine Pip and Ravi to look. But the drawback of the series isn’t in the casting; it’s in the changes they have done, which I won’t add here to spare you major spoilers. To sum up in a sentence, I would say sometimes stories are too long for a movie but too short for a full-length series. So just enjoy whatever is getting served to the palate.
The performances are more than convincing. This is the first time we will be witnessing Emma Mayers leading a story that is enduring to watch. Zain Iqbal has done more than a good job for his debut series. The leading pair has an adorable chemistry that we would like to see more in upcoming seasons if possible. The supporting cast has also helped the narration to be fairly captured on screen. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a series with such a casual yet diverse ensemble that is unique.
This might be a rare show on Netflix where teenagers look or dress like their age. If you catch it more carefully, the production has made each character feel authentic thanks to the frequent wardrobe reuse and the huge amount of social media presence in the story. Overall, watch the show if you enjoy the thrill and young adult stories.
Also, read: ELLE Exclusive: Meet Zain Iqbal, The Breakout Star From Netflix’s ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’
