‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ Is So Deliciously Dark and Cozy That I Binged It in One Sitting!
4/5 marshmallows!
Give a girl a good murder mystery and she will never leave her cozy nook. That’s the kind of sentiment that A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Netflix’s new crime mystery series from Poppy Cogan, starring Emma Myers (Enid from Wednesday), inspires when you sit to watch it.
AGGGTM (because isn’t that full name a mouthful?) is directed by actor/writer Dolly Wells, and also stars Zain Iqbal, Asha Banks, Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Henry Ashton, Carla Woodcock, Mathew Baynton, India Lilie Davies, Rahul Pattni, Jackson Bews, Gary Beadle, and Anna Maxwell Martin, amongst others. It is based on the first book (of the same name) of a young adult crime mystery series by Holly Jackson.
Myers plays Pippa (Pip) Fitz-Amobi, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who decides that for her Extra Project Qualification (EPQ), she is going to solve a five-year-old murder case of a local teenage girl named Andie Bells. Andie’s then boyfriend Salil Singh was accused of killing her, but her body was never found, and Salil killed himself after confessing to her murder. Despite this, Pip has her own reason to believe that Sal was innocent, and decides to seek the help of Sal’s brother Ravi, and anyone else who was involved with Andie and Sal five years ago, to crack the case.
The closer Pip gets to unravelling the truth, the more dangerous it gets for her, as someone starts sending her anonymous threats to back off. Our little Nancy Drew is shaken, but not stirred from her path as she braves it all to ultimately unravel the deep, dark secrets that inhabit her little English town.
Right off the bat, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder gives off major “Nancy Drew mysteries meets Only Murders in the Building” vibes because of how cute, funny, and cosy it often is. But the story is also inherently a dark one (because murder?), and veers sensitively into themes like teen drug abuse and sexual assault (like a less intense 13 Reasons Why), but saves it for pivotal moments. There’s no unnecessary violence, just the threat of it looms in the air and the implication is enough to make you fear for the protagonist. It’s a good balance.
The murder mystery itself is gripping enough that I barely moved from my couch, and binged all six episodes in one sitting. It’s perfectly paced and sized, with enough time to give us great character development for Pip, as we see her grow up in the course of the episodes, and without unnecessarily subplots.
What I also loved about AGGGTM is that it doesn’t tamper with or change much of the book’s plot for shock value in its adaptation. The characters that act dodge or shady are dodgy and shady, and there are plenty of clever clues that an astute viewer could put together to guess who the murderer is. And even if you think you’ve guessed who it is, the ending doesn’t disappoint you.
And fear you do, because Emma Myers is adorkable and charming as the true-crime lover Pip, who puts up a murder board on her bedroom wall, and loves English in school. A completely different turn from her effervescent Enid from Wednesday, if you will. Pip might seem like a Mary Sue, but she isn’t; the
“dark seed” in her occasionally rears its head in her obsession with the case.
In one scene, she confesses that once she decides on something, she gets too obsessed with it and doesn’t back down. It leads her onto a dangerous path, which puts her loved ones at risk, but she simply rushes in. In another scene, Pip is out camping with her friends, when she sees someone lurking in the woods, and she runs right after them, without waiting for anyone to back her up.
Myers has great chemistry with the co-actors who play her friends like Asha Banks’ Cara, and especially Zain Iqbal’s Ravi, who is her partner-in-solving-crime, the Watson to her Sherlock, the Ned Nickerson to her Nancy Drew. My Lady Jane actor Henry Ashton impressed me once again playing a rich, spoilt dude, this time with a darker shade than his Stan Dudley. A special mention for the music in the series; the selection of songs are on point. (I’m hearing “Wet Dream” by Wet Leg a lot and I can’t complain!)
All in all, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a delicious binge for anyone who loves a good murder mystery. You could absolutely make a cozy weekend plan out of it, to watch it alone or with someone you can cuddle with. And don’t forget marshmallows. Trust me; it’s an inside joke!
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is currently streaming on Netflix.
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