Setting aside the fact that Netflix’s new six-episode murder mystery A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is aimed at young adults, this new series (debuting on Aug. 1) has at least two things going for it that have intrigued me.
One is that it’s a very short, get-in-and-get-out series. Eight-episode Netflix shows seem to be the norm these days, and six is even better for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of free time. For that reason, by the way, I’ve also compiled a list of the best short Netflix series (available here) if time is one of your biggest considerations in deciding what to watch. We definitely need more of these!
As for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, specifically, another point in its favor besides its short, easy-to-binge season is its star: The plucky, easy-to-root for Emma Myers, who stole all of our hearts as Wednesday Addams’ roomie Enid Sinclair in the Netflix hit Wednesday. Here, Myers is playing a whip-smart 17-year-old protagonist named Pip Fitz-Amobi, who decides to investigate the murder of a high school student.
The story, based on Holly Jackson’s 2019 novel of the same name, takes place five years after a shocking murder-suicide roiled the fictional UK town of Little Kilton. “Popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. At least, that’s what everyone believes, including the police. Case closed, right?
“But Pip Fitz-Amobi (Myers), now a high school senior herself, sees how the gruesome murder still has a grip on her hometown, and she thinks there’s more to the story.”
Pip launches an investigation of her own, determined to get to the bottom of things as she looks into the case for her senior project. The issue, though, quickly becomes: If Sal didn’t do it, that suggests a murderer is still on the loose — and that Pip herself could be in danger.
Jackon’s story is actually a trilogy of novels, and the first book in that series — which the new Netflix show is based on — became a New York Times bestseller, selling millions of copies worldwide. It was followed by Good Girl, Bad Blood in 2020 and As Good as Dead in 2021. “I hope viewers will love discovering (or rediscovering) all the secrets and lies of our small English town — Little Kilton,” Jackson tells Netflix’s Tudum.
“Viewers can expect laugh-out-loud moments from all the teenage antics, but also all the pulse-pounding twists you’d find in the darkest of thrillers. Heartbreak, tears, gasps, swooning at all the PipRavi moments brought to life, watching behind a cushion, cursing my name … be prepared for it all when A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder hits your screens.”
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