A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a popular mystery book series aimed at young adults. Recently over the summer, a TV show based on the book series came out with its first season that took place during the first book. It came out on August 1st in the U.S., but it had already been out in the U.K. since July 1st since it was first broadcast on the BBC. There were six episodes that all were around the forty-five-minute mark. Personally, I watched all six episodes on the same day with my two friends who had also read the books. I will admit, the show was good, but I was still disappointed in some of the aspects.
Two versions of the book were released, the U.S. version and the U.K. version. The show was based on the U.K. version of the book, so I was already expecting some differences just based on the books. Most of the differences were just the names of places and slang that the kids used. The first main difference that I noticed was that Andie, the girl who was killed, was portrayed as more of a nice person. In both versions of the book, it is revealed that Andie is actually a terrible person. Without this detail, a significant portion of the plot would not have made sense. A girl who Andie bullied in the books turned out to be one of her best friends in the show, which seemed like an odd choice.
There was a lot of evidence needed to solve the case. The show failed to fully explain how much of Andie’s case was so closed off. Another character, Stanley Forbes, was completely missing from the show. Stanley is a prominent character in the second book and has a lot of impact on Pip (the main character) in the third book. I feel like if they make a second season, it won’t be accurate at all since Stanley was not in season one. These differences would make other seasons less connected than in the books. The show was also very slow in the beginning and it felt rushed at the end which made some things a bit confusing.
Even though the producers missed a lot of details, I did enjoy watching the show a lot. The relationship between Pip and Ravi is portrayed very well. Pip’s relationship with her stepdad also was something that I really enjoyed. In the books, her stepdad nicknamed her “Pickle,” and I am really glad that they kept this detail from the book. The actors that played in the show are also very close to their descriptions in the book. So as someone who needs to put a face to a name, that was a nice touch.
Overall, I did enjoy the show, especially with my two friends. The show was fun to watch, and I do recommend watching it. I wish that the producers of the show kept the same elements of the book though, because it felt that we missed out on details that are important to the plot.
