Thank you to Delacorte Press and Storygram Tours for gifting me a review copy of As Good as Dead, the finale in the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series.

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is a teenage super sluth, who runs a successful podcast based on her findings as she starts to unravel mystery after mystery. But the more she uncovers the more dangerous things become. Her investigations take a toll on those around her as well as becoming extremely damaging to her own mental and physical wellbeing. As the books progress she begins to spiral into a darker and darker place until she struggles to discern right from wrong herself.

I started the series really liking Pippa’s character, but instead of seeing positive personal growth as she gets older, she seems not to learn from her mistakes and makes increasingly bad (and selfish) decisions that hurt the people around her. Pippa also has some really serious mental health issues that aren’t addressed or dealt with in any healthy way, which in my opinion, sends a potentially damaging message to young readers of these books. I haven’t been a ‘young’ adult in quite some time and even I found this final book in the series incredibly dark and disturbing, but especially for something marketed as Young Adult.

I think the first book is still my favorite, but despite my feelings of uneasiness regarding the third book, I couldn’t put any of them down once I’d started. The twists certainly keep coming no matter how well you think you’ve got things figured out.

Have you read this series?

Synopsis:

Kill Joy (0.5)

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is not in the mood for her friend’s murder mystery party. Especially one that involves 1920’s fancy dress and pretending that their town, Little Kilton, is an island called Joy. But when the game begins, Pip finds herself drawn into the make-believe world of intrigue, deception and murder.

But as Pip plays detective, teasing out the identity of the killer clue-by-clue, the murder of the fictional Reginald Remy isn’t the only case on her mind …

Find out where it all began for Pip in this prequel to the best-selling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Good Girl, Bad Blood.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (1)

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

Good Girl, Bad Blood (2)

More dark secrets are exposed in this true-crime-fueled mystery.

Pip is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?

As Good As Dead (3)

Pip's good girl days are long behind her. After solving two murder cases and garnering internet fame from her crime podcast, she's seen a lot.

But she's still blindsided when it starts to feel like someone is watching her. It's small things at first. A USB stick with footage recording her and the same anonymous source always asking her: who will look for you when you're the one who disappears? It could be a harmless fan, but her gut is telling her danger is lurking.

When Pip starts to find connections between her possible stalker and a local serial killer, Pip knows that there is only one choice: find the person threatening her town including herself--or be as good as dead. Because maybe someone has been watching her all along...