A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is Holly Jackson's 2019 YA thriller debut — the book that reignited YA mystery as a genre. Pip Fitz-Amobi re-investigates a closed murder case for her senior capstone project. The town thinks Sal Singh killed Andie Bell five years ago. Pip isn't sure. What starts as a homework project becomes a full investigation with very real danger. The podcast format woven into the plot made it the most-discussed YA thriller in years.
Curated from real reader threads on Reddit (r/RomanceBooks, r/Fantasy, r/suggestmeabook) and cross-referenced against Goodreads and BookTok. Updated regularly.
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by Karen McManus
Five students go into detention, one doesn't come out alive. YA murder mystery with the same teenager-investigates-impossible-situation energy. Most-mentioned AGGGTM readalike on Reddit.
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
A girl inherits a billionaire's estate — but only if she can solve the puzzles he left behind. Same puzzle-driven plot momentum with a mystery that keeps layering.
by Maureen Johnson
A true-crime-obsessed girl attends a school famous for an unsolved 1930s kidnapping — and discovers a new mystery. Same YA thriller voice, same obsessive investigator protagonist.
by E. Lockhart
A family reunion on a private island, a memory wiped clean, and a summer that no one will talk about. YA mystery with the same "I need to know what happened" forward momentum.
by Karen McManus
Echo Ridge has a history of dead girls. Another one is missing. Same small-town secrets structure that AGGGTM runs on.
by Alex Michaelides
The adult thriller AGGGTM readers graduate to. Same twist-everything reveal, same unreliable accounts, significantly darker and more complex. The natural step up.
Yes — three books: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Good Girl Bad Blood, and As Good as Dead. The trilogy is complete and should be read in order. Books 2 and 3 have the same characters, higher stakes, and more darkness.
YA — recommended 14+. There's violence, references to drugs and sexual assault, and the stakes get genuinely dark in book 3. Not a cozy mystery despite the school-project framing.
The true-crime podcast format woven into the text — transcribed interviews, screenshots, case files — makes it feel like following a real investigation. Most readers cite the format as what hooked them in the first chapter.
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