Books Like “A Good Girl's Guide to Murder” by Holly Jackson
If you were hooked by A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, you are probably craving another addictive mystery packed with clever twists, dark secrets, and an unstoppable amateur sleuth. Readers fell in love with its relentless pacing and thrilling, true-crime-style investigation. Dive in to discover your next unforgettable page-turner.
True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve an eighty-one-year-old cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school l
Why it's similar
Both books feature an analytical teenage amateur sleuth obsessively working to solve a cold case, utilizing archival evidence, interview transcripts, and case notes within the narrative.
What's different
Truly Devious takes place at an eccentric, isolated Vermont boarding school and weaves a dual timeline between the modern day and a 1930s kidnapping, unlike the contemporary small-town British setting of Holly Jackson's novel.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY • BUZZFEED • POPCRUSH
“Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast Club” (Entertainment Weekly) in this addictive mystery about what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive.
Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
Why it's similar
Both are fast-paced young adult murder mysteries set in high school communities where the plot revolves around exposing dark secrets, hidden scandals, and false assumptions about classmates.
What's different
Rather than focusing on a single determined investigator conducting interviews, this novel is told through the alternating perspectives of four distinct student suspects trying to clear their names.
Available now: I'M THE GIRL, the new "brutally captivating" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) queer thriller from Courtney Summers, based loosely on The Epstein case and "not for the faint of heart" (The New York Times)
"Sadie: a novel for readers of any age, and a character as indelible as a scar. Flat-out dazzling." —A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
A New York Times bestseller!
An Edgar Award Winner!
Appearing on over 30 Best Book of 2018 lists including The Boston Globe, Bustle, Buzzfeed, Globe and Mail, Good Morning America, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and more!
A YALSA Top 10 Quick Pick
4 Starred Reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist, Publishers Weekly!
"Sadie is an electrifying, high-stakes road trip. Clear your schedule. You're not going anywhere until you've reached the end." —Stephanie Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of There's Someone Inside Your House and Anna and the French Kiss
"A haunting, gut-wrenching, and relentlessly compelling read." —Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Carve the Mark and the Divergent series
A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial—like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about. Now with special bonus material!
“Today, WNRK is launching the first episode of our new serialized podcast, The Girls, created and hosted by West McCray.”
When popular radio personality West McCray receives a desperate phone call from a stranger imploring him to find nineteen-year-old runaway Sadie Hunter, he’s not convinced there’s a story there; girls go missing all the time. But when it’s revealed that Sadie fled home after the brutal murder of her little sister, Mattie, West travels to the small town of Cold Creek, Colorado, to uncover what happened.
Sadie has no idea that her journey to avenge her sister will soon become the subject of a blockbuster podcast. Armed with a switchblade, Sadie follows meager clues hoping they’ll lead to the man who took Mattie’s life, because she’s determined to make him pay with his own. But as West traces her path to the darkest, most dangerous corners of big cities and small towns, a deeply unsettling mystery begins to unfold—one that’s bigger than them both. Can he find Sadie before it’s too late?
Alternating between Sadie’s unflinching voice as she hunts the killer and the podcast transcripts tracking the clues she’s left behind, Courtney Summers' Sadie is a breathless thriller about the lengths we go to protect the ones we love and the high price we pay when we can’t. It will haunt you long after you reach the final page.
Why it's similar
Both stories prominently employ a multimedia true-crime format—complete with podcast transcripts and recorded interviews—to investigate the disappearance and death of young girls.
What's different
Sadie possesses a significantly bleaker, more visceral tone focused on trauma and violent revenge, lacking the cozy amateur-sleuth banter and lighter moments found in Jackson's work.
"Sharp, brilliantly plotted, and totally engrossing."--KAREN M. MCMANUS, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying
"A crafty, dark, and disturbing story."--KATHLEEN GLASGOW, New York Times bestselling author of Girl In Pieces
"A little bit Riverdale and a little bit Veronica Mars."--RILEY SAGER, bestselling author of Final Girls
A Goodreads Best Young Adult Book of the Year Nominee
From the author of The Darkest Corners and Little Monsters comes an all-new edge-of-your-seat thriller set in upstate New York about an eerie sequence of seemingly unrelated events that leaves five cheerleaders dead.
There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.
First there was the car accident--two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica's sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they'd lost.
That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it's not that easy. She just wants to forget.
Only, Monica's world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad's desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn't over. Some people in town know more than they're saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.
There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn't mean anyone else is safe.
More Praise for Kara Thomas:
"Gripping from start to finish . . . with twists that left me shocked."--VICTORIA AVEYARD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen
"You'll be up all night tearing through the pages."--BUSTLE
"This deliciously deceptive thriller...is a must-have."--SLJ
Why it's similar
Both novels follow a teenage girl who suspects the official story behind a closed small-town tragedy is a lie, prompting her to uncover dark local conspiracies on her own.
What's different
The Cheerleaders emphasizes psychological grief and survivor's guilt over structured investigative logs, resulting in a heavier, more somber mystery.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Who killed Brooke Donovan? It’s the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks they know what happened. But they're wrong. Two unlikely friends come together to solve the case in this fast-paced, fun, modern Agatha Christie inspired thriller.
"Part Agatha Christie, part Veronica Mars, and completely entertaining." —Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Of Us Is Lying
A PEOPLE MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER
Last summer, Alice Ogilvie’s basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. She's not talking, so where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve’s girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice’s ex–best friend. And it doesn’t look like Brooke will be coming back. . .
Enter Iris Adams, Alice’s tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn’t have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke’s grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter’s whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn’t so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.
In order to get the reward and prove Steve’s innocence, they need to figure out who killed Brooke Donovan. And luckily Alice has exactly what they need—the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there’s anyone that can teach the girls how to solve a mystery it’s the master herself. But the town of Castle Cove holds many secrets, and Alice and Iris have no idea how much danger they're about to walk into.
Why it's similar
Both center on teenage amateur detectives who step in to investigate a classmate's suspicious disappearance after believing law enforcement has wrongly accused an innocent suspect.
What's different
The Agathas focuses on a dual-sleuth partnership explicitly modeling their methods on classic Golden Age detective fiction rather than modern digital-era investigative school projects.
For fans of Sadie and Serial, this “gloriously twisty” (BuzzFeed) thriller follows two teens whose lives become inextricably linked when one confesses to murder and the other becomes determined to uncover the real truth no matter the cost.
What happened to Zoe won’t stay buried…
When Anna Cicconi arrives to the small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer nanny gig, she has high hopes for a fresh start. What she finds instead is a community on edge after the disappearance of Zoe Spanos, a local girl who has been missing since New Year’s Eve. Anna bears an eerie resemblance to Zoe, and her mere presence in town stirs up still-raw feelings about the unsolved case. As Anna delves deeper into the mystery, stepping further and further into Zoe’s life, she becomes increasingly convinced that she and Zoe are connected—and that she knows what happened to her.
Two months later, Zoe’s body is found in a nearby lake, and Anna is charged with manslaughter. But Anna’s confession is riddled with holes, and Martina Green, teen host of the Missing Zoe podcast, isn’t satisfied. Did Anna really kill Zoe? And if not, can Martina’s podcast uncover the truth?
Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Kit Frick weaves an electrifying story of psychological suspense that twists and turns until the final page.
Why it's similar
Both are YA crime mysteries where a teen girl digs into a past disappearance/murder in a close-knit community, using podcast-style or recorded elements to structure the investigation.
What's different
The pacing is slightly slower and more atmospheric, with a stronger focus on unreliable narration and summer-town mood than on procedural-style note-taking and school project framing.
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