Created by Poppy Cogan – Based on the novels by Holly Jackson – Starring Emma Myers, Zain Iqbal, Asha Banks, Raiko Gohara, and Henry Ashton
Still dealing with the consequences of her first investigation, Pip Fitz-Amobi (Emma Myers) finds herself drawn into another mystery when someone close to her disappears, uncovering more secrets in the seemingly quiet town of Little Kilton.
I’m starting to think Little Kilton might be the most dangerous town in England.
There are murders, disappearances, assaults, blackmail, and enough buried secrets to keep Pip Fitz-Amobi busy for the next decade. For a small town, Little Kilton has an impressive number of people involved in some pretty terrible things.
And almost all of them seem to know each other. Which can make the show feel like it’s repeating subplots as it covers a lot of familiar ground.
One of the things I liked about the first season was the way Pip’s investigation kept moving in unexpected directions. Just when you thought you understood what was happening, another piece of information would change everything.
Season two does much the same thing. There are plenty of suspects, secrets, and discoveries that send Pip down different paths. Some of those turns genuinely surprised me.
The show doesn’t always give you all the clues, so some revelations can feel like they come out of nowhere. Still, the mystery keeps you on the hook, even when new motives are introduced late in the story.
Pip is carrying considerable guilt over the consequences of her first investigation while some of the people closest to her are still dealing with what she uncovered.
That’s a worthwhile direction for the character. Emma Myers does a good job showing how much the experience has affected Pip, and I appreciate that the show doesn’t treat solving a murder as some uncomplicated teenage adventure. But the season keeps returning to the same emotional territory.
It’s a problem I had with the first season, too. The show has a tendency to stretch out its emotional conflicts, revisiting them repeatedly rather than allowing the characters to move forward.
Emma Myers remains an appealing lead, and I enjoy watching Pip work her way through a complicated investigation. The small-town British setting has its charm, even if the crime rate has reached absurd levels. And the show is at its most compelling when it concentrates on the mystery.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is entertaining, occasionally surprising, and sometimes a little too complicated for its own good.
TV Verdict: Worth Watching