Tag: Detective

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YA Review: You Can Trust Me

Title: You Can Trust Me
Author: Gina Blaxill
Edition: Paperback (Paper Orange Book Box)
Rating: 5/5

Foul is Fair meets A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder in this gripping read, as featured in the April Paper Orange YA Book Box.

Alana is the new girl – at her school and in the small town she’s moved to with her mother and brother. A New Year party seems like a great place to meet people, but not everyone is there to make new friends. When her childhood best friend is found unconscious, Alana realises that the attacker is at the party – and that she was supposed to be the target.

It’s a great setup for a story full of plot twists, surprises, and dangerous amateur sleuthing. The starting point is an attempted sexual assault, and Alana must decide which of the local rugby club boys she can trust as she tries to piece together the events of the party. Everyone has secrets, everyone holds a piece of the puzzle, and there’s a history of suicides and murders in the spot where her friend was found.

Alana finds herself dismissed by the police investigating the attack, and frustrated by their lack of progress. Investigating the crime herself feels like the only solution, and she quickly discovers that someone involved doesn’t appreciate the attention. Figuring out who is behind the threats, lies, and rumours throws Alana into danger, and the reader into the heart of the story.

I couldn’t put this book down. I read more than half in one sitting, and I couldn’t wait to come back and read the rest. It’s a clever mix of detective-style interpretation of evidence, networking with Alana’s new friends to pick up on gossip and rumours, and a very human process of uncovering the people behind the gossip. Reputations matter, but as Alana follows the clues to track down the attacker, she discovers that not all reputations are deserved.

Is she trusting the right people, and can she believe what they tell her? I highly recommend diving in and finding out!

Have you read You Can Trust Me? What did you think of Alana’s story? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

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YA Review: As Good As Dead

Title: As Good As Dead (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3)
Author: Holly Jackson
Edition: Paperback
Rating: 5/5

The final book in the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy was a must-read for me. I enjoyed the first two books, and I was looking forward to meeting schoolgirl detective Pip Fitz-Amobi, her boyfriend Ravi, her wonderfully supportive family, and the residents of Little Kilton again for another investigation.

Pip isn’t intending to investigate another local mystery. She’s heading to university in Cambridge at the end of the summer, and she is still haunted by memories of her two previous cases. But when she unearths a connection between events in Little Kilton and a convicted serial killer, she can’t resist digging deeper.

Throughout the book her relationship with Ravi continues to develop, and they make an adorable couple. It is wonderful to see the friends she’s made, and the people she’s helped during her investigations come together to support her – but she’s made enemies as well as friends, and her list of local suspects keeps growing.

The case quickly becomes personal, and the stakes are higher than ever as Pip works to connect the fragments of evidence and find out what really happened – and who is threatening her as she goes public with another true-crime podcast.

I’ve enjoyed all three books in the series, but this is definitely the best. We are drawn into Pip’s investigation, and to the danger she faces. There are some truly heart-pounding scenes, and plenty of tension, deception, and eureka moments. Pip’s reactions to her previous cases and the lasting trauma she carries with her feel real – she’s not a hard-boiled detective, and we never lose sight of the fact that she’s still a teenager, at the very beginning of her adult life. As she unearths evidence, she is also discovering which adults, and which authority figures, can be trusted – and who has something to hide.

You’ll need to read the first two books in order to understand the context for this story, but the series is perfect for binge reading. Highly recommended!

Have you read As Good As Dead? What did you think of the final book in the series? Do you want more from Pip, or are you happy that the story ends here? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

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YA Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood

Title: Good Girl, Bad Blood
Author: Holly Jackson
Edition: Paperback
Rating: 4/5

I’ve been looking forward to reading the sequel to ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’. More Pip Fitz-Amobi – the brave, intelligent schoolgirl and accidental detective. More of her wonderful family and friends. More of Ravi, her ally in the first book, and more of the residents of Little Kilton. And most importantly, a new mystery for Pip to solve.

When the brother of one of Pip’s friends goes missing, the police refuse to investigate. He’s twenty four, old enough to disappear on purpose, and he’s not regarded as being vulnerable. He’s at the bottom of the police priority list, but Pip is certain that his disappearance and his recent behaviour are out of character, and she’s determined to find him.

Things have changed for Pip since her experiences in the first book. After her investigation into Andie’s death, she had to promise her family she would not put herself in danger again, so she’s going to have to run this investigation in secret. But this time she has an audience for her discoveries – the podcast she is using to tell Andie’s story, and to cover the trials associated with the case. Pip the detective is back, and this time she can crowdsource evidence from all the residents of Little Kilton, and beyond.

The story unfolds gradually, with new evidence coming to light throughout the book. We meet new neighbours and familiar residents of the town, and they all contribute pieces of the puzzle. Some of the evidence is presented in the form of transcripts of her podcast, and of the interviews she conducts with the people involved with the case, and some comes from Pip’s investigations. Her conversations with Ravi help her to clarify her thoughts, and together they pick up on details Pip might have missed if she worked alone.

There are suspect lists and twists and unexpected encounters. There is danger and bravery and evidence that doesn’t make sense until the end. There are links back to events in the first book, and to the people Pip suspected in her previous investigation. And there’s a nail-biting ending with a resolution that kept me guessing, even though the evidence, and the puzzle pieces, were all in front of me.

It’s a great story, and Pip continues to be a brilliant protagonist. Intelligent, brave, and a more than a little reckless in her pursuit of the truth. Her persistence and determination make this an exciting, page-turning read, and a worthy second outing for the schoolgirl detective.

Have you read Good Girl, Bad Blood? What did you think of Pip’s second investigation? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

Please keep your comments YA appropriate. Be patient! We want to hear from you, but comments are moderated, and may take some time to appear.