A Good Girl's Guide to Murder Trilogy

The Good Girl's Guide to Murder Trilogy consists of these books.

1.  A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, 2020
2.  Good Girl, Bad Blood, 2021
3.  As Good as Dead, 2021

Publisher's summary of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder:

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself.  It was all anyone could talk about.  And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day.  She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her.  How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation.  But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent... and the line between past and present begins to blur.  Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

The first two books are really excellent books.  The third book is much darker.  The first half of the third book is very much like the first two books, except that Pip has PTSD from what happened at the end of the second book.  This is understandable.  However, I did not expect the story to take the turn that it does halfway through the third book.  Still, I greatly enjoyed reading the second half of the third book but as something quite different from what I read for the first 2 1/2 books.  

I don't like what happens when the story turns.  While I understand that the PTSD leads Pip into the situation, it doesn't fit the content of the first two books.  It's just off.  Many readers share my opinion, while other readers are fine with the turn in the story.

I read most of the second half of the third book, but I skimmed at times due to being uninterested in the extremely detailed descriptions of everything that Pip does in this part of the story.  I was still invested in the story although I was less interested.  I wanted to see if events would turn out the way Pip wants.  I'm being careful with my wording so as not to give anything away. 

Most reviews for this series are overwhelmingly positive.  The negative reviews are in the extreme minority.  It should be noted that many of the negative reviews suggest not reading the third book, feeling that the third book ruins the story.  I don't feel that way, at least not exactly, but the third book is quite a downer.

The third book is heavy, dark, and foreboding.  Like the other two books, it has a mystery.  Unlike the other two books, the culprit is blindingly obvious.  The point of the third book isn't to fake out the reader; it is to set up what happens halfway through the book.  Beginning halfway through, the book turns into a thriller with a protagonist acting a bit different from what she is in the first 2 1/2 books.  

The high point of this series is Pip and Ravi's relationship.  It's just precious.