Television series

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Name: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Released: 2024
Cast: Emma Myers, Zain Iqbal, Henry Ashton, Jude Morgan-Collie, Yali Topol Margalith

A teenage girl reopens a closed murder case for her school project and realizes the convicted man might be innocent—and that the real killer could still be watching. It's a sharp, propulsive thriller that trusts its young protagonist's intelligence. Addictive for anyone who likes mysteries with teeth and characters you actually care about.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a clever, chatty teen sleuth who pokes at a closed case the whole town has accepted, and enjoy suspicion spreading between classmates like a slow-burning puzzle.

Skip it if you want a gritty, grown-up procedural; this is a glossy, mischievous teen mystery with a lot of school-corridor gossip and a fizzy, chatty tone that may grate.

What it asks of you: Brisk forty-four-minute episodes, twelve of them, reward close attention to who is hiding what and who was where.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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But The early seasons are stellar but it loses momentum later. Some arcs feel drawn out, and the tonal shifts can be jarring.

Vertigo1958

When a girl dies in a seemingly closed case, a group of teens uncovers secrets about who they really are and what happened. Same engine: a small community with dangerous secrets and young people asking the wrong questions.

But It pivots into supernatural territory that not everyone will buy. The pacing can feel uneven in the middle stretch.

Broadchurch2013

A child is murdered in a tight seaside town and nothing is what it seems. It's methodical, paranoid, and devastatingly acted—the gold standard for closed-community mysteries that burrow under your skin.

But It's relentlessly bleak. No quips, no relief. Some viewers find the grimness exhausting rather than gripping.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

dot2022

Both understand that the worst part of a murder case isn't always solving it—it's living with what you can't know. Pip's quest for truth meets the question of whether truth is always recoverable.

A six-year-old goes missing in 1990s Cornwall. A teenager and her mother hunt for answers. What makes this devastatingly original: it's seen through the fractured, unreliable memory of an adult looking back. No easy resolution. No reassurance. Just the long damage of an unsolved case.

But It's intimate and small, not a puzzle-box thriller. The lack of answers will frustrate viewers looking for closure. Requires patience with ambiguity.

Mare of Easttown2021

A detective in a fractured Pennsylvania town digs into a cold case and her own ghosts. Kate Winslet is phenomenal, and the writing captures how grief and small-town secrets corrode everything they touch.

But It's slow-burn regional crime drama, not a thriller. Long scenes of people not talking. Some find it static.

Pretty Little Liars2010

Four girls navigate secrets, blackmail, and a murder while trying to survive high school. It's a genuine page-turner with genuine twists, and the ensemble chemistry is infectious.

But It runs seven seasons and the mythology gets increasingly convoluted. Later reveals feel more random than earned.

One of Us Is Lying2021

Five students walk into detention; one doesn't walk out. Each could be the killer. It's fun, fast, and builds genuine paranoia about who to trust among a group of friends.

But It prioritizes entertainment over depth. Characters sometimes feel like plot devices, and the social commentary is pretty surface-level.

The Innocent Man2018

A man released after serving time for a crime he didn't commit tries to rebuild his life while the real truth emerges. It's tense and explores the damage done by wrongful conviction with intelligence and empathy.

But It's Spanish-language with subtitles. The pacing is methodical, and some viewers find it slow despite its strong writing.

MINDHUNTER2017

Two FBI profilers invent the playbook for understanding serial killers. It's cerebral, beautifully made, and asks what it costs to climb inside a murderer's head. Unsettling in the best way.

But It's not a thriller with propulsive momentum—it's a procedural that values atmosphere. Cancelled after two seasons, so no ending.

Making a Murderer2015

The show's entire premise—what if the convicted person is innocent—becomes a real legal battleground here. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder plays it as a mystery; Making a Murderer shows what happens when the mystery refuses to resolve.

A documentary about a man convicted of murder and the evidence that might prove his innocence. It's maddening, cinematic, and makes the real-world stakes of wrongful conviction visceral. You'll be arguing about it for weeks.

But It's genuinely infuriating and morally complicated without tidy answers. Some viewers feel manipulated by the edit. Three hours in and you want to scream.

Only Murders in the Building2021

Both are about ordinary people who become detectives because they can't look away. But this one is about the addiction to mysteries themselves—the comfort of the puzzle over the weight of the answer. A wildly different register on the same obsession.

Three true-crime obsessives in a Manhattan apartment building become amateur detectives when a resident dies. It's a comedy thriller with genuine affection for its characters and sharp, witty writing. The twist is that they're bumbling but earnest.

But The tone is lighter and more comedic than A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. If you want grit and paranoia, this is too playful. Some mysteries feel engineered rather than organic.