A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3
As Good As Dead
by Holly Jackson
Contents
Forty-Five
Overview
Pip assembles an audio teaser for Season 3, crafting narration and curated clips to frame the investigation into Jason Bell’s homicide. She uses a bleeped interview with café owner Jackie to hint at Max Hastings without naming him, aiming to guide DI Hawkins toward the intended suspect while appearing impartial.
Summary
Late at night, Pip reviews and edits audio on her laptop, listening through old earphones as she refines an interview with Jackie from the local café. She reflects on Josh borrowing her headphones and on nearly losing him, recommitting herself to protect her family while perfecting the recording.
Studying the waveform, Pip isolates a key clip and imagines DI Hawkins hearing it within days, following the carefully constructed trail she is laying. She notes she cannot include Max Hastings’s name directly but intends to guide Hawkins to it, just as he once followed a path to Sal Singh.
Pip builds the Season 3 teaser: it opens with news and siren clips announcing Jason Bell’s suspicious death and Hawkins’s confirmation of homicide. Pip narrates the known facts—date, location at Green Scene and Clean Scene Ltd—and invites listeners to follow the active investigation, stressing that a killer is at large.
She inserts the interview with Jackie, who recounts a recent, angry physical altercation between Jason and a bleeped individual in the café queue, tied to resentment over what that person did to Becca Bell despite no conviction. The redactions conceal the name while clearly implying motive and animosity.
Closing the teaser, Pip states she already has a person of interest and promises the season will pursue answers alongside the police, ending with Hawkins’s pledge to find the killer and her own: “So do I.” The edit completes Pip’s plan to nudge Hawkins toward Max without explicitly naming him.
Who Appears
- Pip Fitz-AmobiEdits a Season 3 teaser to covertly steer DI Hawkins toward Max as Jason Bell’s killer.
- JackieCafé owner; interviewee describing Jason’s angry altercation with a bleeped individual two weeks before the murder.
- DI HawkinsDetective whose press clips Pip uses; intended target of her guided investigative trail.
- Max HastingsImplied suspect via redacted audio; Pip avoids naming him while directing suspicion his way.
- Jason BellMurder victim; his recent café altercation becomes key teaser evidence suggesting motive and suspect.
- Josh Fitz-AmobiPip’s brother; briefly noted borrowing headphones, prompting Pip’s protective reflections.
- CaraPresent in the earlier interview recording, murmuring in the background.
- NewsreaderVoice clip announcing Jason Bell’s death in the teaser.