A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3
As Good As Dead
by Holly Jackson
Contents
Five
Overview
Pip researches body decomposition for a new podcast case and is caught by her mum, revealing strain at home. She receives another ominous anonymous email and reflects on the moral ambiguities of her past cases. Determined to regain control, Pip selects a clear-cut Jane Doe murder near Cambridge, seeking a black-and-white pursuit to ‘fix’ herself.
Summary
Early morning, Pip studies graphic postmortem images and time-of-death indicators, compiling notes for a new case. Her mum discovers the images, prompting a tense-but-caring exchange about boundaries, self-care, and breakfast plans, highlighting the family’s heightened efforts around Pip.
Alone again, Pip retreats into her noise-cancelling headphones and reflects on her podcast’s impact and the trauma from the farmhouse events. A recurring anonymous message arrives—“who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?”—which unsettles her and briefly tempts her toward another pill, but she resists.
Pip interrogates the root of her unraveling: the moral grey areas from the past year. She weighs Elliot Ward’s crimes against his motives, Max Hastings’ unpunished danger, Becca Bell’s incarceration despite being, in Pip’s view, fundamentally good, and the unsolvable contradiction of Stanley Forbes and Charlie Green. The ambiguity has broken her sense of meaning.
Seeking repair, Pip decides she needs a case with strict moral clarity. She identifies a Jane Doe murdered near Cambridge—young, unclaimed, mutilated—as the perfect black-and-white pursuit. Pip resolves that solving this case will bring justice to Jane Doe and restore Pip’s own sense of self and order: just one more case to set everything right.
Who Appears
- Pip Fitz-AmobiProtagonist; researches body decomposition, receives a threatening email, and resolves to investigate a Cambridge Jane Doe to regain control.
- Pip’s mumCatches Pip viewing postmortem images; worries, offers support and breakfast, reflecting family strain and care.
- Josh Fitz-AmobiPip’s younger brother; offstage presence influencing Mum’s concern about graphic content.
- Anonymous senderSends recurring ominous message: ‘who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?’ unsettling Pip.
- Becca BellIncarcerated acquaintance; Pip reflects on weekly calls and questions whether Becca deserves prison.
- Max HastingsAntagonist figure in Pip’s mind; emblem of unpunished danger fueling her need for a clear-cut case.
- Elliot WardImprisoned; Pip wrestles with his mixed motives, emblematic of the moral grey that destabilized her.
- Jane Doe (Cambridge)Unidentified murder victim whose case Pip chooses as a morally clear mission to ‘fix’ herself.