Coming of age with girl detectives

After my sixth trip to the public library to pick up my decade-old “murder books” (aka young adult mysteries), I decided to delve into his obsession with her: we binged the entire new Netflix show. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (created by Poppy Cogan) is a film based on a series of young adult novels by Holly Jackson. Seeing my daughter’s passionate fascination with both the main character, Pip Fitz-Amobi (Emma Myers), a good girl in over her head, and the world of a murder mystery, reminded me of how formative the girl detective genre was in my life. . It also made me grateful for all the ways the genre has evolved.

Even while much other fiction was carefully edited in my evangelical community, Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden were often viewed as so old-fashioned as to be harmless. I eagerly read between the lines to learn about her scandalous adult life. (Nancy’s relationship with her boyfriend, Ned, was never overtly sexual, but it wasn’t Christian dating, either.) Sex, rape, neglectful parents, abuse, embezzlement, adultery, and sexual abuse are not covered enough (or if they are not). There were (not so veiled) references. The murders in all these series had me leafing through the pages for more clues to a world that is often shrouded in mystery. I knew from half-overheard conversations and my own intuition that there were layers to human life beyond the obligation to obey your parents and rejoice in the Lord. Murder mysteries were one way to understand what I suspected was being hidden from me.

The girl detective genre taps into this instinct, even if you didn’t grow up in evangelical culture. Edna St. “Childhood is a place where no one dies,” Vincent Millay wrote, and if you’re lucky enough that adulthood doesn’t come upon you too soon, growing up is often a journey into the darker experiences of human nature. The girl detective genre makes its discoveries an explicit part of the girl detective’s growth. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a perfect example of this general ideal, as Pip not only solves a murder case, but also tries to find his own place in the world as he approaches young adulthood.

Five years ago, when Pip was just two years old, Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies), a high school senior in small-town England, disappeared and her body was never found. A few days later, her long-time boyfriend Sal Singh (Rahul Pattni) sent what appeared to be a confession via text and then died by suicide. The police and the town acknowledged Sal’s guilt, but Pip knew Sal as a neighbor and remembers his kindness and gentle spirit. Unconvinced that the case was properly investigated, he decides to take on the case as a high-level project. He soon joins forces with Sal’s younger brother Ravi (Zain Iqbal), who also does not believe in his brother’s guilt, and the two begin to investigate the many secrets connected to the main mystery.

And wow, there are so many secrets to unravel in this small, tight-knit town: wild underground parties (which made me fervently grateful that my kids don’t have access to uninvaded forests), date rape, secret drug rings, kidnapping, abusive parents, sexual aggression, anxiety, depression, adultery, racism, classism and just plain sadness. No violence or sex is explicitly depicted, and many of these facts are implicitly implied, meaning most of them are going over my ten-year-old son’s mind. I regret having to explain what the roofs are because they are important to the plot in several ways. I could see his inner world rearranging as he learned the fundamental life lesson of “never leave your drink unattended.” But as she watched Pip learn the same lesson and move on, she returned to him with renewed confidence and admiration.

As Pip learns more about the secrets openly kept in his small town, his own life is not left untouched. The people he loved were keeping secrets from him. The people he loves suffer under the weight of these secrets. Her quest to uncover the truth is also a journey of reconciling her girlish ideals with adult reality and figuring out how to maintain her goodness when the world around her turns out to be in danger.

In many detective fiction for older girls, the line between the dark world and the good girl is very sharply drawn. Nancy Drew is rich and smart, and there’s no hint that the criminal underworld might leave its dirty mark on her starched white tennis skirt. Pip joins a newer tradition of girl detectives—Veronica Mars (created by Rob Thomas), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (created by Joss Whedon) and Enola Holmes One of my favorite movies (directed by Harry Bradbeer); Here this line is more blurred. The mission of these girl detectives is to find a way to move forward as “good girls” in a world too dark and complex for their childish understanding to comprehend. But genre is also a buffer against this darkness. After all, the girl detective always solves the case, and there’s great pleasure in watching all the complicated and confusing pieces fall into order.

It’s a powerful vision that will shape the formative years of contemporary tween and adolescence, and watching my daughter watch Pip made me realize how much I wanted that vision for her too; will explore the limits of adulthood and at the same time make him realize, “I can figure this out.” We will probably have to wait at least one more year for the new season. A Good Girl’s Guide to MurderBut thank God there are many female detectives waiting for us. We can’t wait to continue watching.