All the plot points in A Good Girls Guide to Murder that are completely different in the book

The TV adaption of Holly Jackson’s hit novel A Good Girls Guide to Murder hit our screens this summer and we are hooked. The BBC Drama follows Pip, who investigates a murder in her town that took place five years ago, for her EPQ project. The book was beloved by readers and the TV adaptation has really lived up to the hype. With big names such as Emma Myers, Matthew Bayton and Anna Maxwell Martin joining the cast, the show soon become a classic British who-dunnit.

However, there are some noticeable differences from the book in A Good Girls Guide to Murder, so here’s a look at them all.

The hint of Andie Bell’s death at the beginning of episode one

via BBC iPlayer

The TV series opens with a haunting scene of Andie bell walking down a dark road, crying with blood on the back of her head, which foreshadows the unravelling of her murder. In the book, the reader is always kept in the dark about how Andie could have been murdered and where her body had disappeared, until the very end when it is all unravelled. While I do believe the first scene of the show sets the creepy tone of the series and encourages watches to be intrigued and invested in Andie, I do think it takes away from the shock of the reveal at the end.

Howie Bowers only has a small role in the show

Most Read

The heartbreaking reason behind Tulisa’s transformation and why she looks so different now

Emma reveals where she and Caspar are now and lots has changed since the MAFS UK reunion

Lacey and Nathan embroiled in nasty feud following ‘bitter rows’ after MAFS UK split

In the series, Howie Bowers is only seen once. In the book, pip becomes obsessed with Howie and follows him to multiple drug deals and even goes to his house. However, I think the scene when we meet Howie in the show, at the calamity party, portrays him more of a mysterious and dangerous man which adds to the creepy vibe of the story.

Nat De Silva is Andie’s bestie

via BBC iPlayer

In the TV series it is learnt that Andie Bell was the leader of a best friend trio and Nat De Silva was one of its members. However, in the book, Nat De Silva despises Andie and they are enemies. This is due to Andie bullying Nat relentlessly as she was jealous of her and later leaking her nudes to the whole school.

Andie and Sal’s relationship is much more serious in the TV series

via BBC iPlayer

In the tTVv show, Andie and Sal’s relationship, although strained, is displayed as a beautiful love story with a tragic ending. They are shown to really love each other. In the book however, Andie just uses Sal as a pawn ion her game of popularity and power at school. This is why she has no remorse about cheating on him with “secret older guy”.

Sal’s alibi is hinted at in the first episode

via BBC iPlayer

In the book, the moment it is revealed that Sal actually does have an alibi is a big twist to readers, as it is concrete proof he is innocent. However, in the first episode of the series, Naomi Ward lets slip that Sal did have an alibi, before the conversation gets interrupted by Elliot Ward. This takes away from the drama of the moment Pip finds the photo that proves Sal was with his friends all evening, proving he couldn’t be the murderer.

Pip’s first meeting with Max is different

via BBC iPlayer

In the book, Pip’s first interview with Max is very brief and doesn’t contain much detail, as it is written in the form of her EPQ log. However, in the series, Pip first meets Max at his parents lavish 1920s Hollywood party, where he forces her to drink for every answer he provides to her questioning. I think this change was fantastic as it really displayed Max’s “rich boy with a dark side” persona from episode one. I also liked the theme of the party as it was reminiscent to Agatha Christie type, classic murder mysteries.

Pip learns of the nature of Sal’s and Andie deaths differently

via BBC iPlayer

In the book, Pip finds a scratched-out phone number in Andie’s diary and then discovers Naomi’s burner phone, who previously belonged to Elliot ward, matches the digits and figures out that Elliot must be secret older guy. In the show, Pippa finds the phone number of secret older guy in the hotel guestbook. Naomi then rings pip from her dads old phone and it matches so pip goes to confront Elliot immediately

In the book, Pip can’t stop thinking about Elliot’s genuine shock that barney had been murdered, so revisits her research and figures out herself that Max had assaulted Becca using drugs Andie had sold him, giving Becca a motive. In the show, pip sees an Instagram post which shows Elliot was out of town when barney was murdered and then finds out about Becca’s assault from her old friend.

Although these changes were made to save time and to be more visual so watchers could keep up with important details, it does give the impression that Pip is not as smart as in the book as a lot of evidence falls into her lap. Out of all the differences from the book in A Good Girls Guide to Murder, this is one which left many readers most frustrated.

There is a new side plot about Pip’s father

One of the biggest differences from the book in A Good Girls Guide to Murder is in the series, there is a plot line where Pip finds out that Victor lied about going on holiday to visit family and actually was staying down the road in a hotel. Pip believes he was cheating but you find out that it was due to marital problems. I believe this was added to show so that Pip reached a point where she felt like she couldn’t trust anyone, and neither should the audience.

Andie Bell’s personality is completely different

via BBC iPlayer

I believe this to be the biggest difference between the series and the book. In the tv series, it is learned that Andie had made many mistakes but it was all due to her being scared of her abusive father and a way to earn enough money to move out. Additionally, she is shown to really love Sal and want to run away with him.

However, in the books, Andie is discovered to be a manipulative bully who did things like dealing drugs to gain power over the town. Additionally, it is shown that she never really loved Sal, but he was another pawn in her game. This change is very drastic as the book takes an interesting standpoint on how victims that fit into the ‘young, beautiful, blonde’ stereotype are put on this saint-like pedestal, when actually she caused a lot of pain to others, which caused the chain events that caused her murder.

The ‘girl in the attack’ plot line is scarier

In the book, Elliot ward is struggling with guilt-driven madness and he truly believes the homeless woman he picks up on the side of the road is Andie. She plays along with it as she has had such mental distress in her life. In the series though, he does think the homeless girl is Andie initially, but then realises she isn’t but offers her somewhere to sleep for the night. This is when he tells her how he killed Sal and then refuses to let her leave as she could tell the police.

For more like this look at all the differences from the book in A Good Girls Guide to Murder and all the latest news, drops, quizzes and memes, like The Tab on Facebook. 

Related articles recommended by this writer:

• Here’s where you recognise the up-and-coming cast of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder from

• Cracked the case? Here’s what to watch after A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder