Megan

As an avid reader, I love when a book can be shown on screen for those who prefer to watch, as it gives me a chance to talk about both my interest in the book and the changes that have been made. As with anything though, there are some parts of adaptations that just don’t sit right with me. I’m all for changing some words here and there but I don’t enjoy when the on-screen portrayal has a whole different ending and plot twists that you have read. I love the A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series, so when I heard it was going to be adapted to be on screen, I was over the moon.

After many years of reading and rereading the series, series one (an adaptation of the first book) was filmed. When it finally was released, it was also clear that it was not adapted by the author herself. There were not many specific details in there, although I must admit I think the casting of the characters was perfect, and that the book had perfectly matched up to the actors and their on screen personalities. In addition to this, there were a lot more extra scenes including a recurring flashback to days before the event that appears to be the reason Pip decides to do the Andie Bell case as her project as she has a guilty conscience. This was not mentioned in the book and seemed to change the meaning behind her starting the project in the first place. This is disappointing as non readers are then more likely to view her more negatively overall instead of understanding that Pip was inspired by a game with friends.

However, when series two was recently released (based on the second book in the series, Good Girl, Bad Blood), the script was written by Holly Jackson herself. This was promising because we knew that there would be plenty more references to the book than in previous series. It did not disappoint; everything matched perfectly with the book with there being lots more quotes, and even book accurate costumes. My favourite quote she added from the book was from Ravi (Pip’s accomplice) who said ‘Real men wear floral when tresspassing’ as he wore green and yellow gardening gloves – an iconic line from the book. That doesn’t mean it didn’t come without changes; in this series Jackson referenced her latest book in the series that was written as a prequel to A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. In Kill Joy, a party/murder mystery dinner party originally sparked Pip’s idea to go into solving crimes, this was very accurate to the book Kill Joy even though it was shown before book two rather than book one. However, this plot point was necessary to introduce one of the characters. 

Looking at the series as a whole they do greatly represent the book and the story it’s trying to tell, but series two is the one that contains most accurate references whilst series one goes slightly more off piste. This shows how an author’s presence and involvement in screen writing an adaptation greatly influences how it is perceived by both readers and viewers. Series one has lower ratings compared to season two, and was described as being too fast paced and not book accurate, whilst season two has been praised for being more book accurate and better to watch – especially to those who have read the book. Personally, I think this is due to Holly Jackson’s input to the script and that as a reader herself she kept in mind that readers were expecting faithful and accurate adaptation from book to screen. It is also important that series three, based on the final book of the series, has already been recorded and is set to come out in the United Kingdom in early 2027, and was written by both Holly Jackson andEmma Myers (who plays Pip). I think this will be even better, as the book will be shown through how it is viewed by both the author and a reader. 

I love that this series has been made into a screen adaptation, and found it particularly interesting to see just how much the book accuracy matters to me and just how much the writer of an adaptation really influences how it is viewed by an audience.