'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' Author Holly Jackson 'Sympathizes' With Fans' Criticism of TV Adaptation

When a favorite book series is adapted for the screen, changes and creative liberties are often necessary to transition to a visual medium. This is true for the upcoming Netflix series ‘A Good Girl's Guide to Murder,’ based on Holly Jackson's book of the same name. In an interview with Variety, Jackson acknowledged the challenges of adapting her book to a television script.

"If I hadn’t interfered — I say interfered, I should use a better word — if I hadn’t offered my sage advice and guidance and butted in, the show wouldn’t look the way it is today. I’m proud of the show that we’ve made but ultimately I wasn’t the one writing it," Jackson told Variety. The series, as described by Netflix, follows 17-year-old Pip (Emma Myers) investigating the murder of a high school student. Variety notes that some of Ravi Singh's (Zain Iqbal) dialogue was cut for the adaptation.

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Jackson detailed the delicate balance she maintained while working with the show's writers. "I made lots of suggestions and I said things that I thought would be really important to book fans, that they would feel betrayed if they weren’t there." She added, "And ultimately it wasn’t my decision. So I sympathize entirely with book fans who wanted to see their favorite moments. And you know, I have such a close interaction with the readership that I already knew."

The book and the show's basic plot remain similar, with Pip investigating the murder of Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies). The community believed Andie was killed in a murder-suicide by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who is also the older brother of Pip's boyfriend, Ravi. As Pip delves deeper into the case, she uncovers evidence that Sal might not have been guilty as the community has believed for the past five years.

The series is adapted by Dolly Wells, with Poppy Cogan, Zia Ahmed, Ajoke Ibironke, and Ruby Thomas behind the script. Jackson told Variety, "I was very heavily involved in the show. I was doing script notes throughout. I was basically the whole of last year working 24/7 on the show. The show is literally unrecognizable because of my input." Whether these changes will be for better or worse will be up to fans to decide when the six-part series premieres on Netflix.

–Farheen Ali