YA Thrillers Like A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER

You most likely appreciate a headstrong teen protagonist if you’re a fan of Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, so you’ll absolutely love Nora O’Malley. Nora has been a lot of different girls in her lifetime. That’s no surprise considering she’s the daughter of a con woman. Nora’s been trying to figure out what being herself looks like for the past five years, ever since her older sister helped her get out and put her dangerous step-father behind bars. But now she’s gotten caught up in a bank robbery. She’s a hostage alongside her girlfriend and best friend/ex-boyfriend. Normal is probably the last thing she needs to be right now—at least if she wants to get them all out of this unharmed. Telling the truth hasn’t always gone well for Nora in the past, though. This time might be even worse, though. This time, it might cost her her life.

Once you’ve read The Girls I’ve Been, be sure to read the equally thrilling sequel The Girl in Question.

When the most popular student at an elite school is killed in exactly the same way as a character in Jess Choudhary’s short story, all her efforts to keep her head down and make it through high school without incident go out the window. Now Jess finds herself the main suspect in a murder investigation. Even worse: the murderer sends her an anonymous message thanking her. If Jess can’t figure out who used her story as inspiration for a real murder, she might wind up in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. That is, if the killer doesn’t get to her first.

Much like in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, a true crime podcast plays an important role in this YA thriller. Before she went missing, Heather’s podcast about the disappearance of Stella Blackthorn made waves through her Louisiana town. Especially for her ex-girlfriend Iris, Stella’s younger sister. Iris didn’t appreciate Stella’s disappearance—and the police’s refusal to look for her—being exploited for entertainment. Especially when Heather broke up with her over Iris’s own investigation into what happened to her sister. But now Heather is missing too, and the police think there might be a link between the podcast and her disappearance. So does Iris. It’s not her first time looking into a missing person’s case, but this time she’s determined to uncover the truth.

Just like the drive to clear Sal Singh’s name motivates Pip’s investigation in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Safiya’s burning desire for the truth after she discovers the body of a dead boy propels the story in Hollow Fires. Safiya Mirza dreams of becoming a renowned journalist, which means facts and not feelings must drive her writing. But when she stumbles across the body of a 14-year-old cosplayer, whose first attempt at making a realistic jetpack had him labeled a terrorist, she can’t help but let feelings take hold. After all, it wasn’t facts that got Jawad Ali killed. Her investigation into his life and death blurs the lines of what everyone thought they knew.

Kiara, Priscilla, and Nevaeh have nothing in common. Kiara is internet-famous Tommy Harding’s girlfriend. Priscilla is his on-camera co-star, who wishes Tommy would just admit to Kiara what goes on between the two of them behind the scenes. Nevaeh is a good girl who would never dream of dating someone who’s already taken. But when Tommy’s social media accounts are hacked, revealing his cheating, the three suddenly have much more in common than they would’ve liked. Before any of them have time to adjust, Tommy is dead. His body is found on their class trip to a Florida theme park. Tommy’s social media accounts are still running, though, and the secrets it’s set to reveal have only just begun.

When Tanvi’s cousin disappears just after they’ve had a falling out, Tanvi doesn’t know what to think. Literally. She’s woken up to strange injuries and no memory of what happened the previous night. All she has is the incriminating photo she took of Mimi and the bully who’s made Tanvi’s life a living hell. Tanvi is determined to find out what happened. But as her memories begin to come back and the police claim to be searching for a killer, Tanvi has to confront the terrifying possibility that the person who killed her cousin is none other than herself.

Aspiring journalist Posey Spade loves asking questions, but there aren’t a lot of mysteries to be solved in the small town of Wild Pines she and her family just moved to. There’s only an AV Club full of slackers she hopes to somehow inspire. But when the club’s sponsor, Ms. Moses, goes missing, Posey and the AV club decide it’s up to them to solve the mystery. Wild Pines has more secrets than Posey initially realized, though, and as she digs into them, she’ll realize that it’s easier to solve a mystery together than alone.