Kill Joy

“It was almost like Fairview itself was defined by the murder of Andie Bell, both names usually uttered in the same breath, inextricable from the other. Pip sometimes forgot how un-normal it was to have such a terrible thing so close to their lives, some closer than others.”

The murder-mystery role-playing game reminds the teens that they live in Fairview, where a murder took place five years previously. For Pip and her friends, these murders shape their experience living in Fairview, which cannot extricate itself from the events of the past. This reflects The Lasting Impacts of Traumatic Events.

“That was how Pip had known him, and he’d always been so kind to her. She didn’t want to believe it. But, as they said, open and shut. He did it. So he must have.”

Pip recalls knowing Sal Singh, who was friends with her best friend’s older sister. In Pip’s memory of Sal, she emphasizes how kind and funny he was, with her limited interactions shaping her perspective on the outcome of Andie Bell’s case. The latter part of this quote alludes to Pip’s true feelings about Sal’s presumed guilt—the accepted truth is that he did it, so that condemns him, rather than any concrete evidence. Her lingering doubt, however, will prove unavoidable as she plays the game and realizes that, sometimes, investigations produce the wrong answer.

“Pip wasted no time writing her name on the first page of her notebook and started taking notes. Not that she cared—it was just a game—but she hated the sight of an underused notebook.”

This moment marks the beginning of The Development of Investigative Skills and Critical Thinking in Pip. Pip’s interest in the game happens almost in spite of herself: She claims not to care about the game, and yet she is hopelessly pulled in by the allure of the mystery, a challenge for her to solve or “win” at. Her notebook thus becomes an important symbol of her growing commitment to mystery solving (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“So I had to go to the vegetable patch to get the carrots. I made the bloody carrot cake, by the way. It was moist as fuck.”

Cara, partially in character as the cook Dora Key, tries to assert the veracity of her alibi, lapsing partway through her explanation and breaking character. Cara acts as a contrast to Pip’s investment in the game, with the mix of modern-day foul language blending with the colloquial “bloody carrot cake” of her character lending some levity and humor to the game.

“But her spiel was cut short by a loud, tinny noise that screamed through the house. Another scream joined it.”

An important motif in Kill Joy is the blurring of fantasy and reality (See: Symbols & Motifs). By describing the sound of the doorbell as “scream[ing]” through the house while Lauren, jumpy and scared, screams in response, the scene highlights just how invested in the game some of the characters have become.

“She was hunched over her small notebook, writing down everyone’s alibis and her initial theories […] But was it just what the game wanted her to think? Or was it simply because Ant was annoying even at the best of times? She needed to think objectively, remove herself and her feelings from the equation.”

As the game begins, Pip at first wants to keep her wits about her, resistant to enjoying the game. The Development of Investigative Skills and Critical Thinking that she experiences, however, pulls her into the narrative of the game, and she begins to invest energy and emotions into figuring out the truth. This quote illustrates that process in action, as she questions her ability to be objective when considering Ant’s character’s guilt because of her own personal feelings about Ant. She once again turns to her notebook, which chronicles and symbolizes the development of her mystery-solving skills (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“Maybe solving murders wasn’t too different from homework after all. She could feel herself falling headfirst into it, the rest of the world fading out […] Teachers called it ‘excellent focus,’ but Pip’s mom worried that it fell much closer to obsession.”

This quote not only illustrates Pip’s growing investment in the murder-mystery game but also provides foreshadowing for events to come later on in the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. As a prequel, Kill Joy illustrates how Pip’s investigative skills and interest in the Andie Bell/Sal Singh case began. Pip’s intense focus on details of investigations and mysteries in the pursuit of justice explains how Pip could become so invested in solving a five-year-old murder in the first place, reflecting The Allure of Mystery and Justice.

“It had happened too many times now to be a coincidence. It must have been something his booklet told him to do, to physically react whenever his brother said the word accident. And what did that mean?”

This quote serves to illustrate Pip’s investigative abilities and critical-thinking skills in action. As the game progresses, the game instructs certain characters to act in subtle ways to help develop the plot. Pip is one of the only players to notice these subtleties, which enables her to advance her own theories about Reginald Remy’s murderer’s identity. Pip’s ability to notice these small moments establishes her as a keen investigator.

“The music cut off and Pip listened. It was a loud kind of quiet; the breath of the others, the sound of her own tongue moving around her mouth, the whistling of the wind.”

The author uses descriptive language to heighten the suspense of this moment. In the silence, Pip describes the silence as “loud,” an acknowledgment of all the everyday sounds that meld together to make up the background noise that people often ignore or forget about. This increases the tension of the scene.

“‘Well, excuse us for growing up in murder town,’ Lauren countered, reclaiming her arm with an awkward glance at Ant.”

As the nature of the murder-mystery game plays on the teens’ sense of anxiety and jumpiness, Lauren provides insightful contextualization for their responses to stimuli. These characters have all grown up in Fairview, colloquially known as “murder town” because of the murder of Andie Bell five years ago. Lauren’s response invokes The Lasting Impacts of Traumatic Events.

“Maybe it was safe to look up now. No one was watching her, but she felt watched anyway somehow, hairs prickling at the back of her neck.”

As the players read their next instructions in the game, Pip feels a heightened sense of awareness and paranoia. This hyperawareness manifests in the hairs prickling at her neck, an indication of Pip’s growing sense of anxiety as the game progresses and she becomes increasingly lost in the narrative of the game. This quote illustrates Pip’s investment in the fictional murder mystery and reflects the motif of the blending of fantasy and reality (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“She wasn’t going anywhere, but sitting didn’t feel right anymore. From the corner of her eye, she saw her dark mirror image get to her feet too, side-glancing back at her. No wonder she felt watched.”

When Ant goes missing, Pip and her friends’ sense of foreboding heightens, increasing the tension of the game and its implications for their real lives. Their reactions to Ant’s prank illustrate the lingering effects that living in a town where a classmate was murdered has on them, invoking The Lasting Impacts of Traumatic Events. Although Andie’s supposed murderer, her ex-boyfriend Sal, is also dead, there is a persistent sense of dread that looms over them.

“What? Pip read that last point again. Why would she leave evidence just lying around? What kind of dumbass spy was Celia Bourne? Pip would never be so stupid. And now she had to go and fix it before she got caught.”

This quote offers a brief moment of levity in an otherwise suspenseful text, illustrating Pip’s frustration with her game character Celia’s actions. When Pip learns that Celia, ostensibly a spy, has left out important evidence, her response is telling of Pip’s own investigative skills. Pip’s annoyance with Celia, calling her a “dumbass spy,” illustrates that Pip would never have made a similar error.

“She hated lying, especially to Cara, who was more of a sister than a friend.”

This quote is another example of Pip’s intense sense of justice and belief in what is right versus wrong. Pip feels bad trying to deceive Cara even within the context of the game. Although Pip’s character is encouraged to lie and deceive the other players, Pip herself feels uncomfortable doing so, even for fun.

“She read it again, just to be sure, the voice in her head overenunciating every syllable. She wasn’t the killer, thank god. Celia didn’t do it. She was innocent.”

Here, Pip learns that her character, Celia, is not the killer in the game. This revelation fills Pip with relief, another example of Pip’s powerful sense of right and wrong and the strength of her moral compass. Even within the context of the game, Pip does not wish to be associated with murder or wrongdoing, but rather wishes to be the one to help solve the mystery and bring the killer to justice.

“Pip found that—most of the time—other people only slowed you down. That was why she despised group projects.”

This quote serves to illustrate Pip’s character: She is someone who prefers to work alone rather than with others. This is an important aspect of Pip’s character that she will learn to reassess in the later books in the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series.

“Pip’s heart spiked at the sound, though her head told her she was being ridiculous. All the murder talk must have put her on edge.”

The rational part of Pip’s brain can be at odds with her physiological responses to stimuli. When Pip lands on the creaky step heading down into the basement, her immediate bodily response is to experience a surge of anxiety. The rational part of her brain does not kick in until moments later when she chastises herself for her response. Pip’s response shows that the game’s narrative is getting to her as she gets closer to solving the mystery in the game, which leads her to rethink the mystery at the core of her town’s identity.

“The lights came on and the shadow man was gone. Gone, because he was actually just a haphazard pile of cardboard boxes with a sheet thrown over them. It was only Pip down here, although it took a few seconds for her heart to trust her.”

Pip resets the fuse box, flooding the basement with light once again. The illumination both literally and figuratively allows her to see things in a new light and reframes what was once a scary scene, once more invoking the motif of fantasy and reality in the text (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“Every piece slotted into place in her head, all those near-forgotten details right from the start that had come through the blackout into a new light. The clues, and not just what they said but how they said it. Not the words, but the shape of them. The font.”

Pip begins putting together the truth of the mystery of Reginald Remy’s murder, with the metaphor of the blackout giving her the opportunity to look at the case in a “new light” affirming that she is on track to solving the mystery thanks to The Development of Investigative Skills and Critical Thinking that she has experienced.

“The truth had been hiding there all along, riding on the underbelly of all those obvious clues and secrets […] Of course it would never be that obvious, that easy; this was a murder, after all. But she had it all now, the entire writhing thing: every twist and every turn.”

As Pip unravels the mystery of Reginald’s murder, she frames the mystery as a “writhing” thing as if it is alive. This quote connects to the end of the text and Pip’s interest in reexamining Andie’s murder, as Pip has always doubted Sal’s guilt. Instead, she believes that, like the game’s mystery, Andie’s murder may contain more twists and surprises than the original investigators believed.

“It had been good, right up until the end. The whole world outside this house had disappeared; it had been just Pip and her mind and a problem to solve. Exactly the way she liked. Exactly when she was most herself. But she’d been wrong. Pip hated being wrong.”

Pip crafts an elaborate explanation for the murder, one far more sophisticated than the game writers’ explanation. Solving problems is something Pip derives joy and self-confidence from, and to be wrong frustrates her. This sense of disappointment and desire to solve the mystery will drive her to try and solve the murder of Andie and clear Sal’s name, reflecting The Allure of Mystery and Justice.

“It must have been so hard for him, living in this small town that was still so obsessed with its own small-town murder. They couldn’t get away from it, no matter how many years passed; the town and those deaths came hand in hand, forever tied together.”

Pip reflects on the lingering legacy of Fairview as a place where two teens lost their lives, invoking The Lasting Impacts of Traumatic Events. Sal’s brother, Ravi, and their parents have had to go on living in Fairview with everyone believing in Sal’s guilt, thus negatively impacting the entire Singh family’s name. Pip’s compassion shines through in this quote as she realizes how challenging Ravi’s life must have been in the five years since his brother’s death.

“It was neat, done, put to bed. It’s the boyfriend, it’s always the boyfriend, people would say. So neat and so…so easy. Pip narrowed her eyes. Too easy, maybe.”

Pip’s lingering frustration over the overly simplified outcome of the murder-mystery game leads her to think of the case that the novella has hinted at throughout the evening: Sal’s apparent murder of his girlfriend, Andie. Pip thinks about Andie’s case with new eyes and wonders if that case, too, has been oversimplified.