The plot follows an investigation carried out by seventeen-year old true crime enthusiast Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi, a student in the fictional town of Little Kilton, Buckinghamshire.

[nb 1] In the novel, she investigates the murder of popular student Andrea "Andie" Bell and the suicide of the supposed perpetrator Salil "Sal" Singh under the guise of a school project.

[1] Five years ago, a tragic murder-suicide rocked the small town of Little Kilton, Buckinghamshire[nb 1] when popular schoolgirl Andie Bell was brutally murdered and her boyfriend, Sal Singh, was accused before seemingly taking his own life.

Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi, after having created a podcast called A Good Girl's Guide To Murder based on the events that took place in the previous novel, is being hailed online as an amateur detective.

Pip initially refuses, instead putting in a word with DI Hawkins, but when the police take no action she decides that she will investigate this one last case, having a gut feeling that Jamie had not simply run away, but rather had been abducted.

As she gets closer to the truth she realizes that Jamie's case is connected to a dark and dangerous criminal ring involved in drugs and human trafficking.

Armed with two past experiences in solving murders and uncovering the truth, Pip starts to dig deeper into the mystery using her own resources and contacts, interviewing people and following leads.

As Good As Dead received a positive review from The Guardian, who named the book "a taut, compulsively readable, elegantly plotted thriller.

At first Pip is not excited about the idea of a mock murder investigation and would much rather stay home and work on her school project for the upcoming academic year, but she decides to attend for the sake of her friends.

Using her sharp intellect and keen eye for detail, she pieces together the clues and is soon caught up in this game of intrigue and deception, finding herself becoming more and more invested in the case, and is determined to be the one to crack it open and uncover the truth.

[9] In June 2023 the author, Jackson, revealed that production of the television series had started, and announced that Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal were cast as the respective lead roles of Pip and Ravi.