Pip Fitz-Amobi proved that a school project can double as a murder investigation, and now you want more than one book of it. That is the real problem with most lists of what to read after A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder: they hand you six standalones, and you walked in with a series-shaped hole. Everything below is a series, with years, reading order and an honest warning about where each one drags or turns grim.
The short answer: start with Truly Devious if you want the closest match: a true-crime-obsessed teen, a private school and a decades-old cold case. Pick The Naturals for the FBI-teen version, None Shall Sleep for the dark one, and I Hunt Killers only if you are comfortable with graphic gore. Shelter and One of Us Is Lying are the lighter ends of the shelf.
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Stevie Bell loves true crime, and she arrives at Ellingham Academy, a private school in Vermont, planning to solve one. The school’s founder, Albert Ellingham, lost his wife and daughter to a kidnapping in 1936, the case was never solved, and the only clue is a riddle signed “Truly, Devious.” Then a new murder makes the old case feel current. HarperCollins published it on January 16, 2018, and the trilogy runs on with The Vanishing Stair (2019) and The Hand on the Wall (2020), followed by the standalone spin-offs The Box in the Woods (2021) and Nine Liars (2022). Skip it if you want one self-contained mystery, because this is a three-book commitment before the spin-offs even begin.
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Cassie Hobbes is seventeen with an unusual gift for profiling, and the FBI offers her a place in a classified program that uses gifted teens to work cold cases. She moves to Quantico, Virginia, and meets the other recruits. The Naturals came out in 2013, and the series runs Killer Instinct (2014), All In (2015) and Bad Blood (2016), plus an e-novella, Twelve (2017). Booklist, as relayed by Wikipedia, said the pace may feel slow at first and that the ending leaves readers hanging. A fifth book, Dangerous Impulses, is listed on Hachette’s own title page with an on-sale date of November 3, 2026, as of 2026-10-31. Skip it if you want realistic police procedure over a profiling club of teens.
None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney
In 1982, the FBI recruits Emma Lewis, who survived a serial killer, and Travis Bell, an aspiring U.S. Marshal, to interview jailed teenage killers and help with cold cases. When a new killer who targets only teens appears, they need the help of a teen sociopath named Simon Gutmunsson, and Emma becomes his contact. Blurbs compare it to The Silence of the Lambs, and Kirkus called it vivid, chilling and important, with tight plotting and shocking twists. It was published in 2020, with Some Shall Break (2023) and All Shall Mourn (2025) rounding out the sequence. Kirkus notes it is narrated in present tense and shifts at times into the killer’s point of view. Skip it if serial killers, teen victims and PTSD are too heavy for a binge.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Jasper “Jazz” Dent is seventeen and the son of a notorious serial killer, who is now in prison. When a body turns up near town, Jazz becomes convinced a new killer is at work, and he and his best friend Howie investigate over the sheriff’s objections. Little, Brown published it on April 3, 2012, and the trilogy continues with Game (2013) and Blood of My Blood (2014). Kirkus called it grisly, said the writing is less tight than the Dan Wells novels it was compared to, and found the ending a letdown. Kirkus’s review of the third book also flags an incest subplot. Skip it if graphic violence and a serial-killer legacy are not your idea of a good time.
Shelter by Harlan Coben
Mickey Bolitar is fifteen when his new girlfriend, Ashley Kent, stops showing up at school and seems to vanish. The teachers are no help, so he turns to fellow students and moves in with his estranged uncle Myron while his mother is in rehab. Then a strange woman tells him his father, whom he watched die in a car accident, may still be alive. It was Coben’s first YA novel, published in 2011, and the series continues with Seconds Away (2012) and Found (2014). Kirkus called it a not-bad-at-all entry into the teen market for this adult author, while also praising its trademark crackerjack pace. Skip it if you want a tidy single-case mystery, since the disappearance and the question about his father are both on the table from the first act.
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Five students at Bayview High land in detention after a teacher finds phones in their bags that none of them admits owning. Simon, who runs a gossip app called About That, starts a speech about the other four and then dies from an allergic reaction after drinking tap water. When a post claims it was planned, the other four become suspects. Delacorte published it on May 30, 2017, and the series continues with One of Us Is Next (January 2020) and One of Us Is Back (July 2023), described as the final sequel. Entertainment Weekly praised the nuanced characters but felt the slow reveal of secrets left little time for the ending, and Kirkus found the language and plot bordering on cliché. Skip it if you want a detective protagonist, because this is an ensemble of suspects.
Where to start
If you want the nearest thing to Pip, Truly Devious. If you want a team and a government badge, The Naturals. If you can handle the dark stuff, None Shall Sleep is the one with the Silence of the Lambs comparisons, and I Hunt Killers is the grisliest. If you want a lighter ride that still keeps the pages moving, One of Us Is Lying or Shelter. Check the content notes before you hand any of the first three to a younger reader.
Questions readers ask
What order are the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books in?
The order is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2019), Good Girl, Bad Blood (2020) and As Good As Dead (2021), plus the novella Kill Joy (2021), a prequel set shortly before the first book. For comparison, Wikipedia’s plot summary of the first book includes murder, suicide, drugging, rape, kidnapping and stalking, while Kirkus tags it for ages 14 to 18.
Which of these is the darkest?
I Hunt Killers and None Shall Sleep. Kirkus called the first grisly and flagged an incest subplot in its finale, and the second centers on serial killers and teen victims. The Naturals and Truly Devious sit closer to the mystery end, and One of Us Is Lying and Shelter closer to the lighter end.
Which of these series are finished?
The Truly Devious trilogy ended in 2020, I Hunt Killers ended with its third book in 2014, and the None Shall Sleep sequence is listed at three books ending in 2025. One of Us Is Lying was described as having a final sequel in 2023. The Naturals has four novels and an e-novella, with a fifth novel, Dangerous Impulses, listed by Hachette for November 3, 2026.
Are these all for the same age?
No. Kirkus recommended I Hunt Killers for ages 15 and up and described it as aimed at older teens, while Wikipedia lists the Common Sense Media rating for One of Us Is Lying as 14+. I did not find age ratings for the rest, so read a content summary before you pass one along.
If your taste runs toward danger with a supernatural edge, our reviews of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, First Kill and Damned If I Do are good next stops.
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