A Good Girl's Guide to Murder episode 4 recap: a shocking secret is unearthed

A Good Girl's Guide To Murder episode 4 Pip Fitz-Amobi (EMMA MYERS)
Pip unearths a huge secret in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder episode 4. (Image credit: BBC)

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a teen drama series based on the hugely successful mystery thrillers by Holly Jackson. The series follows Pip Fitz-Amobi who becomes determined to solve the murder of a local schoolgirl after growing convinced that the police had pinned the case on the wrong person. 

Here is everything that happened in episode 4... 

The fourth episode sees Pip start to question whether her investigation into Andie Bell's disappearance has been for nothing, but just when she thinks she's been wasting her time, a huge secret is revealed that changes everything. 

The episode opens with Ravi and Pip opening Andie's toy bunny after parking up in a field and it's stuffed full of drugs. They also find a customer list in Andie's handwriting, which is on a scrap piece of paper and appears to be in code. Pip dashes to school, having already skipped three classes, which she has never done before, and she is almost late for her practise Cambridge entrance interview. The interview goes well but her mind is still on the case and not trying to impress the woman interviewing her. 

Later, while helping her friends set up a reunion for the class of 2019, Pip doodles on the piece of paper she found in Andie's bunny and realises it has the name of a local hotel embossed on the top. She calls Ravi and goes against her mum's wishes and meets up with him to go to the hotel and see if Andie ever stayed there. 

The hotel is posh and the man on reception is rude. So Ravi sets off the fire alarm while no one is looking and with all the guests and staff evacuated, Pip goes behind the reception to steal an old visitor book. 

The pair hide out in a hotel room while the chaos continues and they realise it has the same mosaic-tiled bathroom floor that is in the background of the photo of Andie in her underwear that Max has in his bedroom, confirming that Andie has been at that hotel. 

Later they look through the visitor book and realise that Andie and her 'secret older guy' had been checking into the hotel under fake names, but Pip is left rattled when she sees her dad, Victor's name is also in the visitor book. 

A Good Girl's Guide To Murder Ravi Singh (ZAIN IQBAL)

Ravi sets off the fire alarm at the hotel.  (Image credit: BBC)

The next morning Pip quizzes her mum about the time her dad went to Nigeria to see their granny and asks why they didn't all go. Her mum says they thought the flight was too long for two small kids at the time, but Pip knows she is lying. 

As Pip walks to school, Dan Da Silva corners her and tries to get her to get into his police car. She refuses until he reveals he knows she broke into the Bell house and she has no choice but to go with him. 

He takes her back to the Bell house and they sit watching the dad, Jason Bell, washing his car. Dan talks about how he and his sister, Nat, raised one another and had a tricky childhood, but Jason was like a mentor to Dan and encouraged him to get a job with the police. He makes Pip feel bad about looking into Andie's case by saying her parents are good people and are still grieving. He then shows her a video of Sal being questioned by the police and getting angry when no one will listen to his answers... he throws a chair across the interview room and Pip is shocked to see this new side to Sal. 

Back at home, Pip quizzes her mum about Victor going to Nigeria again and says she knows he didn't go because his name was in the hotel visitor book. Her mum admits that he moved out for a bit because they went through a rough patch and she thought he had been cheating, which he hadn't. Pip makes a speech about how you can't trust anyone (because she is now convinced Sal is guilty after watching the angry video) and storms off. 

Pip meets Ravi at their lake and she tells him about the video and also about her flashbacks to when she told Sal where Andie was hiding at school. He is cross that he trusted her but now even she thinks Sal is guilty and he walks off, their friendship over. 

Anna Maxwell Martin holding a washing basket as Leanne smiles as Gary Beadle as Victor in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Pip finds out her parents were having relationship dramas.  (Image credit: BBC/Moonage Pictures/Sally Mais)

Upset over Ravi and also confused about everything that has happened in her investigation, Pip drives home too fast and almost crashes. In the end, she pulls over into a field and cries. Once she has got herself together she goes to Cara's, where her friend offers advice and they distract her by helping Naomi get ready for the school reunion. 

As Cara goes off to get some straighteners, Naomi asks about the case and Pip says that she thinks Sal could be guilty now. A cloud passes over Naomi's face and she tells her to look at her laptop, gives her the password, and tells her to look at a secret Instagram account. Pip does this in secret in Naomi's room and is shocked to find a photo on the account of Max, Naomi, and their friend taken the night Sal was meant to have killed Andie... the photo is taken at 12.06, and someone must have taken the picture... meaning Sal didn't leave the party at 10.30 like all his friends told the police. 

Pip races to the reunion to confront Naomi, but Max and Andie's sister Becca see them head off to a classroom to talk. Once inside Naomi struggles to admit what really happened, but confirms that Pip's suspicions that they all lied to the police about when Sal left the party are right. When Pip asks why she lied, she tells her "We had to lie because they found out what we did..." But what did Naomi and her friends do? And how is it linked to Andie's disappearance? 

All episodes of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder are now available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and in the US the series will be released as a box set on Netflix on Thursday, August 1.

Claire Crick
Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch

Claire is Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch and has been a journalist for over 15 years, writing about everything from soaps and TV to beauty, entertainment, and even the Royal Family. After starting her career at a soap magazine, she ended up staying for 13 years, and over that time she’s pulled pints in the Rovers Return, sung karaoke in the Emmerdale village hall, taken a stroll around Albert Square, and visited Summer Bay Surf Club in sunny Australia. 

After learning some tricks of the trade at websites Digital Spy, Entertainment Daily, and Woman & Home, Claire landed a role at What’s On TV and whattowatch.com writing about all things TV and film, with a particular love for Aussie soaps, Strictly Come Dancing and Bake Off

She’s interviewed everyone from June Brown — AKA Dot Cotton — to Michelle Keegan, swapped cooking tips with baking legend Mary Berry backstage at the NTAs, and danced the night away with soap stars at countless awards bashes. There’s not a lot she doesn’t know about soaps and TV and can be very handy when a soapy question comes up in a pub quiz! 

As well as all things soap-related, Claire also loves running, spa breaks, days out with her kids, and getting lost in a good book.