Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi (Emma Myers) has a new case to crack. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder returned for its second season on May 27, bringing fans of the BBC/Netflix mystery series (and the Holly Jackson book series it’s adapted from) back to the quaint English town of Little Kilton. Season 2— based on the second book in Jackson’s series, Good Girl, Bad Blood—sees Pip dealing with the ramifications of discovering who really killed Andie Bell, including releasing a popular true-crime podcast about the investigation. She also finds herself in the middle of a new mystery: the disappearance of Jamie Reynolds (Eden H. Davies), just as he was about to testify in the trial against Max Hastings (Henry Ashton), who was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting classmates, including Andie’s sister, Becca Bell (Carla Woodcock).
The looming trial means Pip, Ravi (Zain Iqbal), and their friends need to race against time to find Jamie—and the search brings more twists and small-town secrets to light.
So, what happened to Jamie Reynolds? And what does this latest foray into detective work mean for Pip? Read on for our breakdown of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder’s surprising season 2 ending.
Pip Fitz-Amobi (Emma Myers) piecing together the clues of Jamie's disappearance.
What happened to Jamie in 'A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder' season 2?
Perhaps the biggest surprise about Jamie’s disappearance is how little the police are concerned about it when it first happens—a key witness in a major trial goes missing right before he’s supposed to testify? Seems pretty suspicious! But because he’s an adult and has been known to go off the grid, it falls to Pip to start the search herself.
In the course of her investigation, Pip discovers that Jamie had been acting strangely in the lead-up to his disappearance: He tried to take his mother’s credit card and claimed he needed the money for a life-or-death reason, he stole a bracelet from Pip’s new next-door neighbors, and left a large sum of money in the Little Kilton graveyard. Pip initially believed she was the last person to see Jamie before he went missing, at a memorial marking the sixth anniversary of Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies) and Sal Singh’s (Rahul Pattni) deaths. However, he was actually spotted again that night—first at a Calamity party, then by Max, who saw him walking down the road after midnight.
It’s not surprising that Pip suspected foul play tied to the trial, because Max is certainly capable of manipulation and threats. But Jamie’s disappearance actually had nothing to do with that trial at all: He was catfished by a woman named “Layla Mead,” whom he met on a dating app. Layla was looking for a man known as “Child Brunswick,” who would now be 29-years-old and thought to be living in the Little Kilton area. She was talking to any man in town who fit that criteria, and got linked up with Jamie, who’s only 24, because he lied about his age on the app.
Once Layla deduced that it couldn’t be Jamie, she manipulated him into helping her track down the real Child Brunswick—though he didn’t actually know what “Child Brunswick” was referring to, or why Layla was looking for him. That’s why he was acting strange: Layla was seeing how far he would go in the name of helping her. Jamie did encounter Child Brunswick on the night he went missing—but that man then took Jamie hostage and held him in his home. He didn't want to hurt Jamie, but was afraid of whoever was after him. And once Jamie learned more about Child Brunswick's life, he wanted to help him figure out Layla's real identity, which is why he didn't try to escape.
Max (Henry Ashton) is on trial for being accused of drugging and sexually assaulting his classmates.
And why was Jamie supposed to testify at Max's trial?
Jamie was a key witness because of what he saw at one of the Calamity parties. One of the women testifying against Max is Nat Da Silva (Jessica Webber), Jamie’s close friend who he also harbors romantic feelings for.
During her own testimony at the trial, Nat recalls blacking out at a Calamity party and coming to hours later on a sofa, knowing she’d been assaulted because her skirt had been pulled up and her underwear was off. She didn’t know who was responsible until a few months ago, when she told Jamie what happened and he revealed he saw Max coming out of the room that night. That’s why Jamie’s testimony was so important—it placed Max at the scene, which Nat couldn’t do herself because she’d been drugged.
Who is "Child Brunswick" and what does he have to do with Jamie’s disappearance?
This takes us to a different murder case: Scott Brunswick, a man responsible for a string of child murders almost two decades earlier. Scott used his young son to lure his victims to him, and the boy—who was 10 at the time of the last murder—ultimately testified against his dad at trial. The boy’s name was kept out of the media because of his age, hence being referred to as “Child Brunswick.” He served time in a juvenile facility due to his role in the murders, and upon release was essentially placed into witness protection to protect him from retaliation: He was given a new identity, and the media was barred from reporting on his whereabouts.
Naturally, like with so many other true crime cases, rumors circulated online about who Child Brunswick could be and where he might live now. One commenter claimed to know he lived in Little Kilton, and that someone his friend was in prison with—local drug dealer Howie Bowers (Thomas Gray)—had uncovered his identity and was blackmailing the man into keeping his secret.
Pip, ever the masterful detective, figures out Child Brunswick really is: Stanley Forbes (Misia Butler), a local man working security at the Hastings’s golf club. He’s the right age, for starters, but also Pip spotted him giving money to Howie while investigating Jamie’s disappearance, which was the blackmail to keep his true identity under wraps. She also remembered that he didn’t respond to his name at the club when his boss called for him—because it isn’t actually “Stanley.”
Pip with her friends Cara (Asha Banks), Lauren (Yali Topol Margalith), and Connor (Jude Morgan-Collie).
So, who was Layla Mead in 'A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder' season 2?
After deducing that Stanley is Child Brunswick, Pip messages him as Layla and asks to meet at the abandoned manor in town. Pip’s best friend Cara (Asha Banks) stays in the car as a lookout, while Ravi and Connor (Jude Morgan-Collie) search Stanley’s home—which is where they found Jamie.
Pip tells Stanley that she knows he’s Child Brunswick, and that there’s no way Jamie could be Layla because she’d been messaging with her during the week Jamie was off the grid.
As they’re talking, Cara is led in at gunpoint by the real Layla: Pip’s next-door neighbor, Charlie Green (Jack Rowan). His twin sister was one of Scott Brunswick’s victims, and he’s moved from town to town posing as Layla, obsessed with getting revenge. His wife, Flora, was in on the plan and helped whenever he needed a female voice on the phone.
Once Pip started looking for Jamie, he kept tabs as she narrowed the possibilities down to Stanley or Luke Eaton (Freddie Thorp), Nat’s jerk boyfriend. And now, thanks to Pip, he found the person he’s spent years looking for.
What happened to Stanley Forbes in 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' season 2?
Now that Pip has (unintentionally) done Charlie’s last bit of detective work for him, Stanley does what he set out to do: He shoots Charlie and sets the manor on fire.
Pip dragged him out of the building—this is the scene we see at the very start of the first episode—and tried to perform CPR before the authorities arrive. Unfortunately, she’s unable to save him, but before he dies, Stanley tells her it’s okay and reveals his real name: Jack Brunswick. Seeing him die, and knowing she led his killer directly to him, leaves her traumatized.
Two weeks later, when a funeral is held for Stanley, Pip and her friends are among the few people who attend.
Pip ends up taking justice into her own hands by the end of the season.
Is Max Hastings found guilty in 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' season 2?
Max uses every lever his wealth, privilege, and family’s influence can afford him to try to sway the trial: He pushes Becca’s dad to convince her not to testify, threatening that his business will lose clients if she does. He gives himself a fake alibi for the night Jamie went missing by getting Stanley to doctor CCTV footage from the golf club, making it look like he was there. And he tries to get Pip to stand down from testifying in the case by threatening to get Ravi fired from his law firm.
Pip ultimately convinces Becca to go to court and tell the jury what Max did to her. She also speaks to the phone call she had with Max, in which she confronted him about drugging and raping Becca, which she had recorded, and Max tried to destroy by enlisting his cousin Robin (Freddie England) to steal her phone.
But Max’s lawyer undercuts both of them during cross-examination. And despite pressure from his mother to do the right thing and confess, Max doubles down on the stand and accuses Sal Singh of the assaults instead—a man who can’t defend himself, because he’s dead. And without Jamie on hand to corroborate Nat’s testimony, he’s acquitted of all charges.
Pip, furious about this, takes justice into her own hands: She couldn’t play her phone call with Max in court, but she does upload the footage to her podcast before throwing a rock through his window and painting “Rapist, I will get you” on his door.
Thankfully, Ravi and Pip have a heart-to-heart by the end of season 2.
What happens with Pip and Ravi in 'A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder' season 2?
Pip’s relentless search for Jamie and passion for taking down Max put a strain on her relationship with Ravi. She lies about missing his speech at Andie and Sal’s memorial (because she was following up on a tip that she didn't realize Max planted). And she eventually feels guilty about him losing his job at the law firm because Max made good on his threat—one she didn’t tell Ravi about until after the fact.
Ravi is more upset that she felt like she couldn’t come to him, because they’re supposed to be a team. When she still pushes him away, he reminds her that he loves her.
After Max’s acquittal, they have a heart-to-heart where she admits she blames herself for everything that’s happened to the people closest to her, because she pursues these cases. But this is who she is: obsessive, relentless, and doesn’t mind bad things happening if she’s the one doing them—and she hopes Ravi is okay with all that, because she loves him too.
After they kiss, Ravi reassures her: “I know exactly who you are, and I always have done. I love her, I love you.”
How does 'A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder' season 2 end?
The disappearance of Jamie Reynolds has been solved, but that doesn’t mean things are settled in Little Kilton. Charlie and Flora are on the run, and Pip still feels immense guilt about what happened to Stanley.
Jamie, now safely back home, confessed his feelings to Nat, and now the two are officially together and happy. Pip also cleared the air with Cara, who drunkenly told Pip earlier in the season that she ruined her life by uncovering her father as Andie Bell’s killer. Cara admits she doesn’t remember saying those things, and that it might have been easier to take her anger out on Pip because she’s still here, but she loves her friend and does not blame her.
Case closed, then? Not quite. Max still has a serious ax to grind with Pip. When she walks past him on her way to Stanley’s funeral, he taunts her by warning: “You started this, Pip. It’s my turn next.”
And then there’s one more mystery: Throughout the series, someone has been leaving threatening messages for Pip. First there was a news article about her, sent through her mail slot with tape covering her mouth in the photo, then an ominous note scrawled on her locker at school. The season ends with Pip going back to her room and finding that same message written over and over on her laptop, one that will surely come into play if (or when) the show returns for season 3: “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?”