Today, I’m delighted to be interviewing the author of the YA mystery to watch this year, This Book Kills. Ravena Guron writes MG and YA, usually featuring antiheroines or snarky narrators. Growing up she always read the last page of books first, but discovering Agatha Christie in her early teens stopped that habit, igniting a love of twisty murder-mysteries with jaw-dropping endings the reader never saw coming. Ravena is a lawyer with a degree in biochemistry, and hopes to use the knowledge gained from her experiences to plot the perfect murder (for a book, of course!).
Hi Ravena, thank you so much for this interview. This Book Kills was one of my favourite YA mysteries of this year, so I’m excited to delve into it a little more. Firstly, can you briefly describe This Book Kills?
Thank you so much for having me here today!
This Book Kills is a YA thriller set in an elite boarding school. Its main character, Jess Choudhary, finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation when one of her classmates is killed the same way as a character in her short story – and the murderer sends her a text, thanking her for the inspiration. If she doesn’t figure out who the killer is, she’ll be next.
What drew you to writing in the YA genre and specifically a mystery?
The MG and YA books I read when I was younger are the ones that shaped me as a reader, the ones that had a lasting impression on me. When I came to write my own books, it felt natural for me to gravitate towards books aimed at younger readers.
Agatha Christie is one of the few adult authors I would read as a teen – I loved how she set out puzzles in her book, how a mystery is like a game between reader and author.
When I wrote This Book Kills, then, I knew it was going to be a YA – and it absolutely had to be a mystery. I had so much fun writing it that the initial first draft was written in the space of three weeks because I just couldn’t wait to get back to the story.
Jess is such a fantastic protagonist and one I think a lot of people will connect to, as an outsider in a place that does not wish to see her succeed. What was your process like in creating Jess?
The character of Jess came to me fairly formed – this quiet, British-Indian teen who feels out of place at an elite boarding school. I drew on my own experiences of going to law school and then going on to work in the legal world, of being surrounded by people who had gone to private schools and boarding schools and wondering if I could really fit in.
But even though I had the core of who Jess was going to be from the start, she still did develop a lot in the editing process. In earlier drafts, other characters would be quite horrible to Jess and there would be occasions where she would want to scream back at them – and I let her. It felt really nice to have this character saying things I sometimes wanted to say – but that’s not who Jess is and it’s not realistic to the situation she’s in. She’s worried her scholarship will be taken away – she feels like the safest thing to do is keep quiet. So as the edits progressed I had her internalize a lot of the sarcastic, snarky comments she’s thinking – she appears to be quiet, but she’s got so many thoughts brimming beneath the surface.
Do you think your legal background and your degree in biochemistry impacted the way you write?
I’m more productive with my writing if I’m outcome focused. So, for example, I’ll say to myself my target for today is 2000 words and I’ll go for however long it takes to make sure that happens, because that’s the outcome I want. If I say to myself I’ve got three hours to write, I’ll only manage about 50 words because I’ll ironically think I’ve got plenty of time – and then I do nothing. I think that’s the legal background coming into play – working towards outcomes with a bit of time-pressure.
My biochemistry degree helped me learn how to break down complex problems. Now, when I’m editing, I try to break drafts down issue by issue, I order these issues methodically from biggest to smallest, and I work my way through step-by-step. I can’t say that I never get overwhelmed by editing issues, but the process does help me.
This Book Kills has such an incisive examination of power, privilege and manipulation. What made you choose those themes to focus on?
This Book Kills is based on my experiences of entering the legal profession and being surrounded by people who had gone to private schools and wondering what advantages that had given them over someone like me, who had gone to a state school. We all ended up working at the same law firms – what did their educations give them that mine didn’t give me? What, exactly, were their parents paying for? From that starting point, the themes of power and privilege felt very natural to explore.
Similarly, Heybuckle is an elite boarding school, full of secrets and hierarchies. Why did you choose this setting for the book?
On a basic level, I like murder-mysteries with a closed cast – the boarding school setting helps to limit the number of people suspected. Plus in YA it’s nice to write a world where you don’t have to wonder why the parents aren’t more involved! A boarding school is a great setting for that.
But also, the elite boarding school works really well to highlight the key themes of the book – power, privilege, classism…
What songs form the soundtrack to the book for you?
Super Rich Kids by Frank Ocean, Rich Kids by FLØRE, Favourite Crime by Olivia Rodrigo, When the Party’s Over by Billie Eilish, I Wish I Never Met You by Babygirl, Silence by Marshmello, The Author by Luz….
I’m actually more of a mood writer, so I’ve got loads of playlists of quite dark, sad music that goes on in the background when I’m writing – a lot of them fit the mood of the book really well.
Who would be your ideal casting for an adaptation?
This is such a tough question! A young Parminder Nagra for Jess. Sadie Sink for Clem, a younger Dylan O’Brien for Tommy (but with blue eyes!). A blonde Jacob Eldori for Hugh, Saoirse Ronan for Summer… (I feel like other people might cast my characters better – I don’t even know many actors!)
The reason that this is a tough question is because ideally, I’d love to have a cast of completely unknown British actors playing the main teenagers.
Finally, what lasting impression would you like This Book Kills to leave on a reader?
That your voice matters. That no one else can say whether you deserve to be in the room, and you can aspire to be anything you want to be – no one is more or less entitled to the things that you want.
