Usborne triumphs in three-way auction for Guron's YA debut in two-book deal

Usborne has triumphed in a three-way auction for This Book Kills, an "impossibly slick, funny and expertly plotted" young adult thriller by debut author Ravena Guron. 

Senior commissioning editors Becky Walker and Sarah Stewart acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, and audio rights for two books from Alice Sutherland-Hawes at ASH Literary. This Book Kills will be published in January 2023. 

"I’m so thrilled Ravena’s found the perfect UK home for her UK YA debut, This Book Kills," said Sutherland-Hawes. "We couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic team to bring Jess’s story to readers and launch Ravena as an incredibly exciting new voice in the UK YA market.”

The synopsis reads: "When Hugh Henry Van Boren, one of the most popular and richest kids in Jess Choudhary’s school, is found dead, the student body is left reeling and wondering who the murderer could be... Jess, a student under strict instructions to keep her record clean or risk losing her scholarship, finds herself at the centre of the investigation when it’s revealed that Hugh died in the exact same way as a character in a short story she wrote.

"And then Jess receives an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration. With time running out, Jess knows if she doesn’t solve this mystery she’ll finally have something in common with Hugh Henry. She’ll be dead too."

Pitched as perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus, the cover for This Book Kills will be revealed at this year’s Young Adult Literature Convention as well as launching an interactive proof with the slogan "Who killed Hugh Henry Van Boren?". 

“There is little more exhilarating than a truly unputdownable thriller – and This Book Kills is the perfectly-plotted rollercoaster I have been dreaming about finding for so long," said Walker. "With the sharpest and wittiest of voices announcing Jess Choudhary as the protagonist everyone is going to be talking about in 2023, and impossibly slick writing, This Book Kills captivated the whole of Usborne – leaving us breathlessly speculating who the murderer might be, and which twists we most definitely didn’t see coming. We couldn’t be prouder to be publishing Ravena’s exceptional thrillers and launching Ravena as a huge new YA name.”

Guron added: "Since my teens when I first discovered Agatha Christie, I’ve been hooked on the thrill of the murder-mystery and the perfect never-saw-it-coming ending! I can’t wait for readers to enter Heybuckle School, to accompany Jess on her knuckle-biting journey to uncover a murderer before she becomes their next victim. Jess is based a little bit on me as a teen – discovering her voice and obsessed with writing stories. It’s my dream come true to be publishing my YA debut with Usborne and I’m hoping that my experiences as a lawyer and a biochemist will stand me in good stead to plot the perfect (fictional) murder!”