Maandag moorddag

by Ravena Guron, Anne Elshof (Translator)

Zeven dagen, zeven bedreigingen en maandag komt eraan…

Na de tragische dood van haar beste vriendin Ivy verliet de zeventienjarige Kay samen met haar ouders het slaperige Britse stadje waar ze woonden. Nu wordt ze gedwongen weer terug te keren. Haar ouders gaan zonder haar op vakantie en Kay moet bij haar nicht logeren.
Dat blijft niet als Kay aankomt, ligt er een anonieme brief voor haar klaar. De over een week, op maandag, zal ze vermoord worden. Als Kay er niet op tijd achter komt wie de dreigbrief heeft geschreven, zal het begin van volgende week een dodelijke afloop hebben…

‘Voor de fans van Holly Jackson en Karen M. McManus.’ – The Observer

‘Een geweldig boek, vol mysterie, vriendschap en scherpe humor.’ ***** – The Sun

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Young Adult, Crime, Contemporary, Murder Mystery

406 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 2025

About the author

A born and bred Londoner, Ravena writes MG and YA, usually featuring antiheroines or snarky narrators. She is a lawyer with a degree in biochemistry, and hopes to use the knowledge gained from her experiences to plot her books, whether that's wild MG fantasy adventures, or twisty YA murder-mysteries.

Reviews

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may prove to be a controversial and unpopular opinion but I’m going to say it; Mondays Are Murder turned out to the book that I wish A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder had been. I didn’t dislike that one, but upon reflection, I feel like I forced myself to like it at the time more than I actually did. I may read the follow up books at some point to refresh my mind on that series, as Mondays Are Murder felt like a mix between AGGGTM and Pretty Little Liars.
This was a thrilling and gripping YA mystery novel, with some chilling moments. It’s written in an engaging, page-turning, way.

Who is the mysterious Monday who is leaving anonymous letters for Kay once she moves back to her sleepy hometown, Longrove? A year prior, her friend Ivy died under mysterious circumstances.
According to this mysterious Monday character; There will be a thrill on Tuesday, a wreckage on Wednesday, treachery on Thursday, a fire on Friday, sabotage on Saturday, a stabbing on Sunday - and then Kay’s own murder on the Monday. Can she figure out who is behind this ominous threat… before it’s too late?

4.5 Stars 🖤

[˚⋆lexy౨ৎ˚⋅₊˚ ⋅ · Rating 4 out of 5]

˚⋆4.25⭐️౨ৎ˚⋅₊˚ ⋅

we really need to make this book famous, it's incredibly good and would deserve much more hype!!

[ahmeeka · Rating 5 out of 5]

ravena guron is light years ahead of her YA thriller peers. I read her debut ‘this book kills’ two years ago and finished it in more or less one sitting.

‘mondays are murder’ follows kay who moves away from her small town after the death of her best friend and aunt sandra. she returns for a week visit a year later when she begins receiving threats from someone under the disguise of ‘monday’. for the next 7 days kay must follow monday’s orders or bad things will happen.

I really enjoyed this and while I’m usually good at predicting who the bad guy is, it left me guessing until the very last minute when it was revealed.

solid 5* read!

[Anna-Lena Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I was in the mood for. I started reading it and had to stop as I had a flight coming up and it was perfect for the airport and flying. It's propulsive, light enough, and thrilling enough, perfect escapism.
I really enjoyed the characters and the small English town it's set in felt real.
For fans of Holly Jackson
(Disclaimer I got an ARC from YALCC)

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so good, I‘m just sitting here asking myself…how??? I never would have guessed who Monday was and I suspected each and every one throughout this book!!

And also: Kay is a badass and Mickey a complete sweetheart, I wouldn’t be opposed to read more about them, in a potential second book, pleasee🤭

[Horror Sickness · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5*

I knew I was going to enjoy this book. That was a no brainer for me after loving the author’s two previous books. The moment I started this book, I could not put it down. For anyone that loves AGGGTM, this is a book you need to read. What a page turner.


After losing her aunt, Kay and her family left Longrove. Now, her parents are going on a long trip and decide to leave Kay with her uncle Dara. That means, Kay has to go back to Longrove for a week. Something she is dreading.

When she gets to her uncle’s house, they have prepared a room for her and on top of her bed, there is a mysterious note. On that note, a threat. Something is going to happen every day of the week ending with her murder on Monday. Kay assumed this is a joke or someone that wants to play games. The note is signed by someone that calls themselves Monday.

However as the days pass, all the threats start to come true. Will she be able to catch Monday before it is too late?

This is a wonderful story about friendship, how friendships change as we grow older and horrible things like death enter our lives. Losing a loved one is always hard, but losing it at a younger age is something that changes you.

Kay is back to the town where she lost her aunt and the friendships she had, vanished when she moved. The growing pains of being a teenager navigating through all of this are very well explored.

And of course we have an amazing and fantastic mystery that will take us through multiple interesting locations in town. It almost felt like a treasure hunt. The town, the locations, the people, everything was so easy to visualize. Raveena Is so good at creating micro worlds for her mysteries and really keeps you guessing. She truly understands suspense, intrigue, clues, suspects and twists. Her books have been my favorite YA mystery thrillers.

I know it is a long book for being YA but it has a really good fast pacing and it keeps you at the edge of your seat all the time with all the theories and discoveries that you just need to keep reading.

[Jessica Sherlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly could not get enough of Ravena Guron’s writing!
This A Good Girls Guide to Murder style plot had me fully on the edge of my seat the whole time. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book this size this fast!!! 100% pulled me right out of the deepest slump I’ve ever been in. Following Kay and the mysterious and elusive Monday, along with the excitement and strange occurrences going on in her old town of Longrove, we get a fantastic YA murder mystery. Would 1000% put this on my list of “book I wish I could read again”✨👌🏻

[Tishe A · Rating 4 out of 5]

not the best Murder mystery I've read, but still really good, I definitely wasn't expecting the ending at all

[Victoria Massingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was actually much better than I expected it to be, and I enjoyed the style, of which there were notes written by Monday. It wasn’t confusing and I enjoyed the little scary things that happened each day. It was also really easy to get into, as the character didn’t have a massive backstory that took up half the book. The plot twist at the end was also crazy and I would’ve never guessed that this person was the murderer. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would DEFINITELY recommend it!

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had higher expectations for this as I enjoyed a previous book by this author. However, I didn’t enjoy the mystery and I felt the thriller aspects were quite lacklustre. My enjoyment of the book was also dampened by how unlikeable Kay was as the narrator. She had an unreasonable arrogance that she could solve this mystery. She was insensitive to her cousin’s grief and perspective. She also found every teen boy to be attractive, wholly unnecessary.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced ARC

[Jia · Rating 5 out of 5]

YAY!!! I FINALLY finished this book (after like more than 3 weeks)!!! Anyways, it was really good and there was a huge plot twist at the end. Basically, a girl died in an accident and the mother of the girl that died tried to kill one of her friends because she thought she had killed her daughter. I have no idea if that made any sense. This is a really good book, though and it is quite popular at the moment, so you should add it to your list. (I also highly recommend the other ones by Ravena Guron as they are equally as good.)

[lorenzodulac · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third Ravena Guron and maybe her best work so far?
It’s so hard to compare them when they’re all so good.
The only negatives, the culprit was a bit easy to guess as the book went on, at least for me.
Also, I don’t really care for romance in my mystery novels (though I should have expected it because it’s not the first time she’d added it to a book) and this one was no exception. I didn’t dislike them together, I just didn’t care, I’m not there for them lol. But that’s not really a negative, it’s a me thing.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

obsessed. loved this so so much.

[Avni · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this. it was such a plot twist and it was so unexpected with so many twists and turns.

[amyvdgbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanaf het begin zat de spanning er meteen in en dat bleef zo tot het einde. Het las zo vlot dat ik het in één dag uitlas. Ik kon het gewoon niet wegleggen. De plottwists bleven komen en in tegenstelling tot haar andere boek (Dit boek is dodelijk) zag ik ze totaal niet aankomen. Elke wending wist me te verrassen. Het enige minpuntje is dat het tempo naar het einde toe ineens flink werd opgevoerd, terwijl het verhaal daarvoor wat meer de tijd nam. Zeker een aanrader voor iedereen die van YA-thrillers houdt die vlot weglezen.

[Avni Desai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how they were left of tight time at the end. I was not expecting that ending.

[Kheira Reeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect mix of “a good girls guide to murder” and “let’s split up”. I loved this book and its plot twists which I didn’t predict at all. Definitely going to read more by this author!

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is how you write a teenage thriller.

Dark, pacy, clever - and genuinely hard to crack. I went in expecting the usual YA formula, and instead got a knot of secrets, lies, and small-town claustrophobia so thick you can practically taste it. Everyone’s hiding something, every clue feels like a trap, and just when you think you’ve got it, the story flips again.

Kay returns to Longrove, a town where gossip moves faster than truth and everyone remembers what you did last year. There’s a death, a warning, and a chilling countdown - seven days until murder. The tension never lets up. Guron balances suspense with sharp character work; even the side characters feel fully realised, with their own grudges and motives.

The pacing? Spot on. The tone? Just the right mix of eerie and addictive. You can tear through this in one sitting and still be thinking about it hours later. My only gripe - a few familiar tropes, sure, but they’re executed with confidence and style.

If you like your thrillers twisty, smart, and just a little suffocating, Mondays Are Murder absolutely delivers. It’s unsettling, addictive, and way too much fun for something that kept my heart rate this high.

[chaptersofiris · Rating 4 out of 5]

wauw dit boek is echt een perfecte mix tussen a good girls guide to murder & pretty little liars. Ik wist pas bij de laatste 30 bladzijdes wie Monday was! De schrijfster zet je zo op een ander spoor… Daarnaast waren de personages likeable ( behalve Ivy natuurlijk, zij deed me heel erg denken aan Allison van pll die ook van geheimen hield)

[Lauren James]

A thriller about a girl receiving threats in the wake of her friends death. A great revamp of Agatha Christie

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content warnings: death of a loved one (in the past), cancer (in the past), death of a friend (in the past), car accident

I didn't enjoy this QUITE as much as Guron's previous books, but it was still a compelling read. It reminded me a lot of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, what with the teenage girl living in a small English village and investigating a crime that's a little too close to home, but I didn't find that the level of tension was as strong in this.

Still, I'm glad I read this - Guron's mysteries always keep me guessing!

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25✨

[Becca ♡ PrettyLittleMemoirs · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: this book contains an on-page depiction of an animal death (a Rat) that happens off-page, but is mentioned throughout.

Kay left Longrove in a cloud of grief. After losing her Aunt Sandra and best friend Ivy in a short space of time, her family relocated to London for a fresh start away from the pain. But when Kay’s parents decide to go on a cruise to celebrate their anniversary for a week, they leave her in the hands of her Uncle Dara and cousin Nikki, back in Longrove. Except, Longrove isn’t quite the same anymore. Her old friends, ones that she’d gradually lost contact with over the last year, and even her cousin Nikki, are cold and distant. The strict Committee that runs the rule book of Longrove is just the same, though. And still is the unnerving way death hangs in the air around every memory of Ivy that Kay relives in their old haunts.

But when she sees a letter on her bed depicting a week-long vengeful “plan” for her, ending with her murder on Monday, Kay thinks it must be some sort of joke, that or Uncle Dara is trying to start one of Aunt Sandra’s old favourite things: solving puzzles and cases. Only, it soon becomes apparent that it’s no joke—and the illusive “Monday” is just getting started with tormenting Kay and subsequently everyone else on their enemy-list. Reeled into the mystery with cousin Nikki, ex-friends Mikey and Sophie, and familiar faces from school and around town, it’s becoming a deadly experience to try solving the mystery, which all ties back to their mutual friend: the dead, chaotic and golden-girl Ivy. Who is Monday? Why are they targeting Kay? And as bodies start dropping and Monday gets increasingly more violent with their threats and actions, it’s soon apparent that Kay is getting it all wrong. She thought she was just like Aunt Sandra and could solve the puzzle. So why does it feel like this one is going to really end with her death?

Overall, Mondays Are Murder was sinisterly suspenseful and utterly unputdownable. Ravena has this way of building such a vivid picture of the characters, the setting, evoking a hair-raising chill at every twisty corner. I experienced something different with Mondays Are Murder, at first, being that I just could not connect to Kay. It’s like our minds were clashing on some level—until a switch flipped as she opened up, and I realised that I was in a conflict with her defensiveness and “flawed” character with regrets and inner-turmoil. Once I understood her and her heart, reading her POV was as easy as breathing, and I flipped pages long into the night over two nights, desperate to solve the case alongside Kay and her friends. I sort-of guessed the identity of Monday, but not before loads of false-predictions and motives—it really kept me on my toes, which is exactly what I love in a mystery. And does Ravena write a magnificent one here! With strong family connections, eerie and enthralling plot, and an explosive finale, Mondays Are Murder lived up to my expectations and then some. I’ll be recommending this one all year!

[rita ♡₊⊹ · Rating 4 out of 5]

yyyeessss

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3,75

Ik was de hele tijd benieuwd naar wat er ging gebeuren. En geloof me, ik had het allemaal niet zien aankomen. Dit is een echte YA murder mystery, maar het bevat ook belangrijke hedendaagse thema’s. Vriendschap staat centraal en vooral hoe vriendschappen kunnen veranderen onder druk. Ook rouw en verlies spelen een grote rol. Vooral de impact daarvan. Voor fans van A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is dit echt een aanrader. Vanaf het begin zat ik echt in het verhaal en ik kon het boek gewoon niet meer wegleggen!

[zarlynx · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75❤️

[Leonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guron has done it again

I truly ate this book up not wanting it to end because it was so good that I didn’t want to put it DOWN so I read it slowly I really enjoyed this book a lot can’t wait to see what else Guron brings out because she’s an author that never disappoints me all her books have been a whopping five stars!

[Paulina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Plot twist !!!???

[Hanna Inspiration · Rating 5 out of 5]

How does Ravena Guron always surprise me with her plots????!!!!!
I love her books so much❤️

[Laney Bunce · Rating 3 out of 5]

this wasn’t a read for pleasure for me but here are my thoughts nonetheless. the end felt like a throw away to me though i think it was a good job making it someone unsuspecting. i do not for any reason believe that a mother who thinks someone murdered their child would leave their five year old alone with that child though that’s a big miss for me