This was a sharp and snappy murder mystery set in the real estate world. What happens multi million dollar Malibu beach house has an open house and a dead body ends up in the pool. Fast paced and an easy read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WE LOVE A GOOD THRILLER!
I am so thankful to Lisa Gray, Netgalley, and Thomas & Mercer for granting me advanced digital access to this sick and twisted thriller that kept me intrigued from page one all the way to the end.

I really enjoyed reading this thriller. We begin at a house showing for a Malibu beach 50 million dollar mansion. With a massive $1mil up for grabs in commission co workers are about to turn into competitors.
When a body is found in the pool on the open day suspicions turn on each other. The book flicks between before and after as we gradually find out what really happens during the lead up to a murder. The mix of characters were good with all of their lives a bit of a mess and all needing money the suspicion is on everyone.
The story is packed full of shady secrets, lies and greed and I loved it!
I will be recommending this book to others and looking for more from this author.

I can’t help but wonder of Lisa Gray is a Selling Sunset viewer? The Netflix series profiles the cut-throat world of elite real estate agents selling glamorous homes and a luxe lifestyle to affluent buyers in LA.

To Die For is also set in this world and Lisa Gray delivers a taut and exciting murder mystery with plenty of layers and more than a few surprises. Andi Hart works for the Saint Realty Group where she is the best agent they have. But in this cut-throat business, there are always colleagues snapping at her heels and many of them are not beyond using dirty tricks to enhance their own chances of making a sale.

When a luxury $50m Malibu Beach House is given to the Saint Group by a developer to take to market, all the firm’s agents are desperate to close this sale, because closing the deal comes with a $1m dollar pay check.

But this is no simple tale of selling a house; behind this real estate agency lies a team of agents each of whom has secrets to hide; some of them with secrets they’d do anything to keep under wraps. But how many of them would kill to get their hands on $1m?

There are multiple characters here and Gray gives each their own voice, making them easily distinguishable. Andi Hart, Hunter Brooks, Krystal Taylor, Verona King and Myles Goodman all have their own reasons for wanting to be the closer on this sale.

Then, of course, in the midst of a glitzy showcase event designed to show the house at its best, a dead body is discovered floating in the pool. Lisa Gray does an excellent job of muddying the pool’s waters so that we know there are multiple candidates who could have committed the deadly deed.

Detective Jimmy Aribo of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Detective Tim Lombardi investigate. Lisa Gray’s novel is highly entertaining, very slick and pacy. As ever with Lisa Gray, her prose is taut and spare and her characters shine through.

Overall I enjoyed this pacy character driven thriller set in the midst of the glitz and glamour of high end real estate. A fun read with lots of dodgy characters, bad deeds and many surprises. This book is perfectly placed to be your next beach read!

It's very Selling Sunset meets crime thriller which I LOVED! Lots of twists and turns and interesting characters, surprising thee reader to the very end...literally. I would happily read this again!

I devoured this masterfully plotted book in a day.
When a small L.A. realty firm is picked to sell an amazing Malibu beach house with a listing price of $50 million dollars that will give the agent that sells it a cool $1 million commission, the gloves come off. Secrets are bared, lines are crossed, no holds barred. Gray provides an interesting cast of characters and gives them all reason to be desperate for the commission along with motive to kill, then keeps you guessing as to who is dead for as long as possible. If you don't like multiple POV and multiple timelines, this may not be the book for you but, for me, switching back and forth between characters as well as before and after the body was found was skillfully done and increased the suspense.

I thought this book might be chic lit but it actually has good characterisation and a decent plot. I particularly liked the fact that we didn’t know who the body in the pool was until quite a long way into the story which coupled with the before and current timelines made the story more intriguing. It kept me trying to second guess and then changing my mind, which is a sign of a good read.

A good thriller set amongst the cut throat real estate world where a number of agents are vying for a deal worth a million $ commission. The story is written in separate chapters for the main characters, before and after.
Numerous secrets in each of their lives which initially provide possible motives for the guilty person. I liked the way this was written and it kept me interested. But I felt the ending was a little bit disappointing.
4 stars

To Die For is an amusing and riveting tale of greed and murder in the cutthroat real estate business.

In California where the price of everything is extremely high, closing a multi-million-dollar real estate deal business brings out the worst in everyone at the Saint Real Estate office.

Andi Hart has taken a personal day to look at a potential office for her new business venture. Having gotten her broker's license, she is now ready to leave her present employers. She hasn't broken the news yet, so she pretends she is looking on behalf of a client.

Andi gets several calls which she ignores until it is obvious that she needs to take her boss's call. Forced to return to the office, an announcement is made that they have landed a listing in Malibu and the person who finds a buyer and closes is to get $1 million in commission.

Each person in the sales office has their own secrets and reasons for wanting to earn the commission and this will bring the group fighting to win at all costs especially with the owners pitting them against one another.

On the day of the premier showing a dead body is found floating in the pool. The contest has now reached a deadly level, and all will be suspects because the motive is $1 million.

I looked forward to reading this one. The premise sounded interesting. Thankfully the writer did not disappoint. Each of the people in the office has something to hide which helps them to be a suspect. I can't say I liked any of the characters, but that is what made the murder work since they were for the most part a group of selfish people. Highly entertaining and a real pager turner, but it was hard to choose the murderer since there was a group to choose from.

✨ Book Review ✨

📖 To Die For
✍🏽Lisa Gray
Pub date 9•12•23
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5 (3.5/5)

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my opinion:
Overall I felt it was a good read. Beginning was slow and took awhile to pick up. Contains multiple POVs and goes between past and present.

I would be a horrible detective because I always make a guess on who it is and always get it wrong 🤣🤣

California setting • who done it • real estate • murder 🔪

Thank you @netgalley for the arc

3.5 rounded up!

In the elite world of luxury real estate, it’s often kill or be killed. When Saint Realty gets their hands on a $50 million dollar listing, the five agents will do anything for their buyer and offer to be accepted. On the night of the broker’s open, things seem to have gone too far when a body is found in the pool.

Anyone who knows me personally, knows I’m a sucker for luxury real estate drama, so add a twist and some thrills into the mix and I’m in!

TO DIE FOR by Lisa Gray was a fun, dramatic, cutthroat book that alternated among the various characters’ POVs - which I love, love, love in a thriller!

I enjoyed all of the drama that comes with the upper class though I do wish there was more of it?! I wanted everyone to be more catty to one another and felt that it lacked a little in that department.

The mystery was intriguing, though I wasn’t fully sold on the reveal.

Definitely recommend for all of you Selling Sunset girlies! 😂

Thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK, and Thomas and Mercer for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: August 1

Greed, Treachery, Sabotage, Revenge, Murder — All In A Week’s Work

At a Brokers’ Open to preview a $50 million Malibu mansion for selected realtors and big-time buyers, a person is found floating face down in the pool. An agent, Andi Hart, from the listing realtor calls 911. From this start, the novel develops in a manner that I have not read before. The investigation proceeds by the LA Sheriff Department. There rest of the main storyline consists of threads for each of the of the realtors of the listing agency for the days leading up to the Brokers’ Open until the last few chapters of the novel.

This storyline starts as David Saint of Saint Realty will be the exclusive listing agent for a Malibu mansion. He wants his agents to find the buyer. As an incentive he told his agents that it would be a $1 million payday for selling agent. After the showing in one week, the listing will be open. He wants everyone to start immediately. A showing of the property for all the agents is scheduled for the next morning. The cutthroat competition begins with sabotage that very night and continues all the way to the Brokers’ Open. The level of tracheary, sabotage, revenge, and murder fueled by greed leaves all reality TV shows in the dust. There are threads for each agent in which the reader will learn each agent’s history, desires, how he or she is finding a buyer, what actions taken to sabotage the efforts of the other agents, and how the sabotage affects them. There is another thread that starts at and continues from the Brokers’ Open that is narrated by the LA County Sheriff’s detective investigation into the death. While this thread provides some supplemental information to the other threads, the author is very careful that spoilers are not revealed before they should. Reading this complex story proceed captured my interest, but I will admit that the constant shifting of voices required more attention that I am used to doing with other novels.

While all agents’ threads provide background information on them, the main character in this story is Andi Hart. The detail on her provided much more detail of her history that is more complex than the others. Like the other agents, she has an urgent need for the million dollars. Since she is the person who called 911, the detective suspects that she is the killer. More aspects of her life is revealed. For me, her background was well woven into the main storyline. This aspect enhanced my reading enjoyment.

The largest objectionable content is this novel is a level of vulgar and rude language. It did not breach the limit for me, but it may for some readers. Otherwise, there are not any intimate scenes. The one murder is more clinical than descriptive. As this appears to be a standalone novel, there is not any previous novels about which to worry. I did not have any issues and believe that would be true for most readers.

What I liked the best and bothered me the most was the same aspect of this novel. Five threads added a complexity to the storyline that I enjoyed. These multiple voices also made reading choppier and more challenging, but my interest was kept right up to the end. The author kept the identity of victim hidden that also helped to keep the suspense high for me. The suspense was helped as there are several of the realtors went missing just before the Brokers’ Open. I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading more from this author. While if some language does not bother you, I recommend reading it. For me this novel did not quite reach the level of the author’s Jessica Shaw series, therefore. I rate this novel with four stars.

I received a free prepublication e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer. My review is based solely on my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

I’d like to thank Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘To Die For’ written by Lisa Gray in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

David and Diana Saint of Saint Realty are given the opportunity to sell the $50 million mansion at Malibu Beach Drive and tell their staff that whoever gets a buyer will earn $1m commission. Andi Hart needs the money as she intends leaving Saint Realty and start up on her own but her four work colleagues each have their own reasons for wanting the money and will ensure the commission is theirs by fair means or foul.

‘To Die For’ is an exciting thriller that begins with the discovery of a body floating in the swimming pool of the mansion in Malibu Beach Drive although the identity isn’t revealed until later. The story is told ‘before’ and ‘after’ in alternating chapters, as it recounts what happens before when the house is open for prospective buyers and after the body is found. The suspense gradually builds with thought-provoking surprises and twists and turns until the body is identified and possible suspects realised. After I began reading it wasn’t long before I was completely hooked and the clever plot and insightful character descriptions ensured I wouldn’t be able to stop reading. This is a thoroughly enjoyable thriller that’s been well-written with a compelling plot and I can recommend it.

A Multi Million Pound Property over looking the Ocean in Malibu & the race between realtors to find the right buyer , plus they all have their own secrets some darker than others , so what will they do to make sure they get the prize. Lots of interesting twists & turns to keep you turning the Pages .#NetGalley, #GoodReads, Amazon.co.uk, #FB, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

It's every man or woman for themselves in this novel, centred around 5 upmarket realtors vying for the chance to earn 1 million dollars commission for selling a dream house on Malibu Beach.
Each realtor has a need for the money but secrets to hide from each other. Its a cut-throat business and they're can only be one winner. Who will come out on top and what will they have to lose in the process.
Lisa Gray has written a fast paced novel here, it's intriguing and enthralling.

L.A./Malibu
Money
Lots of it
A 50 million dollar house to be sold
With a Million Dollar commission
And a set of hungry realtors vying to sell it, all with their own agenda’s, secrets and powerful reasons to want the commision, literally they are prepared to do anything to get it and then the story starts
And it’s absolutely fabulous ( darling? ) if you are going to do one of these style of books you have to do it well, and done well it is, to perfection and back again
Vile characters, stunning settings, oodles of cash, the best eating places, scandals, murky pasts and glam, so much glam…..oh and murder
Wish it had been 600 pages tbh, my ideal read and pretty much word perfect ( for me anyway ) 💜😎🤗

If you're a fan of Selling Sunset or Million Dollar Listing, you are going to love this real estate thriller. It gave me similar vibes, as this is also set in Los Angeles, where estate agents are rivals when it comes to get commission on their biggest sale yet. Then someone ends up dead in the pool.

It’s a well-written novel. Author Lisa Gray’s prose is straightforward and welcoming – a pleasure to read. Her characters aren’t all that deep, but they are clearly likable or dislikable, meaning readers will cheer for the heroes and hiss at the villains. Her LA/Malibu settings are well described. It’s clear she’s learned enough about LA real estate to write about it convincingly. And she’s managed to fill her pages with intrigue, scheming, and backstabbing—which is always fun.

Wow, I really enjoyed this. It's a slick mystery/thriller that keeps the suspense going with a cast of well written characters and a clever mystery. I honestly did not know what to expect when I started this, but I'm so glad I had a chance to be an advanced reader.

The story begins with a shock and a great hook, and I was definitely hooked by the first chapter. The author then takes the reader on a tightly woven plot, eking out hints here and there about what really happened. It's a book where anybody could be a suspect, and what makes it even more fun is that you don't know who the victim is until towards the conclusion. I was really blown away with how carefully plotted this must have been.

I have no doubt that many readers are going to devour this in one sitting, because it is that type of book. I want to see this picked up for a movie or series. When reading it, I was picturing the scenes in my head.

I know I'm going to read more Lisa Gray in the future.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for review. All comments are my own.

What an incredible read, it kept me hooked from start to finish. There were so many twists and turns within the plot that it kept you guessing. It was hard to out this book down.