Novels No. 123

 

Marisa Kashino. Best Offer Wins. Large Print. USA: Thorndike Press/Gale, 2025.

There’s no stopping Margo when she sets her mind on something. Here’s a yuppie couple’s climb to the upper middle class ideal of perfect home, perfect family, perfect neighbourhood. Perfect home being key for Margo—sought in the wild world of real estate prices—before they have children. As it is, she has trouble conceiving. But she and husband Ian have been through the home bidding wars around Washington DC eleven times with no luck. Now their agent Ginny has chanced upon a great prospect before it’s even listed, and they strategize how to approach the situation as soon as possible. Due diligence is Margo’s forte: online she identifies the owners, Curtis Bradshaw and Jack Lombardi, who have a little adopted daughter.

Margo is obsessed with that property and she’s not above any devious ploy to get it. How to make an irresistible offer the men can’t refuse? Ian’s not comfortable with her tactics; arguing over real estate is nothing new to them. She pretends to meet Jack by chance; interest in adoption is her gambit. Great chumminess develops over a day or two, leading into a dinner invite to her and Ian. All goes extremely well and Penny, the daughter, loves Margo. But the two men balk at her proposal to sell prematurely, and by a slip of Ian’s tongue, they figure out her deception, angrily kicking them out of the house. Now it’s battle stations. From there, Margo stops at nothing; Curtis and Jack won’t know what hit them.

Let’s just say Best Offer Wins is a very interesting exercise in manipulation and madness, not to mention the overbearing tension produced by the real estate deadline. Yet Margo’s hunger and underlying rage are well addressed. As it builds into a stupefying climax—reader: just go with the flow.

Margo

▪ “Maybe we can buy your house!” I say it like it’s a joke. We both laugh. (60)

▪ He’s never called me a bitch before. And we have had some other epic blowouts. (73)

▪ Jordana takes a step back. “I don’t know what’s been going on with you this week, but I think you need to take some time off.” (141)

▪ “This is not normal behaviour,” he whispers. “You must know that.” (155)

▪ “I never should’ve agreed to go to that dinner with you. I knew we were crossing a line, and I still let it happen.” (157)

▪ I don’t have cell service here. I don’t really know where “here” is. (247)

▪ I’m going to have nothing but fun nailing Curt’s ass to the wall with this, watching him squirm like the smug, silver-spoon-fed, born-on-third-base worm that he is. (272)

▪ I want to tell her she’s not alone. That sometimes, it’s like my own rage is threatening to burn right through my skin and incinerate everything. (276-7)

Eliza Reid. Death on the Island. Canada: Simon & Schuster, 2025.

Canadian ambassador to Iceland, Graeme Shearer, is on a visit to a Western Island, planning to convince Blahafid Seafood to open a branch plant in Halifax. The company is the island’s biggest employer, owned and run by Thor Magnusson, a man generally disliked for his condescending manner. But he is also sponsoring an art exhibit for Hanna, who who once lived here during her scientific research days. Graeme’s wife Jane is annoyed with him for losing focus on his job, and for flirting with Hanna; Jane fears public opinion if his past affair becomes known. Deputy ambassador Kavita is plain angry that her boss is distracted while she does all his work. Town mayor Krisjan is grieving the recent unexpected death of his husband Ari. Adding to the mix are Thor’s wife Linda; Ben, Jane’s famous novelist friend; Piotr the passionate chef; and Stella who heads the local museum.

Gathered for dinner after a busy day of touring, a few guests bring private agendas. The group socializes with no indication where this story is going – until Kavita dies in front of them. Taken through the hours preceding her death, we learn that more than one person had reason to want her silenced. Few know the details of her private program for helping refugees immigrate to Canada. Opaque hints of who knew whom before this visit seem aimless. Connecting Kavita’s death with the earlier one of Ari – an investigative journalist – sets Jane and Ben looking for a murderer. Nearly everyone makes fun of the young policeman Jonas, the only cop available thanks to bad weather and ferry cancellation. The plot has decent twists and turns but petty personal concerns and relationships seem more important than solving a murder.

Maybe I’m just old and crotchety, expecting some sparkle in the dialogue, or a degree of appeal in the characters. It’s hard to work up a care about any of them.

Words

▪ “I’ll figure out a way to put Thor in his place tonight.” (54)

▪ “The mayor positively seethes with resentment when he sees Thor.” (70)

▪ “Poor Krisjan is convinced Ari was murdered. He’s the only one, though.” (71)

▪ “Jane, I lost my temper. I yelled at him, in front of everyone at the bar.” (94)

▪ “He told me if I went public, such a move would be the end of me. Jane, I’m worried what Graeme might do next.” (95)

▪ “She was threatening to share some information about me that I would prefer is never made public.” (143)

▪ “Do you think someone at our dinner last night wants to frame Graeme for Kavita’s murder?” (152)

▪ “We’ve got to get to know all the skeletons in this town’s closet. Ari’s research could be a place to start on that.” (154)