Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Best Offer Wins: A Novel by Marisa Kashino

  

Best Offer Wins (Celadon Books, November 2025) by Marisa Kashino is Kashino’s debut novel. She covered the Washington DC real estate market for the Washington Post and the Washingtonian, and she knows what she’s talking about.

Margo Miyake and her husband Ian have been house hunting in the Washington DC, suburbs for 18 months. No matter how much they offer, they lose to the well-heeled buyers who can offer all cash and more of it than Margo and Ian can possibly hope to finance. They have lost 11 listings in the DC real estate market war zone and Margo is beginning to despair of ever leaving the cramped apartment they took after they sold their DC row house. She wants desperately to start a family; at the age of 37 her biological clock is ticking more loudly every day. But she must have a home first in which to raise a family, so the house has become an urgent priority.

When she hears about a residence in an upscale Bethesda area before it goes on the market, she and Ian go look at it, ostensibly just to check out the neighborhood. But Margo can’t resist walking around the house to examine the back yard and to look in the kitchen windows and she gets caught by one of the owners. She pretends that she’s lost. Ian has driven away rather than be mortified by his wife who is unashamedly trespassing.

Margo can’t stop scheming how to convince the owners of the house to accept their offer before they list the house on the MLS, despite the huge event her PR firm is hosting in just a few days. Margo is responsible for a large part of the details that will make the event stand out. If successful, their client will put the firm on retainer, a giant PR plum. But she is busy plotting her next real estate maneuver while she should be listening in meetings and taking notes. Margo has a laserlike focus that guided missiles would envy.

Her next move is to stalk the owner she met. She finds out where his yoga class is and “accidentally” joins his class. Not just joins the class but sits next to him. Nothing subtle about Margo. She goes from one embarrassing attempt to another without batting an eye or paying the least bit of attention to her job. Or her husband. Her ability to lie to her manager, her husband, and to her real estate agent is awe-inspiring.

It is not possible to say much more without giving away the entire story line. Suffice it to say, this book is cringe-inducing, hilarious, and scary. It will strike fear into the hearts of buyer’s agents everywhere. I can’t wait to see what Marisa Kashino writes next.

·         Publisher: ‎Celadon Books

·         Publication date: ‎November 25, 2025

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎288 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1250400546

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1250400543

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3ZpuDDd 

  

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.