Dying To Sell (Five Star First Edition Mystery) [Hardcover]

Maggie Sefton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2005

Realtor Kate Doyle knew divorce was messy, but she didn't expect it to be bloody. Kate agrees to sell the home of old friends who're locked in bitter wrangling and manages to keep the peace long enough to get signatures on contracts. She congratulates herself on what will be an easy sale in this upscale Colorado college town. However, Kate's celebration turns to horror when she walks into the lawyer-client's study to find him brutally murdered - stabbed in the throat. "A crime of passion," says Kate's police detective brother-in-law. The prime suspect is Kate's close friend, the spurned wife, who begs Kate to help her. Kate's meddling turns up some surprising suspects. The successful lawyer deceived numerous ex-lovers as well as his wife. He'd also played off one land developer against another, dangling a choice tract of land as bait. Businesses were ruined and fortunes lost. Had the loser taken revenge on the wily lawyer? Or had an ex-lover killed in jealous rage? Kate's real estate license helps her dig into the clever lawyer's dealings as she sifts clues from cyber space to crawl space. Unfortunately, her snooping tempts the killer to exercise his own license - to kill.

Maggie Sefton lives in Colorado and is the mother of four grown daughters and the guardian of two demanding dogs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Five Star; 1 edition (October 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594143102
• ISBN-13: 978-1594143106
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,050,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maggie Sefton grew up in Northern Virginia and received her Bachelor's degree in English Literature & Journalism. After working as a CPA and a real estate broker, she now enjoys the satisfaction and challenge of creating worlds on paper.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful who-done-it, October 25, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dying To Sell (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

In Fort Collins, Colorado Shamrock Realty realtor Kate Doyle detests having to sell the home of friends, attorney Mark and Amanda Schuster, who have filed for divorce. Mark wants to get rid of their joint house as soon as possible while Amanda wants the most money they can obtain. Kate works documents with Mark and promises to finish up later that day once she obtains Amanda's signature.

When Kate returns to see Mark, she is horrified to find him dead with a letter opener stuck through his throat. The police assume a crime of passion occurred; thus Amanda is the prime suspect as a rejected wife. Kate thinks otherwise and begins to investigate the activities of a lawyer she thought she knew as a friend. Instead she finds he had several affairs and pulled a land development ploy that angered perspective contractors. Unlike the local cops, Kate has a long list of suspects.

Although readers will doubt Kate would investigate especially since the corpse shook her to her bone marrow in spite of her best friend as the prime suspect, fans will be pleased with this fun amateur sleuth tale. Kate is shocked when she begins to see a radically different picture of someone she thought she knew merge as she finds Mark was a womanizer and applied questionable business ethics to transactions. The revelations come on top of thinking that Mark and Amanda were the poster couple for marriage before they ask her to sell their house as part of their divorce settlement. Maggie Sefton provides a wonderful who-done-it starring a shell-shocked layperson risking her life to prove her pal is innocent.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lot of People Wanted Mark Dead, April 8, 2008

By 

Nancy Grisso "Stepfordmomto2" (Tehachapi, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dying to Sell (Real Estate Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Kate Doyle, newbie Colorado realtor, knew that her job could be complicated, but when dealing with the sale of her friends' home, little did she know that it could be deadly. When Kate arrives at Mark's home for him to sign the sales papers she find him in the elegantly appointed library with a letter opener sticking out of his neck. Usually, this would be an open and shut case, the spouse is always the first suspect, but with Mark's philandering ways, the suspect list grows exponentially. So of course, Kate has to snoop and solve the case to free her friend of suspicion.

Maggie Sefton is known for her Knitting Series and I believe that this book is the first in a new series. Interesting start with what could be a good continuation of characters. Can't wait to see what develops between Kate and the home inspector / gun expert Chekov.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid cozy mystery, January 30, 2006

By 

Coppertop (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dying To Sell (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

This was not as good as her knitting mysteries that feature Kelly in the same town. I didn't think the characters or plot was as interesting or fun. I would definitely recommend reading her other series and this one will also give an enjoyable afternoon read if you liked the others, but you just won't adore the characters as much. It was also much more expensive as it was printed in hardcover while her other series is all paperback. And if an author is going to set two series in the same town, we could at least periperially meet some of the other characters and/or sites. And the even the sam type of dog....