Crushing on a suspect just isn't done in NYPD Homicide, but it happened in this delightful story of two people who have so very little in common. Cute and fun!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Pub Date Jun 03, 2025
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He’s to Die For by Erin Dunn is a sharp, witty, and suspenseful romance with the perfect mix of mystery and charm. Packed with sizzling chemistry and unexpected twists, it’s a total page-turner. Loved it!

Never thought I'd say this about a "mystery" type novel but I loved the romance aspect and thought it was a cute story in a dark way as a murder is getting solved


Thanks NetGallery for this Arc!

Slow burn. Glacial in fact. But that's how it should be between a police officer and his suspect. Rav Trivedi is a young, sexy NYPD homicide detective. Jack Vale is a rock star on the cusp of superstardom.

The mystery is a well-plotted tangle of murder, conspiracy theories, internet hacking, and rock stars. The author does a great job of planting just enough clues to keep readers Guessing. In addition to a well-plotted mystery there's romance and exotic locations. If you enjoy sexy mysteries this is for you.

I’m so glad I was given an arc from NetGalley. This was a sweet and sexy story with suspense and murder. Rockstar suspect and sexy cop meet when cop is interviewing rockstar as a murder suspect. Attraction and lust and then romance and love all while trying to solve a murder. I got lost in the relationship sometimes and forgot about the danger. Other times I was so focused on figuring it out. And it took me a couple of suspects before I figured it out and I almost always know who it is so I loved that I was still guessing. I will be buying the physical copy to add to my trophy shelf! Loved it!

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was a fast read with great dialogue and atmosphere. There were a few underdeveloped plot points and characters, but the overall story wasn’t impeded by those elements. I’m not a romance fan, and I took a star off for the graphic sex. But I’m sure romance fans will be ok with that facet of the story. I would read more from this author.

I REALLY wanted to like this book, but in the end, I think it misses the mark.

I was excited to read based off of the comparison to Brooklyn 99 in the description. I expected laugh out loud funny and clever writing that I wanted to binge, but I had a very hard time getting through the book.

I felt like all of the characters were caricatures and unfortunately unoriginal. Rav was the smart cop with an insufferable personality that doesn’t work well with others but somehow people still like him, Jack was the rockstar with fragile mental health that needs a love interest to feel whole, so on and so forth.

Reading this book did give me some nostalgia, because I felt like I was back on fanfic.net or ao3 reading the latest One Direction fanfic. It reads exactly like a typical fan fiction so if that’s your niche, I’d totally recommend reading this.

Many tough topics are approached but not fleshed out. There was opportunity to dive deeper into anxiety, guilt over a friends suicide, feeling shamed for the life choices you’ve made by your parents, and more. The dialogue felt forced and unnatural, making these scenes fall flat.

I love a good mystery and adore a good romance, but the plot lines got in the way of each other.

I did enjoy the character Mo and there were a couple of times that I was chucking to myself while reading. I think that love stories outside of the typical white girl and white guy together are very important, so Rav and Jack deserve their time in the spotlight. While this book wasn’t written for me and what I look for in a story, I’m sure there are many that will love it.

Interesting mystery about a rock band with baggage that keeps you guessing. Yet I will remember He’s to Die For because of the wonderful romance of Rav and Jack. They fall for each other the old fashioned way with long phone calls where the reader feels like a fly on the wall witnessing this burgeoning romance.

Rav is such an original character and it was refreshing that his workplace wasn’t full of homophobic stereotypes.

Well done.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited about this on, on the premise of Brooklyn 99 meets Charm Offensive (a show and a book I love), but for me this one fell short. I completely understand why this one had to be single POV - you don't want to give up the game of Jack's potential innocence via his POV - but I think it had the unexpected side effect of making Jack pretty bland and a little unlikeable. With a second POV, we would have gotten his own mindset towards their relationship and maybe if not forgiveness of, at least an understanding of why he's so flaky about communicating for so much of the book.

I also felt like, as a mystery/romance, rather than having one inform the other, it almost meant that each storyline was taking away from the other. I couldn't get too attached to either plot point because my attention and focus was really divided. And because of the two separate buckets, I felt more than usual that the chemistry and tension was pretty thin between the two MCs.

I think some readers may enjoy it more than I did; it just fell short of my expectations. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! I rate this 4 stars and 1.5 chili peppers for spice. This was a super fun murder mystery romance. There were so many twists and turns and I honestly had no idea who’d done it until the very end. It was a like watching a really juicy episode of tv show Forensic Files but with sexy rock stars and hot detectives. I really enjoyed this story and would totally recommend it.

Yeah, i don't even know why i requested this book, but I guess I'm glad I did.
Nothing close to a masterpiece, but it was entertaining, and I think that was the point of it.
kind of just pure kicks and giggles, a nice break to read in between heavier and more intense books.
I didn't ever really fully connect with Rav, but I did love jack
I haven't read the charm offensive, but I've heard that if you like that book, you'll like this
very funny and keeps you engaged
I also liked how it got straight into the story.

This was a very fun book with likeable characters, a realistic romance, and an interesting murder mystery. The book is well written and the main characters are well developed. The romance between Rav and Jack was sweet and had realistic road blocks they had to overcome. The mystery had multiple threads and touched on the radicalization of people online. The ending was dramatic and the romance was realistic in its progress. Add in the fashion, the music and the sweet locations and overall it's hard to not enjoy yourself reading this book.

A final note to those straight readers who are worried about a novel with gay romantic leads, this book is a perfect place to start as the romance and the sex scenes are pretty universal -- Making it a good romance and not a 'gay' good romance.

'She's like a female Captain Holt from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, minus the sparkling sense of humor.'

'This, right here, is enough.'

Thanks for St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was good. A cop, a rock star, a murder, and long buried secrets. This would make a great movie.
Rav's a good cop, still young on the force and trying to prove himself a bit, to his lieutenant, coworkers, and deep (buried really deep) his parents.
Jack is part of a uber successful music group, but is struggling on the inside a he tries to balance fame, the music he loves, and his mental health.
Current murder, death threats, and past loss all come together in a surprising climatic scene.
The romance was an emotional bond at first, which I really enjoyed. The physical spice was definitely there, but it was more eluded to rather than explicit.
Easy, quick read that pulled at the heart strings.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for the e-ARC!

This book had plenty of things going for it, it does take a little bit to get into , but once you make it past chapter 10 it does get a little better.

A. murder mystery, but the main characters are a rock star and a detective on the murder case? This book lived up to the description and surpassed my expectations. It had just the right balance of murder mystery, romance, and character development. I loved the characters so much- the MCs along with the members of the band and Rav's colleagues and other friends. This book kept me in my toes the whole time, and still kept me guessing. I really hope that this is the beginning of a series Thank you to St. Martins press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A celebrity murder mystery MM romance? Yes please. This rom-com gets pulled in a lot of directions, and it doesn't execute them all perfectly but it is fun and engaging. The banter between the characters felt really natural. It is comped to Brooklyn 99 and that is called out in the text, but I wish that piece wasn't there. The comedy and storylines were good enough without needing the direct references (which is probably going to be very dating for this book in a few years). This was a good queer romantic suspense and I enjoyed it!

LOVED this story!! The rock star meets the NYC detective. It could not have been written any better. It was funny, sad, happy, heartbreaking, romantic and full of hate. It kept me on my toes and I love that! I can not have dreamed up a better twisty, suspenseful mystery. I read it like a mad woman and LOVED every minute!

This was SO MUCH FUN. I'm a sucker for a murder mystery, and being able to weave a romance into it can be very difficult. This was seamlessly done. Somehow keeping the romance in the forefront while investigating multiple murders? Very hard to make it make sense without the characters either feeling like they don't care about the murders, or having the romance feel undeveloped.

The humor in this is what really got me. There were times that I fully out-loud laughed and not in a cringe "oh this is so bad it is good" way. The humor that the characters had felt authentic with just a *sprinkle* of that rom com "no one could ever think of this on the spot" hilarity.

I have been struggling with a reading slump lately. One in that I want to read, but I don't want to actually read anything I am picking up. I can recognize the quality of a book, that it is something that I'd usually enjoy, but the desire to pick up the book is completely lacking. This book though - I devoured it in a day. I couldn't put it down. The desire to pick up this book specifically came back, which has been sorely lacking for me lately. While I am still in the slump, this started to turn the tide.

4.5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a digital advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I had such high hopes for this book but it fell flat for me. I wanted to read it solely for the Brooklyn 99 comparison. I think the only Brooklyn 99 comparison I can give is that it’s about a detective and the lieutenant is a “female version of Captain Holt.” It wasn’t nearly as humorous as I expected it to be given the comparison.

I did kind of like the mystery aspect of it and the twist at the end did surprise me. I think there were a few moments throughout the story that were supposed to give us a little bit of surprise but I wasn’t really shocked by them all that much. I wish there had been a few bigger things thrown in to help keep us engaged.

While I enjoyed Rav as a character he felt under developed. Really, all of the characters felt surface level. Even the connection between Rav and Jack seemed flimsy at best and I didn’t feel much in the way of their romantic chemistry or sexual tension. I think if the characters had been more fleshed out I would have cared more.

I think the ultimate take away was that I didn’t feel much of anything when reading this book. I wasn’t sold on the romance and I wasn’t sold on the romance. It’s a light and easy read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of He’s To Die For by Erin Dunn.

This book started off great and just kept going. Rav is a police detective investigating a murder involving a rock star suspect named Jack. Rav crosses a line by getting involved with Jack but after the FBI comes in to take over Rav cannot help himself. He is officially off the case but can’t help to keep investigating on his own time.