He’s To Die For is the perfect book to kick off the month. It is the story of an NYPD detective investigating the murder of a music executive when he falls for the hot rock star involved in the case. This book totally gave me Brooklyn 99 vibes. It was such a fun mystery to solve in the middle of a romcom with the cutest couple ever sweet and hilarious side characters. Such a feel good book that made me smile and laugh out loud.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the advance reader copy and to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

It all starts with a musician who wants to buy back his masters. Wow, this was even more timely than the author, Erin Dunn, knew. The set up for this book is that Rav is a homicide detective, and his newest case brings him in contact with famous musician Jack.

I found this story a great blend of mystery, humor, and of course, romance. There's a strong tension around forbidden romance, and Jack is and is not a suspect. And there's so much to wonder about in terms of who did what and who is trustworthy. It's a mix of rom com and mystery that hit all the right notes (sorry - I had to).

And despite the overall light tone, I also felt it balanced in heavier themes well. In particular, I appreciated the conversation about policing; I needed that to enjoy a book with a police hero.

Sid Sagar did an amazing job narrating the many accents and voices. He was slightly less amazing with singing, but that's fair.

4.5 stars rounded up

The mystery was good, the romance was good, the narrator was excellent. I enjoyed this book on all fronts. I give it 4.5/5 stars.

This was such a fun read to kick off pride month! The entire premise was so interesting and I was hooked from chapter one. I found the characters to be lacking a bit of depth which took me out of the story several times. The main couple was cute, but their relationship felt quite surface-level to me. Regardless, I had a blast and highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Pick this one up if you like:

🎤 British Investigator
🎤 Cozy mystery
🎤 Romcom vibes
🎤 LBGTQ+ 🏳️‍🌈

He's to Die For is a fun mix of a romcom and a cozy mystery. I also love a good British mystery, so I'm sitting at the center for the Venn diagram of this book. Target audience.

The characters are great, the mystery is solid. The narrator is fantastic, this was a great one to listen to.

A taboo romance between a detective, and a suspect. That had me so entertained and intrigued!! The narration was perfect match. The British accent had me giggling lol
If you like queer romance that has drama and crime, this book is definitely a recommendation for you.

It took me a while to finish this book. Not sure but I just had a hard time connecting to the characters and story.

The story itself was SUPER cute (well as cute as a murder mystery can be) and I had a great time watching our two leads fall in love while guessing who dunnit as I went along. My only complaint is that it was written in 3rd person present tense which is arguably my least enjoyed method of story telling. Using present tense in particular takes me out of the story repeatedly, especially when the person whose perspective we're reading has their name spoken like 5 times across 3 sentences. Beyond that I thought the audio was well done, it neither enhanced or distracted from the story for me.

He's to Die For is a mystery Romance following Rav Trivedi, a British son of an Aristocrat, who is working as a Detective at the NYPD. He is assigned to solve the murder of a high-profile music producer that brings him into contact with the frontman of a rock and roll group, who he falls for. The only problem is that he is Rav's number one suspect.

I really wanted to like this novel so much. I love a good mystery and especially one that has an LGBTQ romantic subplot, but this novel did not work for me for many reasons. Let's start with the mystery. The mystery is fine. Like it is not bad at all, but it's also not super memorable. I was satisfied, but it won't stick with me. It was not the issue I had with this novel.

For me, personally, I had two major issues. I really disliked the main character, and I did not enjoy the romance. Rav as a very irritating main character. He just came of as very pretentious and unlikeable, while lacking any good traits or character development. The issue with the romance was that the characters had no chemistry and the romance was dragged out way too long in what felt like a very manufactured way. Also, the love interest came of as really boring. The romance took up way too much of the plot for how lacking it was. Unfortunately, this just really was not the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

He's to Die For is a fun and gripping mix of romance and mystery. The story follows Detective Rav Trivedi as he investigates a high-profile murder, only to find himself falling for his main suspect, rock star Jack Vale. Their chemistry is strong, and the romantic tension adds a lot to the suspense of the case.

The writing is smooth and easy to follow, with just the right amount of twists to keep things interesting. I really enjoyed the characters—Rav is smart and likable, and Jack is charming with a mysterious edge.

If you like queer romance mixed with crime and drama, this book is definitely worth reading. It's entertaining, emotional, and hard to put down.

I want to thank NetGalley and @Macmillan.Audio for this early copy of the Audiobook of He’s to Die For. It was honestly such a good book and such good narration.

One thing I have to say is that Romantic thrillers are usually 50/50 for me on whether I like them and that usually has to do with the balance between romance and thriller. This book was the perfect amount of romance and the perfect amount of thriller for me. Just enough mystery to keep my hooked on that part of the story but also just enough romance to keep me entertained in their relationship. It really helped that the narrator for this audiobook was particularly good at keeping the tone of the story going so I could follow along well and was easily entertained by it.

As far as the writing goes – I loved that the characters were both normal types of people. One of my big problems, especially with romantic thrillers, is that the main POV character is super well developed and interesting to read about and the non-POV romantic interest is flat and one dimensional. This was not the case, I loved how both of the main characters felt like real people with real stories to tell. I was actually interested in getting to learn more about them and seeing their relationship develop. I kind of want more books set – if not with these two – then in this world! The spicy level was a level 5.

Overall, I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 star rating. I couldn’t put it down once I started it – I didn’t predict the killer at all – and the whole story was just very well done.

This one was just fun to read/listen to. I started reading it and switched to the audiobook and really enjoyed that more. Rav is assigned the lead on a high-profile case because he will not succumb to the paparazzi or any of the other distractions. When he falls for the lead suspect will he lose his way or will he find the culprit. This one was good and there were humorous times and even a romance.

Thanks Macmillan Audio for granting me this book as an ARC read. It’s such a light hearted romantic book. Well written and fun. Good story line with a great ending. I enjoyed it and I recommend this book.

First of all, the narrator Sid Sagar, makes this book so enjoyable to listen to. The British Indian writer, actor, and comedian, delivers each character with their own personalities, but my favorite of course is the main character, Detective Rav Trevedi. The book has been compared to Brooklyn 99 meets The Charm Offensive, but with his style and manner, he definitely gives a Will Trent vibe. One of the youngest Detectives in the NYPD, he finds himself investigating a murder and a possible romance with a famous rock star. Funny and captivating, I could not "put down" this book! Hoping there will be more books in the future because Rav Trevedi has easily become one of my new favorite detectives!

I am quite torn on this one. I really enjoyed it for about 50% of the book. I loved the vibe and the romance. But honestly, it felt like the rest of the book was drawn out and lacking the purpose of the beginning. It could have been tightened up into a more enjoyable mystery romance.

Rav is an aristocratic Brit who looks like he stepped out a a fashion shoot while working as a detective. When he investigates a murder, he cannot seem to stop his attraction to one of the suspects, a hot rock star. Sparks fly as the two try and solve the crime and prove that they can make it work.

I honestly think that describing this as being like Brooklyn 99 worked against it. While humorous, it lacked the ridiculous slapstick nature of Jake Peralta.

I really did enjoy the first part but I was ready for the book to end. It needed with more will they won't they, or to wrap up sooner.

The narration was excellent as long as one is expecting that the main character is British and therefore, so is the narrator. I was thrown for a loop because I forgot that little detail.

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I usually keep my romantic mysteries to historical settings, so this what’s a fun read for me!

He's to Die For follows a young detective, Rav Trivedi in the NYPD homicide squad, who just happens to be the son of a British Lord and a NYC model. Not your typical homicide detective! RAV is on the case of the high profile murder of a record ex executive.

Well, investigating a lead finds him looking into the exact main band, and their extremely hot and adorable front man … who doesn’t have a clear alibi!

This is a taboo romance between a detective, and a suspect that puts both characters in the line of fire!

As a mystery/thriller, I found myself continually guessing and being surprised as to what would happen next in the investigation. I loved the ending and was caught completely off guard. As for the romance, I was really impressed at how much romance came to play in this story. I was expecting it to be a very minor sub plot, but it definitely drove the storyline and made for fun reading.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sid Sagar, and found that they did an excellent job, capturing the accents and voices of the various characters involved in the story. From the New York rockstar voice of our main suspect to rise cultured British accent the voices were all unique and distinct. I really enjoyed listening to this story and getting caught up in not only the mystery but the love affair as well!

A cop + rockstar romance with lots of action and intrigue. I listened to the audio version and the narration was excellent and a high point for me. It was a decent read, but I was a little underwhelmed and found my mind wandering a lot. The plot leaned heavily on the investigation, which I didn’t find as interesting as the relationship, and would have liked to explore that more.

Read if you like: Cop shows, forbidden romance, British accents, grand gestures

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

He’s to Die For by Erin Dunn
Contemporary M-M diverse romance. Third person, present tense. Opposites attract.
Detective Rav Trivedi is assigned as lead in a high-profile murder case. He’s won’t let the TV crews and tabloids distract him from his job. Rav tries to apply that same attitude to the famous singer and songwriter Jack Vale, but he’s a little bit star struck by the handsome and seemingly lonely male. Jack is surrounded by bodyguards and assistants and more yet still doesn’t have alibi for the time of the murder. What can Rav do but get him alone and kiss him. Rav and Jack are opposites from dress to attitude yet there is an attraction too that can’t be denied. Rav needs to figure out the case, and fast.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook copy and an audiobook. Narrator Sid Sagar does a fantastic job with the two main male protagonists, Rav and Jack, as well as several secondary characters such as Will, and Mo. the performance draws the readers attention with accents, emotions and drama which made it very entertaining.
I did speed up the playback to 1.5 to more closely match my reading and conversation speed. I much preferred, and recommend the audiobook as it masks the text’s present tense. Since an audiobook is automatically “active”, the present tense doesn’t kick me out of then story like a print copy does.

Romantic, a bit of humor, some sexy passion, drama and ultimately a swoon-worthy romance ending. The writing is delicious. A description of Rav’s attire with brand names is both humorous and allows the reader to get a vivid picture him and his personality.
Definitely an author I will continue to follow.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio.

I landed on a 3.5. It was cute for the most part, and the relationship was nice. However, I guessed everything really early on and several choices of the characters didn't make enough sense.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the ALC 🎧

He's to Die For takes it's title quite literally and was a delight to listen to. It took me some time to grasp the characters since we jump into the action & all the names dropped went in one ear and out the other. Once I was past that, the narration done by Sid Sagar was smooth and rich.

There was an investigation throughout the novel and it kept me guessing until the ending when all is revealed. I enjoyed the character interactions and witty banter. The romance was adorable and builds throughout the book & who wouldn't fall for Rav in his designer suits.