How DC Inspired Marisa Kashino's "Best Offer Wins"

"Marisa Kashino spent years covering local real estate as an editor at Washingtonian and the Washington Post. Now she's using that knowledge for her debut novel, Best Offer Wins, a satirical thriller about a DC publicist driven to extremes by the horrors of house hunting. It's already been optioned by Hulu for a TV series. We asked her to tell us how real life inspired the book."

"The setting is crucial to the book, the author says. "When you think of cutthroat interactions [in Washington], maybe you think of wheeling and dealing in Congress. But that stuff happens in the neighborhoods here, too." As a reporter covering all of it, Kashino felt like the competition was particularly intense around DC, given the ruthlessly ambitious Beltway types her characters represent."

"The main character, Margo, and her husband want to leave their Shaw apartment for a property in Bethesda for reasons that Kashino describes as "a composite of a lot of the reasons people move to Bethesda-great public schools, nice backyards, clean streets." Margo's desperation to move is fueled by attitudes common among residents of gentrified areas. "She's cavalier talking about some things in a transitioning neighborhood, like seeing unhoused people and hearing gunshots," Kashino says. "She doesn't pause to reflect on who was on"

Best Offer Wins is a debut satirical thriller about a DC publicist driven to extremes by competitive house hunting. The novel draws on real DC-market stories from a frenzied 2021 boom, including listings with dozens of offers, huge over-asking sales, and long open-house lines. The Washington-area setting informs the portrayal of ruthless, Beltway-ambitious characters and neighborhood cutthroat interactions. The protagonist's move from Shaw to Bethesda exposes gentrification attitudes—seeking schools, yards, and safety while glossing over the displacement and visible poverty in transitioning areas. The book has been optioned by Hulu for television.

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