Publication Date: March 10, 2026
A deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds when a housewife with a secret life takes on a tech billionaire with secrets darker than her own . . . from the author of How I’ll Kill You.
Margaux leads a double life that would make most people dizzy. By day, she’s a seemingly ordinary interior decorator with a picture-perfect marriage. By night, she works for a mysterious employer known only as Mr. X. Her specialty: infiltrating the lives of dangerous targets, gaining their trust, and ultimately exposing their crimes.
Her latest assignment: unraveling the reclusive life of Bertram Casimir, a billionaire tech CEO whose career is as mysterious as his past. His sister claims he stole her app to build his fortune. Not only that, his girlfriend may or may not have recently gone missing.
Bertram sees through Margaux’s carefully constructed facade, matching her move for move. As the lines between hunter and prey blur, Margaux finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Bertram. They share more than she’d like to admit—a dangerous intelligence, a taste for high-stakes manipulation. When the evidence begins to shift, threatening to destroy everything she knows, Margaux realizes this is far more than just another job.
Her hidden past—and her life—are now on the line. One lie remains, and it might just save her.
For all intents and purposes, Margaux appears to be the perfect wife and mother. Who would guess that she has a double life?
Author Ren DeStefano delivers a psychological thriller in A Lie for a Lie, which pits Margaux against a man who knows how to hide his crimes. In fact, he pushes back, creating all sorts of challenges for Margaux.
Told in first person by Margaux, her focus is on doing good things to make up for the past. Led by the shadowy Mr. X, she lands a new partner. Together, they focus on taking down a man who allegedly stole his sister’s work and passed it off as his own.
However, in the vigilante world, nothing is ever as easy as it sounds. While there is some back-and-forth between past and present, the author delivers a cliffhanger teaser that proves quite fitting.
A Lie for a Lie offers a packed storyline of deception as Margaux finds herself up against an unexpected adversary.
Ren DeStefano lives in Connecticut, where she was born and raised. When she’s not writing thrillers, she’s listening to true crime podcasts and crocheting way too many blankets.
