Pretty Dead Things

Secrets emerge as a Texas beauty pageant turns deadly in this rich and addictive novel with a jaw-dropping twist from psychological suspense author Kelsey Cox.

2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin, but this year it's offering more than an annual dose of rhinestone heels and plunging necklines. Competition is stiffer than ever—and long-standing grudges are about to resurface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle's disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch. The pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state's power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

Beauty dies. Secrets never do.

Praise for Pretty Dead Things:

• "As twisted as a Texas rattler... I couldn't put it down!" —Lisa Jackson, #1 NYT bestselling author
• "Tense, twisty, and impossible to put down... Gripping, propulsive, and full of surprises." —Tiffany Crum, NYT bestselling author
• "A juicy, addictive thriller packed with complicated women and a past that refuses to stay buried." —Daphne Woolsoncroft
• "Cox expertly ratchets up the suspense with every page, building to a finish I never saw coming!" —Sophie Stava
• "Beautiful, Brutal, and Breathtaking." —Parade
• "Cox does an expert job of keeping the reader on the hook as one mystery after another gets solved." —Texas Monthly
• "Cox builds to satisfying reveals and delivers well-honed critiques of pageant culture." —Publishers Weekly

About the Author: Kelsey Cox received her MFA in fiction from Purdue University and writes from the Texas Hill Country. She is also the author of the bestselling debut Party of Liars.