Pretty Dead Things

By Kelsey Cox

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER

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.

KELSEY COX'S NOVELS ARE:

"Riveting." --People

"Heart-pumping." --Nina Simon

"Jaw-dropping." --Amanda Eyre Ward

"Joins my auto-buy list forever." --Rachel Hawkins

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250378842
• ISBN13: 9781250378842
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The dark side of pageants!

Kelsey Cox weaves together multiple viewpoints of interesting, unreliable characters with mysterious motives and secrets into great thrillers with twists you will never see coming! And she has done it again with Pretty Dead Things! First off, I love the cover which really caught my eye. Second, I love that her thrillers take place in Texas, not somewhere more common like say New York. As a resident of this state, it makes the story seem quite plausible because I know the truth about our ice storms and issues with our national electric grid. That being said, her characters also feel nicely real, because they are complicated with good and dark living in them, making it easy to suspect everyone. No one is completely innocent either. And there are a lot of suspects in town for the Lone Star Princess Pageant, moms and daughters looking to be crowned and take down the competition (which makes the title very accurate) and sadly pretty realistic for what happens at real beauty pageants. Adding in a disappearance 20 years ago, it makes for an unputdownable thriller! You get lots of viewpoints, from Sara Lynn, contestant and daughter of a past winner who will do anything to see her daughter crowned (Kennedy), Cat and her daughter Olivia (also a contestant), Ingrid, whose sister and twin was the one who disappeared, and Melanie, an acquaintance to the mothers both past and in the present. Lots of suspects, nice quick chapters, and a thrilling read to figure out who did what, hopefully before more bodies show up! Loved this book and can't wait to see what Kelsey Cox writes next! Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for giving me the chance to read this!