Pretty Dead Things

by Kelsey Cox

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.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Fiction, Suspense, Book Club

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2026

About the author

Kelsey Cox received her MFA in fiction from Purdue University and works from home in the Texas Hill Country. You can often find her writing at Mammen Family Public Library, chasing around her two young daughters, or watching British mysteries with her mom and aunts. On nights when bedtime goes as planned, she enjoys curling up on the sofa, glass of wine in hand, and a book with complicated characters and a killer twist in her lap.

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Reviews

[MarilynW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

Get out your whiteboard and marker so you can make squiggly lines all over the board as you write down characters and their connections to each other. Despite so many characters and more than one timeline, I was hooked on this story early on although it gave my memory a workout trying to remember who was who and how they were related to other characters. There are times when nicknames are used, also, for added brain buster points.

Still, I was so engrossed in the lives of this community. What a bunch of greedy, backstabbing, ladder climbing "friends". Pageant moms can be the worst and we get to see one of them hard at work here. What would she NOT do to trip up the girls competing against her daughter? Kennedy is Sarah Lynn's mom and if Sarah Lynn takes a step out of line, such as not being willing to stab one of her friends in the back when it comes to pageant competition, Sarah Lynn will pay for that disobedience one way or another.

Back in the day, more than twenty five years ago, Melanie was the punching bag of Kennedy and her friends but in the current timeline, Sarah Lynn really likes being friends with Melanie's daughter, Hannah. And Sarah Lynn also likes Cat's daughter, Olivia, and all this business of her daughter having friends and not being willing to knock them down a few floors in life just doesn't sit well with Kennedy.

But there is so much more going on here. Melanie, the saint that she is to everyone, just might have a few secrets. Cat wishes more about herself was secret but instead, everyone know she has a drug/drinking problem. Kennedy certainly has her secrets but she's Kennedy so anything she does she justifies as it being her right to do what she wants to do.

This is the year that Kennedy has planned for her daughter Sarah Lynn to win the pageant except the past raises its ugly head. Twenty six years ago a girl went missing and now her twin is back in town to spend time with her sick mother. The tension is high for more than just the "who is going to win the pageant this year" excitement. Kennedy knows her daughter is going to win even if she has to work some magic to make it happen. But the kids are acting up, that missing girl from the year 2000 is being talked about too much, and Kennedy being catty to everyone just isn't having the effect Kennedy would like it to have on some days. And, a storm is coming!

I was able to enjoy reading this story with DeAnn and Jayme and this is a hard book to put down. There are so many twists although one or two of them take things too far into unbelievable land. Still, I was glued to the story, wanting a few of the characters to fall in a vat of glitter and false eyelash glue for being so mean, cruel, and devious.

Publication July 7, 2026

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, SMP Early Readers and NetGalley for this ARC

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 ★

WOW. A NEW ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK AND AUTHOR! 🤯

Stop whatever you’re doing and go buy or reserve this book at your library.

In Pretty Dead Things, Isabelle Whitmore vanished from a Texas ranch without a trace 25 years ago. Now, her sister Ingrid returns as the annual Lone Star Princess Pageant approaches, bringing everyone back to the ranch, where buried secrets and old grudges are ready to resurface.

With how many thrillers I read, it has been a while since I could fully praise a book for an entire review, but that’s what this is going to be because WOW did I love this book.

After really enjoying Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox last year, I knew to be excited about this one, but I wasn’t prepared for just how amazing it was going to be.

The characters in this book were lifelike in every way: their friendships, how complicated they were, and the way they were described. What started out as a somewhat overwhelming number of people to follow (my only slight critique) turned into a group of characters that I felt like I knew… until I was BLINDSIDED by multiple of them.

The structure of the plot, including the characters and their secrets, was masterful. Every character is hiding something, and everyone is connected in shocking ways.

There were multiple times early on when I said, “no wayyy,” as I realized who some characters were to one person compared to who they were to others. Not only are there those smaller twists throughout, but there are also MAJOR twists that I didn’t guess.

I especially loved how every clue that was found felt believable and well thought out. That’s something I find rare in thrillers, where characters so often just happen to be in the perfect place at the perfect time.

Not only was the story fast-paced and twisty with amazing characters, but it also had heart. You genuinely feel for the multiple generations of women this story focuses on.

Whether it’s the way those in the pageant or at school view their bodies, the regret the middle-aged women feel over their actions in the past, or the way the older characters are handling illness, it’s all done SO WELL.

I literally cannot stop raving about this book and think it deserves WAY more hype.

If you can’t tell already, I’m begging you to read this book, and I hope you feel as strongly about it as I do by the time you finish. Cox is on my auto-buy author list for sure now!

—

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[Sydney Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this!!

[Jayme C (Brunetteslikebookstoo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATED TO INCLUDE AN AUDIOBOOK REVIEW:
Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox (SUSPENSE)
Listening time: 9 hours 11 minutes at 1x or 6 hours and 7 minutes at 1.5 speed

FULL CAST NARRATION by Andrew Eiden, Brittany Pressley, Mia Wurgaft, Saskia Maarleveld, and Stevi Incremona -
I am already a big fan of Saskia Maarleveld, and although I don’t know which voice actors voiced which characters-they all did an outstanding job!
( I wish this information was included)

***

Three Generations of Beauty Queens…

It’s time for the 50th Annual Lone Star Princess Pageant, first won by Barbara Whitmore of Anhalt, Texas.

One of her twin daughters, Ingrid (Iggy) or Isabelle (Izzy) should have been crowned the winner of the 25th Annual Pageant, but Izzy disappeared that night, NEVER to be seen again, and Kennedy Claire was crowned the winner instead.

Now, Kennedy Claire’s daughter, Sarah Lynne, who has been training for this day since she could walk, is the favorite to win. Kennedy has been carefully studying her daughter’s competition but only cheerleader Sabrina Doyle, gets a red color coded dot on the index card of the cork board where Kennedy keeps notes on which girls are a threat.

Everything seems destined and under control…

That is until Sarah Lynne convinces her friends from the Smoothie Palace, Hannah and Olivia, to compete alongside her.

Hannah Is Melanie’s daughter, and Sheriff Ryan’s granddaughter-a beautiful singer but not someone Kennedy needs to keep an eye on.

But, she didn’t plan for Cat’s daughter Olivia to be a surprise contender.

And, Kennedy Claire CANNOT allow her to spoil what she and Sarah Lynne have worked so hard for all of these years.

The book opens with a BLOODY murder at the Pageant in the middle of a Texas power outage during a rare, debilitating, icy WINTER WEATHER EMERGENCY.

But WHO is dead?

We rewind to a few days prior to the event, and the story unfolds through several POV’s told with punchy, VERY SHORT, “JUST ONE MORE” chapters!

IF you enjoyed the author’s debut last year, “Party of Liars” then you will enjoy this Sophomore effort as well.

BOTH stories are highly ENTERTAINING and feature a mystery death at an event, with a large cast of believable, well fleshed out characters as SUSPECTS and many highlight worthy passages.

I really ENJOY the author’s writing.

BUT, I had to start a flow chart to keep up with the MANY characters this time, which is why I tried to simplify it a bit for you with this review. It took me until about 25% in to have everyone straight in my mind.

ALL of the mysteries are wrapped up, many in SURPRISING ways, although ONE twist went TOO FAR in believability and excluding it would have made for a more plausible conclusion.

Still, I enjoyed this story from START TO FINISH and will be eagerly awaiting the next offering from Kelsey Cox!

Review for Party of Liars : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A buddy read with DeAnn and Marilyn. Be sure to watch for their reviews!

AVAILABLE NOW!!

Thank You to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted written ARC and to Macmillan Audio for the gifted Audiobook ARC provided through NetGalley and NetGalley Shelf. As always, these are my candid thoughts!

[Liana Gold · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 4 ⭐️ A cold case mystery, small-town rivalries, snappy and cutthroat moms, jealousy, ambition and long buried secrets, Pretty Dead Things is ridiculously entertaining and shockingly vile. I never knew much about the pageant culture but let me tell you it's not all pretty sunshine and butterflies and good intentions. I never knew how toxic pageant moms and their daughters can be. The pageant culture has many benefits--builds up social/public speaking skills, confidence, scholarship opportunities but underneath its pretty facade it puts inappropriate pressures on children and young adults, encourages grooming (sexualization), increases mental pressures and body dysmorphia, among other things.

Set in a small town of Texas, the story follows two timelines: one set in 2000 that focuses on the teenager Isabelle and her disappearance without any trace and one set in 2025 that focuses on a return of many these then-teenagers now-turned-moms and return of the pageant where several of these women were directly connected to the deadly event.

The first half of the book is the major set up. We are introduced to many characters and their daughters. The book explored mother-daughter relationships and family/community dynamics while building up the slow-crawling tension and dread. The second half is where the story really takes off, kicks up a dial and becomes dramatic and suspenseful. This is where I was completely engrossed in the entertainment of the mystery. The book had me reeling and saying 'Oh no she didn't' every time the southern snare of 'Bless your heart' was present underneath the lines. I never knew how petty and unforgiving the entire pageant culture is! It had me running in circles, thinking of the whodunit and trying to make guesses. I thought I had it figured out but the very last few twists got me real good. I was shocked and surprised at the same time.

My favorite part of the story was the ensemble of unreliable narrators. Told by Sarah Lynn, Cat, Ingrid and Melanie, you get perspectives from the present day teenagers in the pageant and the adults who knew each other when growing up.
Sarah Lynn--the daughter and progeny of cutthroat Kennedy Claire, was obsessed with her moms 'win or die' mantra. Although she was nice and a good friend, she had me questioning her motives through out the novel because of what her mother was like as a teen and how her mother was portrayed in her adulthood. These chapters were my MOST favorite.
Cat--a recovering alcoholic, was trying to rebuild with her daughter Olivia who has caught the eyes of the judges, setting off Kennedy Claires jealously and ruthlessness. Buckle up for tension and drama in these chapters!
Ingrid--the sister of missing Isabelle, who returns back to this town and chases the neighbor who was blamed for the murder. These chapters link to the chapters of the past and intern create more twists and suspense.
Melanie--one of the then teenagers who hung out with Kennedy Claire click of friends. She was different from other skinny girls and was mainly called 'Melon Ball'. Now as an adult she is a nurse and very supportive friend to Cat. She is also close to the sheriff (like a daughter).

Every character played a significant part of the story and no one is innocent. Losing is NOT an option. When a historic storm sweeps this small town, everyone is trapped under one roof. Someone may end up dead.

Pretty Dead Things reminded me a lot of Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock, one of my favorite movies of all times. I loved the short chapters and the tension. I read this as I listened to the ALC and loved the full cast narration. Very distinctive voices and accents.


This book is now featured on BOTM for July! Grab your first copy for $5 using this link: https://www.mybotm.com/bgnrjn6qk0o
Super easy to sign up & to cancel!



Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martins Press and the author, Kelsey Cox for an early ARC!

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for an early ALC!

Narrators: Andrew Eiden, Brittany Pressley, Mia Wurgaft, Saskia Maarleveld, Stevi Incremona
Duration: 9 hours 43 minutes
Speed: 1.5x

[Bo.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thriller blurbs throw around words like jaw-dropping so often that, at this point, I see it and think, Yeah, yeah. We'll see about that. If you're going to promise me a jaw-dropping twist, I want my jaw to actually drop.

Pretty Dead Things managed to do just that.

Twenty-five years ago, seventeen-year-old Isabelle "Izzy" Whitmore disappeared from the small town of Anhalt, Texas, and was never seen again. Her boyfriend Ben Sherman and his father Abel quickly became the main suspects, and while neither was ever charged, that hasn't stopped most of the town from deciding they're guilty anyway. Now, Izzy's sister Ingrid has returned to Anhalt for the first time in years, and it isn't long before the past starts creeping back in.

There's a lot going on here, and it did take me a little while to get my bearings with the list of characters, so this is very much a grab-your-Notes-app kind of read. Once I had everyone straight, though, I enjoyed having different mysteries and suspicious characters to follow. My suspect list did more than a few U-turns along the way.

If there's any setting made for a story about image and keeping up appearances, surely it's a beauty pageant. Motherhood, legacy, pressure on daughters and toxic friendships all come into play, but image seems to sit underneath it all. Whether someone sees themselves as picture-perfect or never quite good enough, so much comes down to the image they have of themselves and the one they present to others.

The chapters are mostly short, occasionally too short, but overall, this is a great example of how that structure can actually work with a mystery rather than simply making a book feel faster. The constant movement between characters and storylines gives you very little time to stop and think about what you've just learned before you're onto the next person and the next piece of the puzzle. It's so bingeable, but that momentum also means some surprisingly important details can slip right past you.

But it was the final stretch that really got me. One of my favourite things a thriller can do is make me rethink everything I've just read once I know the truth. Don't just surprise me. Make me mentally retrace the story and realise I've been looking at certain characters, conversations and clues completely differently. This did the trick.

The reveals kept coming, and while I had started to suspect some things, others got me good.

Safe to say, that blurb meant what it said this time.

[Laura Lovesreading]

Unfortunately i am struggling with this book!
Maybe i am not in the mood with the various amounts of characters!
Plus the twist is heavily obvious and I just don't feel like riding it out!
I may come back and pick it back up in the future.

[Melissa (Always Behind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery with some surprising twists.

This story goes between timelines in the past and the present. In the year 2000, teenager Isabelle disappears without a trace while on her way to the Lone Star Princess pageant. Everyone thinks that her boyfriend had something to do with it, but she has never been found and he isn't talking. In the present day, the Lone Star Princess pageant is taking place, and there are many secrets that come to the surface. Told from the points of view of four characters: Isabelle's twin sister Ingrid, who has returned to town; Sarah-Lynn, a teenager preparing to compete in the pageant whose mother is Kennedy Claire, former pageant winner and friend of the twins; Melanie, known in the past as "melon ball," the misfit who hung out with the in-crowd; and Cat, another one of the long ago group who is an alcoholic in recovery.

Although there are a large number of characters, it was actually very easy to tell them apart and follow the various timelines and things that were happening. They all had well-defined characters and personalities. I listened to most of this as an audiobook, and the multiple narrators of Andrew Eiden, Brittany Pressley, Mia Wurgaft, Saskia Maarleveld, and Stevi Incremona​ did an amazing job at giving the characters unique voices. I highly recommend the audiobook version of this book as a great way to experience the drama.

In the end, the mystery is clearly solved in a very surprising way. One clue did help me figure out one part of it, but there are many layers so even if you think you have it solved in your mind you probably don't!

I really liked Cox's first book Party of Liars, and this one cements her in my mind as a fabulous mystery writer.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own

[Christine Garrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty Dead Things opens with a glimpse of the horror waiting at the Lone Star Princess Pageant before going back in time to show how a group of girls ended up there in the first place. From that moment on, Kelsey Cox weaves together two timelines—2000 and 2025—slowly revealing a web of secrets, rivalries, and old wounds that never truly healed.

The story follows two generations: the women who were teenagers when their friend Isabelle disappeared in 2000 and their daughters, who find themselves caught in the fallout twenty-five years later. With multiple narrators across both timelines, it occasionally took me a moment to remember who was narrating and which daughter belonged to which mother. The audiobook helped tremendously. The cast—Andrew Eiden, Brittany Pressley, Mia Wurgaft, Saskia Maarleveld, and Stevi Incremona—delivers distinct performances that make each perspective feel unique and engaging.

At the heart of the novel is the mystery surrounding Isabelle’s disappearance and the lingering suspicion cast on local boy, Ben. Ingrid’s grief over losing her twin sister without ever receiving answers hit particularly hard for me as a twin myself. That emotional core gives weight to a story that could have easily relied solely on its thriller elements.

The pageant setting is equally fascinating and upsetting. As someone with absolutely no pageant experience, I was shocked by how competitive and divisive the environment becomes. Cox uses that backdrop to explore the pressures placed on young girls and the adults who project their own ambitions onto them. One line describes the contestants as being “lit up like specimens in a jar,” and that image perfectly captures the discomfort running beneath the glitter and hairspray. Long before any blood is shed, it is disturbing to watch a mother convince herself that almost anything is justified if it means her daughter can win.

By the time pageant day arrives, a massive snowstorm traps the characters together without power, forcing decades of lies, betrayals, and grudges into close quarters. The tension, already simmering throughout the novel, reaches a breaking point. The blizzard transforms the pageant into a powder keg waiting for a spark, and from there the story barrels toward a bloody and chaotic conclusion.

Part family drama, part mystery, and part horror novel, Pretty Dead Things examines generational trauma, obsession, and the dark side of competition. Readers who enjoy small-town secrets, multiple timelines, and escalating tension will find plenty to enjoy here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Gabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one started off sooooo strong. It had really great atmosphere with the small town in Texas and pageant vibes, and I loved the exploration of the complicated and kind of toxic friendships between these young girls. I started to get a little lost at times though, because the cast of characters is soooo big and there's multiple timelines too, and it got a bit confusing listening on audio. The ending was a little underwhelming, I wanted it to get even darker.

Heres' the reading vlog where I read this one and a few others: https://youtu.be/Fg3Kd8EuPzU

[Elodie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars, and honestly that's me being generous out of pure stubbornness.

Buckle up, because this is gonna be a longer review. I really wanted to love this book and consider it a gripping thriller. By the end, though, it felt more like I'd been handed a checklist of harmful narratives and told to enjoy myself. 🙃

To be fair, the writing is fine, the pacing moves along at a decent clip, and the mystery provides a solid twist that I suspect will shock many readers. However, the book felt like it was lazily using the same harmful messages, stereotypes, and character roles that have been recycled for decades.

Quick genuine bright spot: the comment about the counsellor's cardigan addiction made me laugh because, as a fellow social worker with an unreasonable cardigan collection, ✨ accurate representation truly.✨ You'll have to pry them off my cold, dead, appropriately layered body. 🧥

Okay, onward. Here are my issues:

1. Trauma as a permanent hall pass

Kennedy Claire is a vile, morally bankrupt, and downright cruel character. Yet she's consistently given grace, forgiveness, and compassion that she HAS NOT EARNED because she had a difficult childhood and wants what's best for her children. 🫠

Babe. Being hurt doesn't come with a lifetime subscription to hurt other people.

This book handed that subscription out like Costco samples.Understanding someone's cruelty doesn't make them less cruel.

2. Pageant culture, misogyny, and fatphobia: a delightful little combo. 🙄

The pageant world here is… rough. Women and girls are constantly judged, pitted against each other, and expected to tolerate pain and cruelty in the name of being considered worthy. Apparently suffering in six-inch heels while performing errands is the pinnacle of female achievement? Love that for us. 👍🏻

There's also a pretty tired high-school dynamic where the "fat" friend's body is repeatedly used as a source of socially acceptable humiliation and disgustingly cruel jokes.

"Maybe it's better if she bleeds out before her blood sugar kills her." Are we serious? We're still using "fat" girls as the butt of the jokes and making them seem less worthy?

Additionally, it's 2026, and we're still explicitly writing the words ✨ boys will be boys✨ on the page, unironically, as a justification for teenage boys joking about murdering a girl because she cheated on her boyfriend — all while reducing her to nothing but *"a hot piece of ass."*

Gross. 🤢

And apparently grown women targeting children because their own children might lose is just part of the pageant experience? Fake friendships, sabotage, public humiliation, all of it just accepted and normalized.

I just kept thinking to myself, "Are we sure the adults are okay? This is a children's pageant, not the Hunger Games."

3. Addiction stigma, the whole tasting menu.

This one particularly bothered me.

A character in recovery gets privately investigated by her own family, publicly humiliated about alcohol in front of her daughter, and repeatedly treated like she has to keep re-earning the right to rebuild her life. Even her history of substance-induced psychosis gets used to make her sound unreliable when she's actually telling the truth.

Families can absolutely be hurt by what addiction has cost them. That's real. But there's a difference between acknowledging past harm and treating recovery like a debt that never gets paid off.

The repeated "well, what do you expect? She's a drunk" attitude was exhausting, too. And I was especially disappointed by how little trust this character receives from people who supposedly love her. Even her closest friend seems willing to treat her like she's a lost cause.

Then, to add insult to injury, when this character is MURDERED, her daughter's stepmother reframes it as just another way she's letting her daughter down again.

Like, girl. She's dead??

4. And then there's the gratuitous cruelty.

Probably my biggest craft complaint.

Several of the ugliest moments don't actually deepen the story. The point was already made, fully, and then the book throws another gut-punch on top like it's seasoning.

The casual sexualization of a murdered teenager. Another murder joke. Public addiction humiliation. Characters being stripped of dignity simply because the plot wants another shocking moment.

I mean, at one point, during the worst storm in Texas history, a man brings his BABY niece to the town hall so she doesn't freeze, and people are still mad he came?

I can only assume this was included for maximum emotional effect, but the 300 pages that came before it had already proved how horrible these people are.

Darkness isn't automatically depth.

5. And then the ending really goes for it.

The twist felt predictable to me, and the ending was deeply unsatisfying and, honestly, kind of gross.

One character's entire legacy gets posthumously destroyed by a fabricated confession, and years of previously shown kindness are retroactively interpreted as sinister. Not to mention, the poor son is left believing his dad was a murderer and a pedophile.

But my biggest issue with the ending is that a **completely new rape allegation** is fabricated by the actual murderer right after he dies, in front of the whole town.

The fake suicide letter already claimed he was the murderer of two people. WHY the heck, when there are already tons of people who believe women constantly make up false sexual-assault allegations to destroy men's lives, would this be added, for literally no reason!?

To use a rape allegation as a completely unnecessary plot device in 2026 is beyond disappointing. Like, what are we doing here? I'm so tired.

6. There is no redemption and no pushback against any of these harmful narratives.

Mean Girls came out in the early 2000s, and even that movie had a more hopeful and self-aware ending. The main characters actually showed growth and took accountability for their actions, however limited.

Like, the bar was on the ground, and the author still failed to give us any meaningful message, growth, accountability, pushback, or interrogation of the copious amounts of harmful messages included throughout the book.

So, to recap:

Misogyny played for laughs. Sexualization of women. Fatphobia. Women pitted against each other. Adults bullying children. Cruelty excused by trauma. Addiction used to undermine credibility. A sexual-assault allegation used as a plot device. Violence against women justified as normal teenage boy chatter.

I seriously started feeling like I was microdosing red-pill content.

Any one of these might have worked for me as an intentional element of a darker story. All of them together, with so little meaningful pushback from the narrative, is where I tapped out.

I know someone's gonna read this and go, "It's fiction. It's not that deep."

I've spent my career watching the real-world versions of many of these patterns play out, which made it hard for me to find entertainment in the face of an overwhelming number of harmful messages, beliefs, and actions.

So, respectfully, when a story repeatedly normalizes this kind of stuff without consequences or meaningful narrative challenge, it is that deep.

Ultimately, this book and I were not meant to be. My experience in helping professions made me unable to see the fun in this story. It was a terrible fit.

**Content note:** If you're navigating addiction (especially alcohol), disordered eating, or are sensitive to sexual-assault content, you may want to sit this one out.

Two stars. One of them is for the cardigans. 🧥

[Lauren W -behind! (work)- trying to stay semi-caught up♥︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off with an absolute BANG! It's packed with many characters and moving pieces, making it perfectly suited for the audiobook version with its multiple narrators. The story weaves together complex mother-daughter dynamics, the high-stakes world of The Miss Lone Star beauty pageant, deep-seated history from prior generations, and a new generation growing up in its shadow. At the center of it all is a missing girl and a mystery from years ago that was never fully solved, offering plenty of tidbits to keep your mind guessing and thoroughly engaged the entire way through. To top it off, that ending!!

[suspenseisthrillingme · Rating 4.75 out of 5]

A dark and twisty story of frenemies, stage moms, and tight yet complicated female friendships, Pretty Dead Things was quite the intoxicating read. A strong follow-up to Party of Liars, Kelsey Cox delivered yet another tour de force with her sophomore novel. From the small-town setting filled with gossip-hungry locals to the fully fleshed out characters and their messy group dynamics, my eyes were glued to the pages as this complex, multi-generational mystery slowly unraveled. You see, with short, punchy chapters delivering a ratcheting level of tension alongside of a delicious soap-opera-esque feel, there was no guessing what was coming around the next blind turn. And let me tell you, that ending? It was an impossible-to-guess, applause-worthy triumph that left me with a Cheshire Cat-like grin on my face. Bravo, Ms. Cox, you got me but good.

I do have to say, though, that the biggest win to this Southern gothic-ish tale was the well-layered plotting. Laid out step-by-step to draw me into the simmering Texas atmosphere, the beauty pageant world interwove with the dark, long-buried secrets to produce a storyline rife with drama, scandal, and intrigue. Even better, each and every character earned at least a handful of side-eye glances from me, which created an entire cast that was suspicious in the best possible way. Don’t get me wrong, the oodles of different POVs took some getting used to at the start of the novel, but once I had all of the narrators down, it was an addictive, almost cinematic good time that became an easy one-sitting read. So if you’ve loved May Cobb’s novels or Cox’s very own debut, give this book a try. After all, I ate up every word like I was starving. Rating of 4.75 stars.

Read if you love:
- Gossipy small-town settings
- Multiple POVs
- Cold-case mysteries
- A locked-room element
- Short chapters
- Long-buried secrets
- A web of deceit
- Slow-burn suspense
- Complex mother-daughter relationships
- Twisty finales
- Messy group dynamics
- Family drama
- Soap opera-esque vibes
- Dual timelines
- Character-driven plots

SYNOPSIS:

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.

Thank you Kelsey Cox and Minotaur Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

PUB DATE: July 7, 2026

Content warning: missing person, cancer, bullying, murder, grief, gaslighting, gun violence, suicide, alcoholism, mention of: drug addiction, sexual assault

[DeAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Beauty Pageant Stars - now available

Set in Texas in a world where beauty pageants are taken very seriously through multiple generations! We follow the Lone Star Beauty Pageant in Anhalt, Texas. We know that a tragedy occurs at the pageant at the very beginning of the book, but we don’t know what happened.

We toggle back and forth in time (2000 and 2025) and multiple points of view. I recommend taking notes from the beginning on all the characters to keep them straight. I did enjoy this fast-paced and complex one overall, my first by this author.

In the older 2000 timeline, a young woman, Isabelle, disappears around the time of the 25th annual beauty pageant. Ingrid thought her sister Izzy would help with her talent show act, but Izzy didn’t show up. Isabelle and Ingrid are twins that no one can tell apart. Kennedy Claire ended up winning that pageant. Melanie was bullied and traumatized by the other women, and now those secrets are threatening to bubble out.

Now in the modern day, it’s time for the 50th Annual Pageant. It’s been 25 years since Izzy disappeared, and the town still feels that her boyfriend Ben is guilty. Especially since his family didn’t cooperate with the investigation at the time. Now Ben is back in town, and the Sherman land is up for sale.

I really liked Cat; she’s an alcoholic, but sober now and making every effort to get back in her daughter’s good graces. Her daughter, Olivia, is taking part in the beauty pageant. Cat is living in the model home for a new housing development, Sherman Ranch. She feels like she’s being watched.

Kennedy Claire is doing everything she can to make sure her daughter, Sarah Lynn, wins this pageant. And I mean everything!

As a storm moves into town, all the threads of this story rush towards a thrilling conclusion. I enjoyed how this one ended up, although one piece was over the top for me.

I’m looking forward to reading “Party of Liars” by this author sometime soon.

This was a buddy read with Jayme and Marilyn. Be sure to see what they thought of this beauty pageant tale.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and honestly review this one.

[aira]

adding this to my tbr, don’t mind me

[Dee (in the Desert)]

DNF'ing - just not for me. IDGF about beauty pageants and I don't liked Texas mean girls of any age. I enjoyed the author's "Party of Liars" a lot, but this one is just not for me. Will keep an eye out for what she does next

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Although Party Of Liars was kind of meh for me, when I saw that Kelsey Cox had written a new book, I wanted to see how it compared.

The description sounded interesting…an unsolved murder from a beauty pageant 25 years ago, and now, the women who were in that pageant are preparing their 17-year-old daughters for the same pageant.

Written in multiple timelines and POV, this book takes place in a small Texas town where The Lone Star Princess Pageant is one of the biggest events of the year.
You see some of the toxic beauty pageant moms (well, mainly just one) and there’s plenty of the “Southern, passive-aggressive, bless your heart version of nice”.
For some reason, there were parts of this book where I’d think of Honey Boo Boo and her “go go juice” and start laughing. IYKYK

I kind of had expectations of a thriller and this book is in no way a thriller.
Because of the unsolved murder, I suppose it could be considered a mystery.
In held my attention and had a decent story, but to me it mainly felt like general fiction.

My review on this is an outlier and I encourage you to read the many 4-5 ⭐️ reviews, which show that Kelsey Cox’s books work well for a lot of people.
Because I said the same thing in my review of Party Of Liars, I think that this author just isn’t for me (which is a “me problem”).

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Kelsey Cox for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Put Date: July 7, 2026

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kelsey Cox played me again!

Read this if you like

✅ Texas
✅ Cold Cases
✅Beauty Pageants
✅ Mean Girls
✅Twins
✅ Multiple Suspects
✅ Red Herring Extravaganzas
✅ Mother and daughter-led stories


I have reached an age where I seem to go to bed early so that I can wake up even earlier and walk the dog. But this title kept me up way past my bedtime (yes, I suffered for it the next day), and I have been thinking about it in the days since. Just when I thought it was all figured out, another wrench would be thrown in or a secret revealed. Oh, and that ending? Wow, wow, wow!



Publication Date 07/07/26
Goodreads Review 13/08/26

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Venne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️🎧 Audiobook Review: Huge props to the phenomenal narrators—Andrew Eiden, Brittany Pressley, Mia Wurgaft, Saskia Maarleveld, and Stevi Incremona—who truly brought this story to life. With such a large cast of characters and multiple points of view, each narrator gave their characters a distinct voice and personality, making the performances engaging from start to finish.

Having said that, while the story itself was wonderful, the execution just didn’t quite work for me in audiobook format. Between the constant shifts between timelines and the enormous cast of characters, I found it incredibly difficult to keep track of who was who. I genuinely felt like I needed a pen, paper, and a family tree just to keep up! 😅

At times, I got a headache trying to follow everyone, and it took away from what was otherwise a compelling mystery. This was definitely NOT an easy listen.

That said, I really enjoyed the story itself. The mystery was intriguing, the secrets slowly unravelled in satisfying ways, and the ending brought everything together nicely. I honestly think this is one I’ll need to reread in print or on my Kindle because I have a feeling I’d appreciate all the connections, subtle clues, and clever foreshadowing so much more without the challenge of following such a large cast by audio.

Huge Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this ALC in exchange for an honest review!

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a masterfully executed Thriller! Wow, did not see that twist coming at the end 😳 Bravo 👏🏽 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 the storytelling was excellent, I was hooked from beginning to end. Typical small town drama. Girl goes missing and now 25 years later and the return of a sibling sparks interest. Then buried secrets and guilt begins to unravel. The ride is outstanding and as the story got deeper I could feel myself becoming more emotionally invested.

This is a fantastic unputdownable thriller that will drop your jaw at its very end. I truly enjoyed this well crafted story and true thriller and for that I say….Thank you, well done!!

[Michael David (on hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suspenseful and fast-paced novel with multiple interesting POVs and an ending that managed to surprise me. Very hard to put down!

[Jenna (out touching grass & tech detoxing!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, if you could hypothetically buy stock in a newer thriller author’s future work, I’d officially buy shares in this one’s!


I read and enjoyed Kelsey Cox’s 2025 debut, Party of Lies, which came out along with a slew of other thrillers over the past couple years that were by new, or new-ish, adult thriller authors and were about titular lies: First Lie Wins (Ashley Elston, 2024); Count My Lies (Sophie Stava, 2025); and Listen For the Lie (Amy Tintera, 2024). I loved all four of these books, so I was really excited to be approved for an ARC of Pretty Dead Things. I’m so happy to report that this author’s sophomore effort is equally good as or perhaps even better than her first.


I looked back at my review of Party of Lies and noticed that Pretty Dead Things offers many of the features I appreciated about it, maybe even ramped up a bit. There are a number of things that set this author’s work apart. To name a few:


-Texas (culture) as a character! A bit of the Southern Gothic as well. On the darker side for sure.


-Challenging entangled relationships over time with generations of friends and extended family within a small (perhaps claustrophobically so) community whose members wield widely varying levels of privilege, power, and status.


-Nearly everyone seems legitimately suspicious!! And possessed of potential motive!


-Elements of locked-room/closed-circle mystery, and red herrings galore. Twists down to the final minute.


In addition, this book contains some genre tropes that appeal to many. For one: half-finished, muddy, actively under construction, gentrified housing developments are bad news! — something I have passionately believed in since being scarred as a child by the film Poltergeist! Quarries, as we know, also tend to have a distinctively worrisome vibe. And of course, who doesn’t love pageants, Dance Moms, and Mean Girls elements in their thrillers?


This was a stressful book to read, in a good way, as the author is skilled at maintaining tension as she strings along the reader on a journey to figure out past and present crimes and tragic, triggering events at the novel’s core. It is suspenseful the entire time because many sympathetic characters, including high school students, may be in peril (and some characters are, of course). I did not guess the ending, and although I must admit I didn’t necessarily love the ending, it’s not because there was anything wrong with the ending. It was a very good ending! I just got too invested in my own hopes!


I really think Kelsey Cox is proving herself to be a writer with consistency and staying power, and I can see her becoming one of those thriller author household names. I’m so glad I bought stock in her work early on!


Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions and review. Pretty Dead Things is expected for release on July 7, 2026, in time for your summer reading.

[Debbie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ I really enjoyed this twisty fast paced thriller. The dual timelines and multiple character POVs kept me guessing and engaged.

Set in TX with the backdrop of The Miss Lonestar Princess pageant, our group of ladies and their daughters are just as conniving and backstabbing as you’d expect. But this town harbors an unsolved disappearance from years before.

I admit it did take me a while to keep all the characters and their daughters sorted, but I enjoyed each of them. The grownups Cat, Melanie, Ingrid, and Kennedy Claire were all former teen contestants, and all have daughters currently competing. Ingrid’s twin Isabelle disappeared many years prior on a pageant night. We get glimpses of the crime in flashbacks.

I didn’t guess the twist and was pleasantly surprised at how it all ended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review

[Tini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhinestones, rivalries, and murder.

Twenty-five years after a young woman vanished from Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, the annual Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin. But old wounds have never truly healed in this small town, and when a historic winter storm knocks out the power and traps contestants, mothers, and former residents together under one roof, long-simmering resentments finally boil over - with deadly consequences.

Following her debut, Party of Liars , Kelsey Cox once again makes Texas itself a character in her sophomore novel Pretty Dead Things . This time, she turns her attention to the world of beauty pageants and all the glitter, ambition, and barely concealed hostility that come with it. Unsurprisingly, the pageant moms are essentially grown-up mean girls who never quite graduated from high school politics, and the girls themselves aren't immune to rivalries and insecurities either.

Despite its marketing, Pretty Dead Things is less an all-out thriller than a small-town mystery with a missing-person case and a few dead bodies thrown in for added intrigue. The mystery itself isn't particularly groundbreaking, and the setup - an impending blizzard, a power outage, and a room full of pageant moms with grudges - is about as stereotypical as you would expect. Still, the short chapters and multiple perspectives make for a quick, propulsive read. I particularly enjoyed the observations about mother-daughter relationships, female friendships, and the complicated expectations placed on young women in the hyper-competitive world of beauty pageants.

I was also fortunate enough to listen to the audiobook, and the multicast narration by Andrew Eiden, Brittany Pressley, Mia Wurgaft, Saskia Maarleveld, and Stevi Incremona is outstanding. Each narrator brings their character to life beautifully and gives the large cast of unreliable characters distinct personalities and voices. That said, because there are so many perspectives and the chapters are often quite short, keeping track of whose point of view I was listening to occasionally became a challenge in itself.

Pretty Dead Things won't reinvent the mystery genre, nor is it likely to leave you completely floored by its revelations. But it's tense, engaging, and wonderfully bingeable - a perfect popcorn read/listen full of pageant queens, family secrets, and Texas-sized grudges that may not linger long afterward, but is an awful lot of fun while it lasts.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for providing me with ARCs of both the audiobook and the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

"Pretty Dead Things" was published on July 7, 2026, and is available now.

[Bianca | bookd_by_bee 🐝 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the #gifted ARC 💕

5⭐️

Listen. I was not prepared for the journey I went on with this book! What a rollercoaster ride 🎢! It takes a lot for a thriller to impress me these days because I typically guess the ending OR the ending is rushed and unsatisfying. That ain’t the case with this one, and that is why I gave it 5 stars ⭐️.

This has ALLLL the ingredients for a good time: unreliable narrators (a bunch of em!), small town shenanigans (love it!), MURDER 🔪🩸and really good pacing that keeps you guessing until the end 🤯.

The audio performance is VERY good and the story is told in multicast narration which works GREAT for the plot of this story. You have several POV’s and the cast does a terrific job differentiating the characters. There are lots of short chapters so you HAVE to pay attention because there is something new divulged in each chapter.

This is my first book by this author and now I want more! If you like small-town intrigue, a whodunnit ploy, and messy characters, this fast-paced story is for you! Buckle up!

[Julie (JuJu) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve devoured both of Kelsey Cox’s books and can’t wait for whatever she writes next. Technically, I read this one twice. Thanks, Past Me, for leaving zero notes for Present Me. As if I have time for accidental rereads. On another note, this cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I can’t stop staring at it.

Thanks to the author and Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and left voluntarily.

A few pages into “Pretty Dead Things,” I had déjà vu. By chapter three, it hit me. I’d read this before! Goodreads had no record, and neither did my brain until the plot started knocking loose a few cobwebs. My book tracking has clearly failed me.

Cat heads back to Texas, sober and on a mission to win back her teenage daughter. Her ex-husband lets her in with caution, but her daughter is not rolling out the welcome mat. When the Lone Star Princess Pageant rolls around, Cat spots her chance to play supportive mom and maybe patch things up. But with pageant tiaras, buried secrets, and Texas-sized personalities in the mix, things are bound to get messy.

The audiobook is a treat, featuring a full cast including Brittany Pressley, one of my favorites. Multiple narrators always score points with me, especially when each character gets their own flair. The drama, tension, and tangled relationships pop even more when every voice stands out.

“Pretty Dead Things” didn’t quite dethrone “Party of Liars” for me, but it still delivers a wild cocktail of family drama, hidden secrets, and pageant pandemonium. And the ending is deliciously twisted and just the right amount of unhinged.

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the perp surprised me, the ending was so unsatisfying it ruined the rest of the book for me.

[Mariah (Wondered Pages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

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Pretty Dead Things has small town Texas beauty queens, decades of secrets, murder, and a whole lot of women behaving badly. I should have been eating it up, but my attention was never caught.

The Lone Star Princess Pageant has been part of Anhalt, Texas for generations. Isabelle Whitmore disappeared from Sherman Ranch during the pageant in 2000. Twenty five years later, construction at the ranch threatens to uncover old secrets right as another group of pageant contestants and their mothers prepare to compete. Rivalries, grudges, family secrets, and a deadly Texas winter storm quickly turn the pagent preperations from a celebration into a murder mystery.

The 2025 setting caught my attention. Thrillers often feel deliberately detached from an exact year, so seeing a story intentionally placed in such a recent moment was interesting. The multiple timelines and buried secrets offer plenty if you enjoy YA suspense filled with messy families and small town grudges. The small town Texas setting caught my attention for a different reason. I grew up in the San Antonio area, and Anhalt is a a small town nearby. I knew towns like Anhalt. Very little of the setting sparked any recognition for me, so if you are hoping for a heavy dose of Texas nostalgia you might be disappointed.

The pageant culture felt much more recognizable. I knew girls like these beauty queens. These girls are competitive, spoiled, immature, and surrounded by adults who have helped create their attitudes. The generational nature of the pageant explores how old rivalries and parental expectations can trickle down into the next group of contestants.

The murder mystery itself never grabbed me. Jealousy drives most of the violence. I wanted something more interesting behind everything happening in Anhalt. Cat frustrated me more than she fascinated me. Accountability seems to be a foreign language in her world. The people surrounding her continue making excuses that allow her terrible behavior to grow.

Another frustration came from the moral choices surrounding the investigation. The book raises an interesting question about how far a parent might go to protect their child after discovering something unforgivable. I kept hoping integrity would win. The decisions surrounding Abel left me angry instead.

Pretty Dead Things is competently written and the beauty pageant setting gives the thriller its own personality. I felt that the writing was fine, the mystery was fine, and the characters were fine. Nothing in the story moved far beyond fine for me. Pick this up if you love pageant rivalries, teenage drama, family secrets, and small town mysteries.

[Celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope Kelsey Cox writes thrillers forever.

[liv stormborn ʚɞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

’Sometimes the only thing a girl has left is her own body’

Pretty Dead Things is a small-town psychological thriller set in Anhalt, Texas, 25 years after the disappearance of teenager Izzy Whitmore. Now, her twin-sister Ingrid has returned to their hometown just in time for the infamous Lone Star Princess Beauty Pageant. As competition rises, and a freak blizzard is set to hit the town, the secrets about Izzy’s whereabouts, and the fateful night she vanished are soon to take centre stage.

I am an absolute sucker for small-town mysteries, and this was no exception. I loved the way every character was interconnected, and all of their distinct relationships and hidden truths with / from each other. Cox’s decision to have two separate mysteries working alongside one another at once - Izzy’s disappearance and the pageant murder revealed in the first chapter - made for such a tense atmosphere that kept me endlessly entertained throughout.

I was also pleasantly surprised by just how much I connected with the characters. Despite the multiple POV’s, I was never confused or overwhelmed, and I think Cox did a wonderful job at fleshing out each character despite how little time was spent with each. All of the women and girls had such unique and distinct voices, particularly Melanie and Cat. I adored the scenes with the three teenage girls - Sarah Lynn, Olivia, and Hannah - who had a lovely, easy-to-root-for friendship.

The final twist reveal at the end genuinely had my jaw hanging open. I’m normally quite good at guessing the twists in thrillers, but this one seriously shocked me in the best way possible.

Overall, Pretty Dead Things gets 4/5 stars. The writing was superb and wonderfully paced, and I will absolutely be checking out more from Cox in the future!

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! <3