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 annual Lone Star Princess Pageant looms, bringing long-standing grudges to the surface. 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.

Some secrets are better left buried.

I received an advance copy of this audiobook of this title from the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I read Kelsey Cox’s Party of Liars last year and had a great time with it, and this one delivered just as much fun. Having lived in Texas for nearly seventeen years myself, I can say with confidence that her characters are one hundred percent authentically Texan, and completely unforgettable.

Back in 2000, Isabelle Whitmore disappears without a trace from Sherman Ranch in a small Texas town called Anhalt. Fast forward to 2025, and the annual Lone Star Princess Pageant is coming up, which means every old grudge in town is about to resurface. Ingrid, Isabelle’s sister, left Anhalt right after the disappearance and is only now coming back, right as a construction crew starts digging up the very ranch where Isabelle vanished. Meanwhile Melanie is dealing with pageant related trauma she’s never fully processed, Cat is newly sober and starting to feel threatened in ways that drag old demons back to the surface, and Sarah Lynn comes from a long line of pageant winners who simply do not lose, ever. As old resentments boil over and new confrontations pile up, a massive storm knocks out the power grid and traps everyone together under one roof. That’s when things really start to go sideways, and more than one person ends up dead before it’s over.

Cox has a real gift for crafting distinct characters, and she nails the different voices across ages and backgrounds in a way that feels effortless. The pageant world specifically is what made this one especially fun for me. That lifestyle is no joke, and she captures the obsessive pageant mom archetype perfectly. You know the one. She’s the kind of mother who will do absolutely anything to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps no matter the cost.

I also really liked the structure here, bouncing between 2000 and 2025 and getting multiple different perspectives along the way. It gave the whole story a lot more depth, and by the time everything started converging, I had a much richer sense of exactly how deep these grudges and secrets actually ran.

The mystery itself is fantastic. I did not see that final chapter coming at all, and that’s saying something because I usually clock twists pretty early. Cox manages to keep things twisty and engaging without ever tipping over into full ridiculousness, which is a tough balance to strike in this genre.

I did an immersive read on this one, and all five voice actors did a great job fully capturing their characters. I also want to give credit to the production quality here. With that many actors involved, sound quality can get inconsistent, but this one stayed even and polished the whole way through, which made the listening experience that much better.

If you’re looking for a fun, twisty murder mystery full of unforgettable characters, this one is for you. Between the pageant setting, the dual timeline, and a final chapter that genuinely surprised me, this is easily one of the more satisfying thrillers I’ve read this year.

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