Book Review for Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

 

Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

Published:  July 7, 2026 by Minotaur Books

Genre:   Mystery Thriller

Taken from Goodreads:  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.

 

My Thoughts:  Kelsey Cox is the queen of twists and turns.   Pretty Dead Things had me turning pages, taking guesses, and never wanting the book to end.   The family dynamics had me cringing at times.   The friendships had me knowing that there was more there than met the eye.   I just could not get enough.

The ending…blew me away.   I thought it was done, I thought the big ah-ha had already been revealed.   Then the end happened and I thought WHOA!  What just happened?    It was so good.  

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):   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.