Death by tiara - Laura Levine

"Entertaining.cozy fun."-Publishers Weekly

Freelance
writer Jaine Austen thought she knew what she was getting herself into
when she landed a gig working behind the scenes at a teen beauty
pageant. But between the vicious stage moms, exacting judges, and
trash-talking teens, she's not sure she's the woman for the
job-especially when the catfights turn deadly.

Jaine has been
hired by ber-pushy stage mom Heather Van Sant to write lyrics for her
daughter Taylor's song in the talent competition for the Miss Teen Queen
America pageant. It's different from anything Jaine has done before,
but if nothing else, she's looking forward to a free weekend in a swanky
hotel and a chance to see what really goes on backstage at a beauty
pageant. But the hotel is a dump, the cattiness is out of control, and
Candace-the perfectly-coiffed, whip-cracking pageant director-is making
even Jaine's life miserable.

When Candace's assistant Amy is
found bludgeoned to death with a silver tiara, there are more suspects
than sequins on a pageant gown-and Heather is first on the list. Taylor
begs Jaine to help clear her mom's name, but the search for the killer
hits a dead end as Jaine quickly realizes that finding the culprit is
going to be trickier than walking the stage in stilettos.