Beauty pageant people are a breed unto themselves, and this is never more evident than when Audrey Faye sashays into Violetta's Beauty Salon one hot summer day. The director of the Miss Magnolia Blossom pageant has come to hire Grace Terhune and her friend Stella to do the hair, makeup and nails for the contestants at the week-long affair. Seems like a good gig, especially since Audrey is going to pay them $300 a day for their services.

But the pageant seems to have gotten off to a rough start -- with costumes being sabotaged and props being ruined, but nothing puts a damper on the festivities as when Grace finds Audrey backstage stabbed to death with a nail file. When all signs begin to point towards Stella as being the primary suspect, Grace becomes determined to help her friend clear her name -- but it's going to be tough, seeing as Stella's husband Darryl had been having an affair with Audrey and Stella was a might peeved at the notion.

Grace will have her hands full trying to tease out the clues, especially with a band of anti-beauty pageant protesters milling around, but she's determined to find the killer before the roots begin to show on this murder case.

Lila Dare, author of POLISHED OFF: A Southern Beauty Shop Mystery, once again delights her new legion of fans with a lively, hilarious mystery that will have readers biting their manicures as they try to figure out who-dun-it. Dare brings all the sass and brass of Southern women to her cast of characters -- they are smart, funny, and pretty to boot! Add in a touch of romance between Grace and the handsome GBI agent Marshall Dillion, and you've got a cozy mystery that sizzles like the Georgia heat in summer. I can't wait for the next book in this series.