The Tiara Club

Southern beauty queens and dark secrets rule Beverly Brandt's whimsical fifth novel. Georgia Elliot grew up in the small town of Ocean Sands, Mississippi, where everyone knows a little about everyone. A former beauty queen who runs a gift shop and has a secret life as an inventor, Georgia finds solace in the Tiara Club, a small group of recovering beauty queens. They help conceal her identity as inventor of the hottest new kitchen gadget, the Miracle Chef, from her controlling, appearances-are-everything mother when Daniel Rogers, a TV show host, comes to Ocean Sands to tape a segment about the Miracle Chef. Intrigued by Georgia, Daniel looks into her past and uncovers hints of everyone's darkest secrets. As the love grows deeper between Daniel and Georgia, she begins to make amends with her past, while the Tiara Club survives an explosive wedding and sees its only Yankee member win the Shrimp Queen Crown. Though it does little to break out of the genre's constraints, Brandt's novel is as breezy as they come and consistently entertaining.