Tiara Trouble

Book excerpt: One foreign policy question five years ago sent Destinee Faith Miller's dreams of being Miss American Universe up in flames and landed her back in her hometown of Phenix City, Alabama, with her tail between her legs. But like the mythological bird that her hometown is misspelled after, she rose from the ashes to create Destinee's Dolls, a thriving pageant consulting business knee-deep in pink, prints and glitz. A death at the local level of a national pageant lands her the job of pageant emcee, and Destinee dares to dream of bigger things-maybe even a reality TV show! But when judges start dropping like flies, she has her hands full just keeping herself alive long enough to see those dreams come true. Contending with catfights, car bombs, and the camouflage-colored funeral of a redneck's dream, Destinee gets a little help from her friends, family, and a pit bull named Clarabelle, to track down the killer and, more important, produce a simply magnificent pageant.