The Beauty Queen Murders begins with a young contestant in the 1998 Miss Cedar Haven pageant. This pageant is an annual celebration in the picturesque Rhode Island town of Cedar Haven. Teenage girls from the local high school compete every year for the opportunity to win scholarship money and represent their town for the entire year. However, at the 1998 pageant, there is a horrible accident where one of the contestants is burned to death on stage, while the horrified audience watches. Today, new contestants are preparing for this year's Miss Cedar Haven pageant. Gigi DeLoy is new to Cedar Haven and is struggling with the stark divide between class systems in Cedar Haven. Despite her trouble fitting in, Gigi decides to compete in the pageant in an attempt to win scholarship money for college. There are fourteen contestants, including Gigi, who are all excited to compete in this year's Miss Cedar Haven pageant, for various reasons. However, when one contestant is found murdered after the very first pageant rehearsal, it soon becomes clear that Gigi has more to worry about than catty pageant girls. Within a week, Gigi finds the body of a second beauty pageant contestant who has also been murdered. Before Gigi knows it, the bodies of her fellow contestants are starting to pile up, and the remaining pageant contestants begin to get threatening calls and notes. The girls soon find that they are going to have to put their differences aside in order to survive until pageant night.