The Best Little Motel in Texas by Lyla Lane
Lyla Lane has ventured from rom-coms and YA literature into the cozy mystery genre with The Best Little Motel in Texas. It’s a highly original, heartfelt and hilarious novel that might make the reader forget a murder had been committed. The title is an homage to a certain long-running Broadway musical and hit 1982 film starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds and Charles Durning.
The author’s dedication honors Dolly Parton:
“For the wit, sparkle, and charm you brought to the role of Miss Mona, the paths you’ve carved for women everywhere, and your tireless advocacy for literacy.”
A Reluctant Return to Sarsaparilla Falls
Cordelia West had hoped her hometown of Sarsaparilla Falls, Texas, would remain an unpleasant but distant memory of her lonely childhood. It had not been easy to be known as the daughter of the town drunk, a social pariah and fatherless since her dad deserted the family before she was 8 months old. It was a blessing when, twenty years ago, Sherilynn West packed 10-year-old Cordelia and their meager belongings into a car and relocated to Dallas. Through sheer determination and the support of her AA sponsors, Sherilynn embraced sobriety. Becoming an expert at furniture restoration, she ran a successful “shabby chic” furniture and accessories boutique.
Cordelia was an earnest, studious child who abhorred messes, kept everything in her life spotlessly clean and orderly, and required nothing more than to be accepted as being respectable. Having graduated from college with a master’s degree in library and information science, Cordelia is now a modestly but well-dressed, capable librarian with her own immaculately appointed apartment and car. Thus, she was unprepared to receive a telephone call from Arbuckle Jenkins, an estate attorney from Sarsaparilla Falls, informing her she had inherited the Chickadee Motel from her great-aunt Penelope. This was doubly shocking as she wasn’t aware of having any relatives besides her mother. The terms of the trust made it clear Cordelia could not sell the motel and land until the current residents moved out or passed away. She was told the Chickadee was “something of an institution.” The very name of the motel hinted at something vaguely suggestive.
Three weeks of vacation should be adequate to persuade the residents to move out, sell the property to a developer, and return to her quiet life in Dallas. She was not prepared for what awaited her. The chickadee looked like a well-tended cotton-candy pink and white trimmed dollhouse with a profusion of colorful flowers and an adjacent sparkling pool. It boasted an office and six interior rooms, three of them occupied by Daisy, Belinda Sue and Arline; although known collectively as “The Chicks,” in reality they were hens in their sixties. That the sign under the motel’s name read, “Rooms by the hour, but we guarantee you’ll need a whole lot more,” and the “girls” calling her “madam” made things abundantly clear. Cordelia was dumbstruck when it dawned on her that the inheritance was the town brothel. It took quite a number of festive poolside cocktails to fully assimilate that reality.
Murder and a Most Unusual Family
This trio had been ‘entertaining’ the townsmen for decades, and since this allowed them to pursue their own interests, the willing approval of their wives. Pastor Reed-Smythe is a fire-and-brimstone preacher with ‘off-duty’ time for his standing Friday date with Daisy. Although becoming a motel managing madam is not one of Cordelia’s life goals, she finds herself deep in the heart of Texas when the good pastor is found dead in Daisy’s room and not from a heart attack. Why would anyone poison this clergyman? Archer Reed-Smythe, Cordelia’s fourth-grade nemesis, now drop-dead gorgeous, is leading the investigation.
There are plenty of tangents for Archer, Cordelia and the Chicks to follow, with shady developers sensing oil reserves under the motel, greedy local business owners, a corrupt sheriff, an abundance of eccentric characters, and a plethora of amusing escapades to keep the reader laughing. Cordelia’s flamboyantly clad Chicks with their hearts of gold are a family for which she becomes responsible. The Best Little Motel in Texas ends with a cliff-hanger after the crime is solved. Lyla Lane has delivered the goods with this thoroughly charming novel that merits a sequel.
About Lyla Lane:
Lyla Lane is a pen name for Sonia Hartl, author of the romcoms Rent to Be and Heartbreak for Hire, which has been optioned for television, as well as the YA novels Not Your #Lovestory, Have a Little Faith in Me, and The Lost Girls, also optioned for television. She lives in Grand Rapids with her husband and two daughters.
