ok Title: THE BEST LITTLE MOTEL IN TEXAS
Character Name: Cordelia West
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
I had what some would call an unconventional childhood. My daddy ran off when I was just a baby, and my momma, bless her heart, loved the bottle just a bit more than she loved me. It was hard trying to blend into the small town of Sarsaparilla Falls when my momma insisted on standing out. But she cleaned up her act and moved us to Dallas, and things settled into a comfortable state of normalcy from there.
What was your greatest talent?
I’d say I’ve got a real knack for organizing. I think it comes from being raised in chaos. Someone had to make sure the mortgage got paid and the sock patterns matched and the hot sauce didn’t get mixed with the ketchup. I kept the house neat so my momma could focus on her twelve steps.
Significant other?
I don’t have anyone in my life as of yet, dating is a messy ordeal I’d rather just skip, but the chicks keep telling me Archer Reed-Smythe is looking to hitch his horse to my wagon. Though I have my doubts about that one. I just think he likes to flirt. But he sure does know how to push my buttons. Most days I’m not sure if I’m coming or going when he’s around.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Compromise might be the biggest challenge in a relationship for me. I spent a long time having the direction of my life determined by my momma’s whims, and I’m incredibly protective of my peace. It would take someone special to upset my plans, and so far, I’m not finding anyone who fits the bill. Never mind what the chicks say about me lighting up like the sun anytime he’s around.
Where do you live?
Right now, I’m back in Sarsaparilla Falls and I call the Chickadee Motel home. The finest brothel in all of Texas.
Do you have any enemies?
Oh, I have plenty of enemies. It’s the nature of the job. No one seems to hate me as much as Edna Abernathy though, which is just as well, since I don’t much care for her either. Most of the town is grateful for the service the chicks provide in keeping their husbands out of their hair, but there are still those who will judge us, and we can’t do much about them.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I love where I am now. That wasn’t always the case. It took some growth and a willingness to be open-minded on my part, but now I can’t see myself anywhere else.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Neither at the present. I’m not opposed to children one day, but they aren’t a priority for me.
What do you do for a living?
Madam of the Chickadee Motel, the best little brothel in Texas.
Greatest disappointment?
My greatest disappointment is that I never got to meet my Aunt Penelope. She left me the Chickadee and I wish I’d gotten a chance to know the woman who was so beloved by all who knew her.
Greatest source of joy?
My greatest source of joy is the family I’ve built with Daisy, Belinda Sue, and Arline. I’ve learned more about life, love, and living on your own terms than in all the books I read while working at the library. They changed me in ways I never knew I needed.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
We have cocktail hour every day at five on the dot. I’m not much of a drinker on account of my momma’s history, but it’s a time for the chicks and I to unwind and just enjoy each other’s company.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Before I inherited the Chickadee, I would’ve feared failing of any sort. I’d built my life around routine, cleanliness, and order. But after moving into the Chickadee, I’ve learned to embrace failing a bit. As long as I try to do better next time, failing can be a blessing. As of late, how to handle Archer Reed-Smythe is where I’m failing most, and I hope one day I’ll gain some insight on what to do with that man.
What keeps you awake at night?
Worrying about the chicks, always. They have a way of finding trouble.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Having a dead pastor on my hands is no picnic. Solving his murder is about the only thing on my mind these days. No one would call the chicks innocent, but they wouldn’t hurt a fly, and they won’t go down for a crime they didn’t commit on my watch.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
I need the chicks to rest easy knowing that I’m taking care of them.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
Plenty of things are in the way of that goal. A dead pastor for one. The whole town is buzzing about where he spent his last night, but only four of us know the truth. Not to mention, we’re also up against a shady land developer, a nurse with a vendetta, and a murderer walking around scot-free. But I’ve been tasked with protecting the Chickadee and the chicks and I take my responsibilities seriously.
A Novel
A charming, edgy mystery about a young woman who unexpectedly inherits the best little motel in Texas – replete with a feisty set of golden working girls, a poisoned priest, and a sleepy hometown thrown into chaos.
After a childhood spent combing the dive bars of Sarsaparilla Falls to collect her fun-loving momma, Cordelia West now enjoys a simple, respectable life in Dallas. Then one phone call from the hometown she’s spent years trying to forget throws it into chaos.
Cordelia's great-aunt Penelope has passed away, naming Cordelia the sole heir to the Chickadee Motel. She has no memory of a great-aunt and no interest in hospitality, but the will stipulates that the motel can’t be sold until its residents leave or pass away – so she reluctantly heads back down to Sarsaparilla Falls to figure out who's living in the Chickadee, and how to get them out.
But upon her arrival, Cordelia discovers the Chickadee isn’t a motel—it’s a brothel, housing three women in their sixties known as the Chicks. For decades, Daisy, Arline, and Belinda Sue have entertained the men of Sarsaparilla Falls (with their wives’ blessings)—including the upright Pastor Reed-Smythe, who thunders against the town’s favorite sins when he’s not indulging. Cordelia doesn’t want to be a hotel manager or a madam, but she can’t just sell the only home the Chicks have known—especially not after the pastor is found poisoned in Daisy’s bed.
With the Chicks—and the town—on the verge of a breakdown, Cordelia steps up to mop up the mess. For a small town, there are plenty of suspects: could it be the obsessed nurse with access to arsenic? Developers eager to gobble up the land? The righteously angry town librarian? Things are heating up in Sarsaparilla Falls, and with the Pastor’s obnoxiously attractive son Archer—Cordelia’s childhood nemesis—investigating the Chicks and getting close, straightlaced Cordelia may just have to get a little dirty to make a killer come clean.
Humor | Mystery Private Eye | Women's Fiction Southern [ Harper Perennial, On Sale: March 3, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063469327 / eISBN: 9780063469341 ]
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.
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