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.
My Review
I picked up The Best Little Motel in Texas because the cover is absolutely adorable (yeah, yeah, no judging a book by its cover, I get it). It’s cute, it’s quirky, it’s a quick and pretty compelling read. It’s also just…fine. Three stars, and that’s not a bad thing, it’s just the most accurate thing I can say about it.
The absolute highlight of this book is the Chicks, the three aging sex workers who call the Chickadee home. They are all funny and charming in their own ways, and I wanted so much more of them. Honestly, I wanted more brothel hijinks in general! Considering the entire premise revolves around Cordelia inheriting a brothel, I felt like the book was a little shy about leaning into that. The little Texan turns of phrase sprinkled throughout were a genuine delight, though, and did a lot to make the small town setting feel really immersive.
My biggest frustration was Archer, whose reaction to his father’s murder is so underdeveloped that it was genuinely distracting. The ending also felt like a cop-out, and the timeline got pretty wonky in places. But if you’re looking for a quick, quirky cozy mystery with a charming setting and a trio of scene-stealing supporting characters, this delivers!
THE GOOD:
- The Chicks are an absolute delight and the clear highlight of the book
- The quirky, small town Texas setting is charming and immersive
- The Texan turns of phrase add a lot of personality and flavor
- It’s a quick, fun, easy read with a lot of charm
- The cover is genuinely adorable (important)
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
- Archer is a frustratingly flat character, especially given that his father is the murder victim AND he’s the romantic interest
- The ending felt like a cop-out after all the buildup
- Not nearly enough brothel hijinks for a book set in a brothel
- The timeline is unclear and jumps around without much signposting
THE NEUTRAL:
- This is a light, quirky cozy mystery with not a ton of depth
- The Chicks’ backstories feel like they have a lot of potential for future books in the series
OVERALL RATING: ⭐⭐⭐
The Best Little Motel in Texas is a quick, charming, quirky cozy mystery with a trio of scene stealing sex workers worth reading for alone, even if the mystery itself doesn’t fully deliver.
PERFECT FOR:
- Fans of quirky, small town cozy mysteries
- Readers who love a cast of eccentric, loveable supporting characters
- Anyone who enjoys Southern Gothic adjacent settings with a light touch
- Cozy mystery lovers looking for something a little edgier than the usual fare
- People who judge books by their covers (no shame, same)
