mother hen and a nest of chicks

Cordelia West is a librarian in Dallas when she gets the phone call. She lives a quiet life, keeps to herself, and makes sure to keep her side of the street clean. After having to clean up after her mother when she was young, Cordelia is not interested in going back to her hometown, and she’s not interested in anything messy.

But then the attorney called from Sarsaparilla Falls. Cordeila inherited a motel from her Great-Aunt Penelope. She hadn’t even known she’d had a great-aunt, as her father had left when she was so young. Now she’s gone, and Cordeila has been given the motel. But there are caveats. The current residents cannot be evicted, and the motel can’t be sold for at least a year. Cordelia finds that strange, but she decides to go to her old hometown to find out what was going on.

Cordeila decides to take three weeks off her from library job to see what’s going on with the motel. Maybe it would be able to run itself, and she could go back to her life in Dallas and let the motel take care of itself until she can sell it. And when she first gets to the Chickadee, Cordelia is impressed. It’s a lovely small motel. The pool is clean, and her small apartment has been well cared for. But she’s mystified by the lobby, which doesn’t look like a typical motel lobby. There is no front desk where people can check in. She’s not quite sure what’s going on, but she’s going to find out.

Later that day, Cordelia accepts an invitation to happy hour by the pool, where she meets the Chicks, Daisy Arline, and Belinda Sue. And that’s where she finds out what’s really going on at the Chickadee. These three older women provide a specific service to the men in town, and it’s now Cordelia’s job to protect them when necessary. Cordelia can’t believe what she’s hearing and is shocked to find out that the small town that was always judging her mother for her alcoholism is so willing to accept a motel of ill repute within its borders.

But when a client is discovered dead in one of the motel rooms, and a local pastor no less, Cordelia and the Chicks decide it would be best if he were not found at their place. They break into the church to leave him in his office, but when the police investigate, they find that it wasn’t a heart attack, as Cordelia had assumed. The pastor had been murdered, and if Cordelia and the Chicks don’t figure out who killed him, Daisy will get the blame, and that will be the end of the Chickadee. And while Cordelia hasn’t been in town long, she had developed a great deal of affection for the Chicks, and she wants to keep them safe and out of prison. As a former librarian, she’s ready to step in and investigate.

Between hot gossip, a very hot pastor’s son, and a bunch of locals who remember Cordelia and her mother from Cordelia’s childhood, Cordelia struggles to stay focused on her goal: catch a killer and keep the Chickadee going. It won’t be easy, but Cordelia is not afraid of hard things. And the Chicks have a few surprises up their sleeves as well.

The Best Little Motel in Texas is a rip-roaring ride of a murder mystery. The unusual setting and interesting characters come together to make this one amazing story. There is some Southern drama, small town histrionics, and spicy scenes with hot Texas lawman, so basically this book has it all. There is a lot of comedy, some drama, a little emotion, and lots of secrets and lies. Cordelia and the Chicks are some of the best crimefighters to come by lately, and I am hoping their adventures go on and on. I loved The Best Little Motel in Texas, and I can’t wait to find out what these women get up to next.

Egalleys for The Best Little Motel in Texas were provided by Harper Perennial through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.