Sandra Dallas, The Chili Queen
The Chili Queen is very different from Sandra Dallas’s other novels. The story is told through four different points of view, which of course reserve many surprises to the reader. The first part is from the point of view of Addie, who is a madam at the Chili Queen, a whorehouse where "men are taken in and done for". As Addie travels from Kansas City to Nalgitas, New Mexico, a plain and not so young woman, Emma, sits next to her and soon confides in her: her brother, John, sent her to Nalgitas to be married. She has never met her husband but they wrote letters for months. Addie feels both pity and scorn for the naive woman, who seems to think, after seeing Addie’s business card, that the Chili Queen is a boardinghouse…
After the train arrives, Addie find the Chili Queen in better state than she expected despite the desertion of one of the prostitutes. Welcome, a black servant who looks after everything with a touch of despotism, has taken good care of Addie’s business. On the same day, Emma, who has been stood up by her suitor, asks for lodging at the Chili Queen. Addie accepts to lend her room to Emma for one night. During the night, she meets Ned, an outlaw and Addie’s lover. Soon, the reader realizes that things are not quite as straightforward as they seem to be…
Starting The Chili Queen, I had expected a story of friendship between women, as in other Sandra Dallas’s novels, but this is not at all what the story is about! It is a story with twists, even if one of them at least can be seen coming… The novel is unequal, in the sense that some parts are pretty entertaining while others drag on (I am thinking about the episode seen through Ned’s point of view in particular). Although they are scoundrels, Dallas’s characters are likeable. As in other novels there is quilting involved in The Chili Queen. All in all, a very enjoyable book by a consistently good writer…
Rating: 3,5/5
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