Lyla Lane

Sonia Hartl (AKA Lyla Lane) is the author of YA, romance, and cozy mysteries. Her books have received starred reviews from BookPage and Booklist, and earned nominations for the Georgia Peach Book Award, YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, ALA’s Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, and ALA’s Rainbow Booklist, and was named an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Young Adult. When she’s not writing she enjoys board games with her family, attempting to keep her garden alive, or looking up craft projects she’ll never get around to completing on Pinterest.

Lane's new novel is The Best Little Motel in Texas. My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My title was picked by my publisher because it conveys the exact expectation for the novel. It was heavily inspired by the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. So calling this book, with sex workers as the leads in the mystery, The Best Little Motel in Texas would immediately give people familiar with this movie an idea of the tone of the book.

What's in a name?

I picked the name Cordelia for my main character because it was an old-fashioned name that felt like dark wood walls, leather high-back chairs, and bookshelves that require a rolling ladder. It had a certain distinguished air to it that reminded me of a library that would fit nicely into a Clue-style manor. I thought it fit well with her personality and made for a funny juxtaposition against her eventual career as the madam of a senior brothel.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Probably extremely surprised, as my teenage self was a very moody and angsty person who preferred sad poetry and Stephen King to anything light and humorous.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find endings harder to write. In the beginning, the idea is shiny and new, and I can’t wait to get those first words on the page. But toward the end, I’m dragging myself over the finish line. The ending takes a lot more revision on my part because it’s rougher than the beginning, and I typically need to draft out a sloppy end before I can step back and see if all the pieces fit together the way I wanted them to.

Visit Lyla Lane's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Best Little Motel in Texas.

--Marshal Zeringue