The Chili Queen

by Sandra Dallas

Life may have been hard on Addie French, but when she meets friendless Emma Roby on a train, all her protective instincts emerge. Emma's brother is seeing her off to Nalgitas to marry a man she has never met. And Emma seems like a lost soul to Addie-someone who needs Addie's savvy and wary eye. It isn't often that Addie is drawn to anyone as a friend, but Emma seems different somehow. When Emma's prospective fails to show up at the train depot, Addie breaks all her principles to shelter the girl at her brothel, The Chili Queen. But once Emma enters Addie's life, the secrets that unfold and schemes that are hatched cause both women to question everything they thought they knew. With Sandra Dallas's trademark humor, charm, and pathos, The Chili Queen will satisfy anyone who has ever longed for happiness.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Book Club, Mystery, Chick Lit, Historical

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Award-winning author SANDRA DALLAS was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue Magazine. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.

A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine’s first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.

While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.

Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published eight novels, including Prayers For Sale. Sandra is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.

The mother of two daughters—Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado—Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/sandra...

Reviews

[Melissa (Always Behind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh how I love this author's books! This is just a fabulous story with great characters. About a madam in early 1900s New Mexico. Lots of twists and double crossing.

Finished reading this for the second time for my book club. It didn't resonate as much with me this time, but it's still a great story. I enjoyed the twists and the double crossing just as much this time as last time.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dec 23, 930pm ~~ Review asap.

Dec 24, 1pm ~~ Addie French is a madame, on her way from a short vacation in Kansas City to her home and business in a little town in New Mexico. On the train she meets Emma Roby, who is on her way to the same little town, in order to marry a man she has been corresponding with for a few months.

But which of the men at the station is Emma's intended? Addie is too tired to see what happens, she goes on home to The Chili Queen and doesn't really think of the mail order bride again.

Until Emma shows up needing a place to spend the night. She explains that the man she was supposed to meet left her a letter instead, a letter saying she was older than she looked in her picture and would not make a fitting match for a man like himself. Not knowing what else to do, Emma wants to spend the night at what she thinks is a boarding house.

And so Addie's life gets turned upside down. Especially after the arrival of Ned Partner, who is an outlaw but also an intimate friend of Addie's. After hearing more details of Emma's life with the brother who had put her on the train, the three come up with a plan to help Emma get her share of the money her father left her, money that her brother has been keeping from her.

Will their plan work? What will our trio do with themselves if it does not? Come to think of it, what will they all do with themselves if it does work? Do dreams really come true or is that idea just smoke going up a chimney?

This is my second Sandra Dallas title. I was thinking of four stars until a certain excruciatingly violent scene towards the end killed that idea. I can understand the author's need for the reader to know what event from her past haunts Emma, but having such a distasteful episode described in detail turned my stomach.

I might have even dropped down to two stars because of that if not for how much I liked Madame Addie. And honestly, if that scene had been at the beginning of the book, I would have quit reading immediately.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back before we both had Kindles, my younger daughter and I would send each other the books we'd read. That must mean I've had this book on my shelf for more than a dozen years. I can't decide whether to be sorry I didn't read it years ago or that I should be glad I saved it for now. I think the latter - it isn't a perfect book by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the perfect book for me for January 2024.

The Chili Queen is a "hookhouse" in a small town in New Mexico. I think the time period is early 1880s as there are references to the Civil War not more than 20 years earlier. Addie French is the Madam. Returning from a visit to Kansas City, Addie meets Emma. Emma's brother seats her beside Addie, saying she doesn't know how to behave sitting next to a man. Ned is a sometime companion of Addie, a man who has never been a customer of the house. Other characters are Welcome, a black woman who showed up at the door a month earlier looking to do cooking and cleaning. The other girls are named but don't really take part in the story.

This is much more than a story that takes place in a house of ill repute. Women in such houses are likely to be more honest than the thrust of this novel. My daughter likes fluff. I think this is a bit more than fluff, but maybe not too much more. The novel is simply a good yarn with acceptable writing and decent characterizations. Perhaps one would call it light reading. I doubt it will have any endurance but one needs such reading worked in now and then. I would never characterize this as humor, but there are lines that make this a delight. There is something to be said for colorful language, especially when the "color" isn't made up of four letter words.

... she was so bowlegged, she couldn't pen a pig in a ditch.

"Out here, we're as plain to see as an elephant in a watch pocket"

... finding her trail at night would be as hard as filling up a water barrel with a thimble.

I don't hanker after this type of novel. That said, if someone gave me another Sandra Dallas, I wouldn't turn my nose up, nor would I let it sit around for a dozen years. This just doesn't climb the bar into 4-stars, though my enjoyment makes it close.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so much fun! If you are expecting a book about homesteading women sitting around talking about their quilt squares like I was, you are going to be surprised. I don’t want to give away any of the plot, but it was a different twist on a western with lots of surprises. This is my favorite of the Sandra Dallas books I have read so far.

[Maureen DeLuca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A historical fiction that was just ok . When I find myself skimming to hurry up to finish, well, that isn't a good sign for me.

[Carole P. Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something smells at the Chili Queens's house of ill repute, and it's not in the kitchen. The Chili Queen is a tale about a tough as nails madam with a tender heart who takes in an abandoned bride, who repays her by turning her well-ordered life upside down. At times hilarious, at times tender, even sad, the Chili Queen is a colorful adventure of the old west filled with ladies of the night, bank robbers, and con artists. Sandra Dallas's wonderful prose recreates the honky-tonk atmosphere of frontier towns. Her West is dry and dirty, a hopeless place where one can only expect a hard-scrabble existence. Everybody has a past that has brought them to their present, and some of the stories are hallowing. Rape, incest, murder, bigotry, and war are part of life, and influences the paths that people end up taking. However, this is not a tale of victims, but triumph. Each character uses what life has dumped on them, carving out a niche, trying to find a spot to thrive. Nobody appears
as they seem, and despite living on the wrong side of the law, even the most corrupted inhabitants have a conscience. This was an interesting book, and while I guessed some of the intentions of the characters, I missed others. I was entertained and well as surprised by the outcome.

[Taury · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas an historical fiction novel set in the American West during the late 1800s. Addie French runs a chili parlor in New Mexico which was another name for brothel.
Addie befriends Emma Roby woman who seems out of place in Addie’s world. Their friendship and the secrets each of them hides lends the novel an excitement based on scheming, surprises, and redemption. The
Novel includes strong character driven females, humor, and an adventure based on survival, morality, and reinvention. I love the authors story writing which includes strong dialogue.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful characters. I read it in one day; I just couldn't put it down!

[Amanda up North · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chili Queen will go down as one of my most memorable Sandra Dallas reads.
A bit of wild west cooked up with a base of hard times and mystery, simmered with resiliency, sweetened with humor, and well seasoned with spice and surprise.
I really liked it.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not the right audience for this novel, but I think it's an interesting book. It is fun in the last third of the book after a slow exploration of the characters and their relationships before the quick finish. Unfortunately I did not connect with any of them except a bit with the Chili Queen herself, nurturer and protector, even if flawed, comes closest. For me, it appeared that the author didn't get the genre tone consistently right either - drama, chick lit, con artist wry wink, old west morality - but, it certainly was all about The Con. Unusually, the author chose to eliminate the usual humorous touches present in a con story. Whatever humor there is the reader must provide. Perhaps the author purposely slid the genre plot constructions around each other as a sleight-of-hand writer's trick, lulling the reader to supply the anticipated action in misdirected expectation, only to go sideways in the next character's point of view.

My dislike of The Con stories is a minority opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confiden...

I've always felt con men were as depraved as people who beat babies to death because they think babies are annoying. However, most con plots are comedic or satiric, with the attitude that nobody really gets hurt unless they are bad people. If good people or normal people do get hurt, they are minor plot characters who quickly get passed over and forgotten, the same way the term 'collateral damage' swiftly buries the actual act of destruction of innocents. Most of us know that serial killers are wicked, but most of us seem to see con men as admirable and lovable tricksters, forgivable due to their beatific smiles while they pick your pocket.

I simply can't do it. Con artists are not clever tricksters or practical jokers. To me they are as evil as serial killers. I can forgive a starving individual or family for stealing. I can't forgive thieves who plot intricate plans to steal for the fun of it because they think you a bourgeois moron, and deserving of being conned because you are SO much more stupid and worthless than the con artist. Vengeance is often given as a reason for a con in movies and books, which makes sense to me if it is a con directed against someone who unjustly harmed the con artist. However, many cons play out against anyone who the con artist happens to meet in real life - anyone. In reality, they are charismatic sociopaths.

I ended up reading this novel because I was unaware it was a con plot. As usual in the genre, the con men are charmingly human, with many warm qualities and deserving of some kind of justice. Also as usual, if a character is conned into participating in a con, all kinds of evil, happenstance, situational and unjust, can be liberally poured on his/her head, and we, as readers, can forgive the con artists anything. The con artists are only trying to attain the American Dream and justice, so cruelly deprived as they were in their more innocent past of their honest labors.

Fortunately for the reader who possesses a conscience, nobody obviously 'innocent' gets conned in this book. Every character in 'The Chili Queen' has had a harsh childhood, and despite using various forms of thievery to survive, each one is justifying with ethics the theft of money - judging people either as those who can afford to lose their wealth or those they think not deserving of their own hard-earned money, even if poor, since they are robbing from only the immoral and undeserving or people who can recover their losses, which, if you think about it, could psychologically excuse robbing everybody they meet. (However, I felt much dislike of a 'sympathetic' character who robbed banks. I happen to know that small banks in old western towns were not insured so that depositors had no recourse at getting their money restored to them if these banks were robbed. Bank robbers were not simply stealing from rich bank owners and the real estate wealthy. Old West bank robbers stole from poor and middle-class savers who would never see their savings again.)

Ha ha. They are so morally cute and clever.

The story is told from the viewpoint of several characters, each one pushing the plot forward and thus revealing the hidden trick/fail behind many of the characters' plans.

It is the Old West of the 1880's, Nalgitas, New Mexico.

Addie French, formerly a card shark, the Madam of a hookhouse (brothel), with a heart of gold, meets a woman on a train who doesn't appear to know how the world works.

Emma Roby, spinster, robbed of her inheritance by her cruel brother, but determined to begin a new life in answering an ad for a wife, soon discovers a friend in Addie and an adventure.

Ned Partner, bank robber and part time boyfriend of Addie, discovers Emma possesses more steel in her personality than seemed apparent at the beginning of their meeting.

Welcome, ex-slave and cook for Addie, who definitely knows more than she is telling.

It is an interesting book. I think most readers will find the first half a slow slog, but it picks up. It masquerades as a western in the style of 1960 - 1970 television westerns (eventually) which were wry dramas, and many readers will accept it as such.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra Dallas writes about a wide variety of women--mostly from a historical perspective. Addie French is certainly an unusual protagonist. Addie is a madame of a brothel in a small New Mexico town. There is humor as Addie befriends Emma Roby, who doesn't realize she is staying in a brothel! Not a boarding house. But things turn serious as Addie and her outlaw boyfriend, Ned Partmer, assist Emma on tricking her brother out of the money that is rightfully Emma's. It is a good story with tension and unexpected developments in several areas. Another good one from Sandra Dallas.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it had the word 'Queen' in the title; no lie (part of my current 'queen' fetish). Regardless, I found the book to be very interesting. I enjoyed all aspects of this book. I like how the characters were constructed, the placement of the setting, and the building of the plot and subplots (figured out the first twist, but was surprised by the second). It has all the things that make a good afternoon read. I would recommend this book. Very entertaining.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did some of the other books by Sandra Dallas that I've read. It was very slow going until the last third, and I really couldn't connect with any of the characters. I don't think it was that the story was told from multiple points of view, it was more that their emotions and inner thoughts were portrayed so shallowly, I think. It's still a pretty good read, just not exceptional.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was rip-roaring fun - part romance, part western, part mystery - beautifully pieced together like a well made quilt.

[Charley Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

So a whorehouse madam, a bank robber, a proper lady, and an ex-slave walk into to a small town in New Mexico....This is the setting of the Chili Queen.

I was looking for story to listen to while I relaxed and did household chores. I found myself listening to this story in a day. It was silly and had some twists in it. I did figure out the money swap early on but I still liked the characters and wanted to find out how it all worked out. I did get one surprise at the end.

I wasn't thrilled with the narrator of the book but other than that I enjoyed it. I'll read more of Ms. Dallas' books.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I did not see some of those twists coming. Emma meets Addie on a train from Kansas heading back to New Mexico. Emma‘s brother John puts her on the train and as they travel along, Emma shares her sad story about John, being a horrible brother, and keeping the inheritance from their father to himself. Emma is to meet a man in New Mexico to marry him. Addie runs a hook house, and when Emma is stood up at the train station, asks Addie if she can stay there just until she figures out her next steps. Turns out John was not Emma‘s brother. They were a team who traveled around and swindled people out of their money. I never realize that Addie and her housekeeper swindled them.

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chili Queen was a book I wasn’t quite sure about going into, but once I got into it, it was a good book full of twists and turns. It was a western for women. It is the story of bank robbers, of madams, and of swindlers. Even swindlers being swindled, and a love story to boot.

It is the story of Addie, the madam of the Chili Queen. Emma Roby and her brother John. Ned Partner and an ex-slave named Welcome. There were lots of twists, of wondering how does a spinster know things about robberies, how to ride horses, and things she shouldn’t, and people not being who you thought they were.

Being originally from Iowa, I loved all the references with Fort Madison and What Cheer (knowing the humor in trying to say the name correctly). It was a cute book, a quick read, a solid 3.5/4 star book, and an author I will be reading again soon.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dallas is one of my favorite authors. However, this is my least favorite book. I was enjoying it (mostly) until the graphic detail of the child rape
That was too much for me, and quite frankly, ruined the whole book for me. It was sick.
As for the rest of the story, it was rather predictable. Early on I knew that Emma and Johm were lovers. But I didn't ever guess Welcome was in on it.
I think I would have enjoyed it more had it not involved child rape. Just couldn't get past it.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so not what I was expecting, but as with all of Dallas’ novels, it’s delightful. It’s the 1880s. Addie French is a madam in a small town in New Mexico. She has two “girls” at the moment and pitches in as needed with the gentlemen callers. She has a boyfriend in New Mexico named Ned and another unnamed boyfriend in Kansas, where she visits to shop and socialize. On the train home from Kansas, she meets Emma, an aging mail-order bride who is about to be stood up by her potential husband. Addie takes pity on her and lets her move into her boardinghouse—not as a good-time girl. Soon Emma and Ned get chummy. Ned happens to be a bank robber, and they cook up a get-rich scheme, but everything goes catawampus, with crooks tricking crooks and surprises right up to the last chapter. Do the good guys win? Well, it’s hard to tell who they are, but it doesn’t matter. Good to the last page.

[Joanna Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last two sections seemed a bit rushed and would have liked more expansion on those sections. This book caught me by surprise with some of the events that unfolded near the end and I didn’t see coming. I appreciated the historical fiction and the clever similes the author used.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

After 6 years on my TBR shelf I finally wasted a week reading it because the author had been recommended. Yes, I'm a slow reader but not much was happening in a small town in the Old West. Then 3/4 of the way through we get some background on why characters aren't really who they seem to be. Then a few pages of very sleazy characters and murder descriptions and finally the end with a few more twists.

[Bonnie Dieffenbacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this author, but this book fell short for me. Story line was ok, and it had a few twists at the end, but for me this book was just ok.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

What fun!
He who laughs last, laughs best.
I very much enjoyed this Wild West tale and am so excited to find a new author.
I listened to the audiobook, beautifully performed by Barbara Mc Culloh.

[Stacey Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. I'm so impressed at how the author can take me along the journey of multiple characters. The character I was "rooting for" changed throughout the narrative. It drove me a little crazy sometimes, but it was a surprising read. This is my third book by this author, and I think I can officially say, she's a favorite!

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always been a big fan of Sandra Dallas and that alone was the only reason I finished this book. I must say I am relieved to be done with it.

[Jonille Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed all the twists and turns

[Bright Woodward · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the first time in a long time I read a book without ever reading the synopsis. I honestly did not avoid it on purpose, but I’m glad I went in blind this time. In all transparency, I assumed this book was about a lady that made a really good chili. Lol. Turns out, that is not at all the premise of this story. So, it hooked me straight away. Definitely a great read. A really good western. Highly recommend.

[Elizabeth Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I was impressed with how the characters' lives played out in this book.

Content: swears, prostitution, and a child rape scene with too much detail for my tastes

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm...I'm not sure what to say about this book. I actually even feel a little sketchy putting in the western genre. It's mostly a chick-lit, set in an "old west" setting.

Addie runs a whorehouse but she lets her knew acquaintance, Emma board with her, when Emma is jilted by her fiancé. Ned is the outlaw that Addie "services" on occasion. Welcome is the larger than life black servant that works for Addie. The four concoct a scheme to cheat Emma's nasty brother out of some money.

In the end, Emma and her "brother" are actually a conning couple who want to cheat Ned and Addie. Ned and Emma fall in love. Welcome is a man who falls for Addie. John dies, Ned and Emma get together, and Welcome and Addie get all the money.

I was going to give it 3 stars, but the more I think about it, the more I dislike it. I hated Emma and Ned and too much of the story focused on them. If there had been more of Addie's story, I might have liked it more. The end was a pleasant surprise. I actually liked the author's writing style, and would like to try something else by her. (When I get in the mood for more chick-lit, which isn't that often.)

[Relyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first reading of this book was years ago - before I was on GoodReads. I am surprised that I ever liked this book or read it twice. What was I thinking? First, Sandra Dallas is obviously fascinated by prostitutes; they make it into nearly every book. Enough already! Tell a different story please. It's not that that story is unimportant, just that it's a theme she seems to be stuck on. Prostitution and quilting.


The book had an absolutely gruesome, horrible rape scene. It was actually a double rape and a double murder - including the rape of a simple seven year old child while her mother was forced to watch. And that was not the only murder.

More importantly, this was a dull story that was pretty unbelievable. It appears that Sandra didn't think through her plot at all. So, at the end, she kills off one character so that two others can live happily ever after. Never mind the deceit, the stealing, and the attempted murder. Then, suddenly and amazingly, Welcome turns out to be a woman and Addy "just had a feeling" she was. What????? Yeah, right. Spend a little more time planning your next book, please Sandra.