REVIEW:Three Time Lucky by Sheila Turnage

I just loved this one!

Mo, named Mosses because the Colonel—something like Mo’s adoptive father—thought she was a boy when he first found her as a baby in the middle of a flood, is the fantastic protagonist of this Southern Girl Middle Grade Cozy Murder Mystery (what a mouthful of a description, I know).

Dale—Mo’s best friend and a boy from a family where men all have really good hair but are jail-prone—is about the best side-kick I’d have the pleasure to meet in a long time. And Miss Lana, owner and server of the one tiny Cafe in Tupelo Landing, with her many wigs, keeping old Hollywood glamour alive, is the great sort of adoptive mother for Mo, who comes to complete a character ensemble that’s about as delightful as they get.

Now, beware, there’s parental neglect in this book. And child labor. And children getting into terribly dangerous situations. And heartbreakingly sad situations. But that’s all good, because that’s what makes this story so worth reading, and besides, if you’re thinking two 12 year-olds can go around solving murders without any of the previous occurrences happening, well… I’m sad to say that I think the kind of fiction you are looking for is more of the nonexistent type.

Now, full confession, I don’t know how, being the fan of murder mysteries I am, it took me so long to find this one, because it’s so very good and fun. No wonder it became a New York Times Best Seller and the winner of the Newbery Medal Honor Book in 2013.

This little Middle Grade mystery does many great things. First, it never talks down to the children it was written for, which is one of the reasons why even adults—me, to be more precise—find it so entertaining and smart. It uses clichés, yes, but only to subvert our expectations, offering a very satisfying ending to its many loose threads. Now, if you’re one of those adults that needs children to speak with perfect grammar all the time, and to behave like little adults or genius savants, you will detest this book, because Mo and Dale are not like that. But if what you want is to read children that sound like children, and act like children and imagine solutions and crazy adventures like children do, then you’ll like this one, I guarantee it.

And yes, there are things we can figure out ourselves along the trip. But, it’s my feeling that such happy discoveries are there by design, to hook us, pulling us even deeper into the mystery bringing big city Detective Joe Starr to Tupelo Landing.

If you have a child that likes to read, this one is one for laughs and little jumps, totally worth the read. But if you’re an adult in search of good entertainment, this one may be just the thing you’re looking for.