Sheila Turnage

I just love Mo and Dale and the whole community of Tupelo Landing. It gives me this homey feeling like Avonlea or Hogwarts. I love to be in that world with those characters!

This second book, a sequel to [b:Three Times Lucky|11737313|Three Times Lucky|Sheila Turnage|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1335476936s/11737313.jpg|16686499], puts the Desperado Detectives on the case again. This time they're trying to find a ghost that haunts an old inn and pass 6th grade history at the same time.

Full of perfect Mo-isms and Dale-isms, folksy wisdom, bucket loads of charm, and some truly funny moments!… (més)

Mo LoBeau is a rising sixth-grader in the tiny town of Tupelo Landing, North Carolina. She's a slick talking girl whose best friend is a boy named Dale Earnhardt Johnson III. Mo lives with adoptive parents: Miss Lana, a wig-wearing eccentric cafe owner, and the Colonel, a man with no memory of his past who calls Mo "soldier" (affectionately) and hates lawyers. Mo and Dale decide to become detectives when a local man is murdered and the only suspects seem to be Dale and the Colonel.

Sheila Turnage's first middle grade novel is exciting, funny, suspenseful, and full of super loveable characters. I can only talk about the flaws in the books by mentioning spoilers, so I won't.

Actually, I will here: If Miss Lana knew the Colonel's past all along, why didn't she tell him? Twelve years is a long, long time to keep that kind of thing to yourself.

A few notes for future reference:

1. Dale's father is an abusive drunk. Pretty heavy topic for an otherwise mostly lighthearted book. Actually, what's lighthearted about trying to find a murderer?

2. I guess the best way to describe the tone of the book would be heightened realism. There's no magic or anything, but could a baby really wash up in a hurricane? Is any kid as clever and silver tongued as Mo? Would a sheriff (or any grown-up) really let kids get involved in a murder investigation?

3. Mo is always writing her to "upstream" mother AKA her biological mother who either abandoned her or lost her. Part of Mo's journey is accepting that she has loving adoptive parents and she doesn't always need to be searching for her "real" family.

4. Mo's super crush on Dale's older brother Lavender is completely adorable. She's sure she's going to marry Lavender and he is completely crush worthy.

5. I absolutely adore a quirky and memorable narrator, which Mo totally is. Her voice, which is funny, clever, spunky and full of Southern charm, will stay with me.

6. Read-alike authors (funny, clever, quirky): Frank Cottrell Boyce, Ellen Potter, Jack Gantos, Polly Horvath

7. I loved Mo's voice so much, I went out and got the audiobook, which was fantastic.… (més)

Cuando te pones en manos de la mejor agencia de detectives, ni un huracán puede impedir que resuelvas el misterio de tu vida.
Aunque los detectives en cuestión tengan solo 11 años.

Os presentamos a Mo LoBeau, la hija adoptiva de los dueños del café de Tupelo Landing, un pueblecito de Carolina del Norte donde aparentemente nunca pasa nada. Mo prevé pasar el verano echando una mano en el café, mientras sigue la pista de su madre biológica y busca un primer caso para su flamante agencia de detectives privados, que comparte con Dale, su amigo del alma.
Por eso, desde la llegada a Tupelo Landing del detective de policía Joe Starr, está con la mosca detrás de la oreja. Se ve que Starr ha reabierto un antiguo caso: el atraco a un banco en el que nunca se pilló a los ladrones ni se recuperó el botín...… (més)