It all started with Three Times Lucky in 2012. Mo (Moses) LoBeau and Dale Earnhardt Johnson III became the detectives we all wanted to be as kids (and maybe as adults too)–charming, clever, witty, and always able to solve the most impossible case plus several others that snuck their way in. Three Times Lucky has murder, race cars, a stud muffin, drunkards, and karate. It’s so chockfull of deeply North Carolinian metaphors, colloquialisms, similes, and clever phrases, it could be a guidebook for how to act like an NC native. I couldn’t help but to laugh, cry, and sometimes happy scream (loudly) at the cringe-worthy truths, celebrating everything that is beautiful, wonderful, and sometimes ugly about growing up in rural NC.
The author, Sheila Turnage, an NC native like myself and Mo, won the Newbery Honor Award for Three Times Lucky. The Desperado Detectives, Mo & Dale, continued to dazzle us with their brilliance in The Ghost of Tupelo Landing (2014) and The Odds of Getting Even (2015). They are the perfect duo, and you can’t help but root for them even (especially) when they’re up to no good. Every book is a page-turner and a happiness maker. Seriously, you can’t read these books without laughing your way through, and they should be required reading for whenever you’re feeling out of sorts.
The Law of Finders Keepers releases in a few weeks. It is the finale for Mo & Dale, and I’ll have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about reading. There’s one big mystery that Mo & Dale haven’t been able to solve. Mo doesn’t know anything about her parents. As a baby, she was separated from her mother during a hurricane and found a home with the Colonel and the fabulous café hostess Miss Lana. They are the only parents she’s ever known and they love her like bees love a pitcher of spilled lemonade. But Mo has always wondered about her “Upstream” Mother and has written volumes of letters to her in a diary-like fashion.
Finding her Upstream Mother is the final mystery, and the reason I wasn’t sure I wanted to read The Law of Finders Keepers. I love the Colonel and Miss Lana. Mo belongs with them. I couldn’t imagine any other way. But solving her own case isn’t the only mystery in The Law of Finders Keepers. Mo & Dale are looking for Blackbeard’s treasure. This was the ultimate fantasy of mine and most of my friends in rural NC. We dug giant holes all over our backyards hoping to strike it rich. Could the Desperado Detectives solve the mystery that haunted my childhood? I had to read this book.
No spoilers here, but there’s plenty of hole digging as well as another childhood fantasy-quicksand. Mo’s & Dale’s resolution of both cases was deeply satisfying, like a cold Coke (or Pepsi, no hate mail please) on a hot summer’s day or like a family reunion when only the good relatives show up and they bring chicken-n-pastry, biscuits, fried chicken, and earthquake cake. (Those of you who were born and raised in NC know EXACTLY what I’m talking about).
I’d like to share my own Mo-like note(s) for Ms. Turnage.
On second thought…
Seriously, folks. This is a lovely series. If you’ve already started it, finish it. If you haven’t, get started. Even better, read it aloud with someone you care about. It’ll make life seem much sweeter. The Law of Finders Keepers can be read as a standalone, but don’t shortcut yourself because you’re going to want to read them all at least once.
Enough of my gushing. Find The Law of Finders Keepers at your favorite bookstore starting Sept 11th and don’t think twice before buying up all the copies to share with people you love and maybe even those who aren’t very nice because I swear these books could cure meanness.
<Okay, I’m really done gushing now.>
These are the greatest detective mysteries ever.
Oops, that one slipped out. But truth is important. It had to be said. If you don’t believe me, check out this starred Kirkus review!
Sheila Turnage is from eastern North Carolina, just like Miss Moses LoBeau, the protagonist from the Mo & Dale mystery series that began with Three Times Lucky. Three Times Lucky is a Newbery Honor Book, a New York Times bestseller, an E. B. White Read-Aloud Honor Book, and an Edgar Award finalist. It has been nominated for nineteen state awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Master List, and has been licensed in five countries. Her follow-up book, The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, also a New York Times bestseller, received five starred reviews and was a SIBA Winter 2014 Okra Pick and a Junior Library Guild selection. Sheila is also the author of two more books in the Mo & Dale Mystery series, The Odds of Getting Even and The Law of Finders Keepers, and the nonfiction adult books Haunted Inns of the Southeast and Compass American Guides: North Carolina, as well as one picture book, Trout the Magnificent, illustrated by Janet Stevens.
Her website might be the “funnest” place on the internet, so check it out. Like her Mo & Dale mysteries, it’s full of tricky twists and turns. There are hidden gems, but you’ll have to find them. They won’t come to find you for goodness sakes.
Posted by Michelle Leonard.
