The eagerly anticipated followup to the Newbery honor winner and New York Times bestseller, Three Times Lucky
Small towns have rules. One is, you got to stay who you are -- no matter how many murders you solve.
When Miss Lana makes an Accidental Bid at the Tupelo auction and winds up the mortified owner of an old inn, she doesn't realize there's a ghost in the fine print. Naturally, Desperado Detective Agency (aka Mo and Dale) opens a paranormal division to solve the mystery of the ghost's identity. They've got to figure out who the ghost is so they can interview it for their history assignment (extra credit). But Mo and Dale start to realize that the Inn isn't the only haunted place in Tupelo Landing. People can also be haunted by their own past. As Mo and Dale handily track down the truth about the ghost (with some help from the new kid in town), they discover the truth about a great many other people, too.
A laugh out loud, ghostly, Southern mystery that can be enjoyed by readers visiting Tupelo Landing for the first time, as well as those who are old friends of Mo and Dale.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
A hilarious, smart middle grade novel
By Sara
Sheila Turnage's second book starring Mo LoBeau and her best friend Dale is both a fantastic continuation of their story and perfect starting point for readers new to Tupelo Landing. This standalone companion to THREE TIMES LUCKY takes readers back to Tupelo Landing and lands them right in the middle of a new mystery with amateur sleuths Mo and Dale. The Desperado Detective Agency has a new case after Miss Lana accidentally purchases Tupelo's Landing's Inn... with a ghost in the fine print. With the help of the new kid in town, Mo and Dale decide the ghost's identity and figure out why she's sticking around a dusty old inn. Plus, if they interview her for their school project, they'll get extra credit! As the ghost's story is revealed, Mo and Dale learn that people, not just buildings, can be haunted by the past.Mo LoBeau is one of my favorite MG characters. Smart, hilarious (even when she doesn't mean to be, which is most of the time), and infinitely curious, she's always up for an adventure and never afraid to speak her mind. She sees the magic the world has to offer and never loses her nerve, even in the face of danger. If I find her inspiring as a 20-something year old, I can only imagine how much readers her own age will love her! Who wouldn't love a girl who makes observations like:"It's hard to know what to say when your best friend serenades an amphibian. On one hand, Miss Lana likes me to be sensitive. On the other hand, the Colonel says most situations don't require my input."I highly recommend that you read both THREE TIMES LUCKY and THE GHOSTS OF TUPELO LANDING to get the full Mo and Dale experience, but both novels successfully stand on their own as well!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Meet Miss Moses LoBeau
By Pop Bop
If you read a lot and read widely among genres and across reader age demos you may have noticed that some of the most personable, engaging, interesting, entertaining and compelling narrators out there are twelve year olds. You don't have to agree that many contemporary adult fiction characters are shallow self-obsessed twits in order to appreciate the freshness, energy, insight and practical, wide-eyed truth telling of so many of these "middle grade" characters. Some of them appear in gritty urban and domestic dramas, some are in rural fables, some appear in school daze dramas, and many appear in fantasy/quest novels. Regardless of the venue, the premise, or the style and substance of the work, kid characters seem to be telling us more about ourselves than ever before. It may have started with Scout Finch, (of course it started before her), but the tradition is stronger than ever.Which brings us to Moses LoBeau, who is in the rural, southern style, and to Newbery winning author Turnage who deftly animates Moses' colorful and lively voice with delicacy, color, droll humor and a genius for the telling and rewarding simile. Moses and her pal Dale are once again involved in solving a mystery, and what is a mystery but an invitation and opportunity to explore, expose, weigh and judge the secrets of the residents of Tupelo Landing? There is humor, drama, pain, guilt, greed, joy and matters of great and of little weight hidden behind all of those curtains, and Moses stumbles across a good deal of it. Because she is absolutely fundamentally sound, because she is decent and generous and forgiving, and because she is nobody's fool, Moses LoBeau is the perfect guide through all of these lives.There are very few books that can be read just as entertainments, or as adventure romps, or as character studies, or as examples of finely crafted writing, but this book, (and its predecessor Three Times Lucky), accomplish all that. Really, sometimes I think that middle grade and YA fiction may save us all.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.Fun Engaging Beautifully Written
By PDXbibliophile
Hooray! Mo and Dale are back. Two of the best characters to appear in middle grade literature in a long time, they made their debut in Three Times Lucky, one of my favorite books of 2012. I have been waiting for the sequel. The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing does not disappoint. Mo is still lovable, spunky and sassy, (but always a courteous sass) and Dale is still apprehensive and methodical. Together they are an unbeatable team. In the Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, they set out to get rid of the ghosts haunting the old inn just purchased by Miss Lacy and Miss Lana. If the inn is not a success, the women will be broke. Mo cannot let that happen to her adopted grandmother and her adopted mother. While investigating the history of the inn, Mo realizes many people in the small town of Tupelo have long held secrets, and she may not know them as well as she thought she did. She also realizes she does not know Dale as well as she thought she did. Turns out he has been keeping secrets from his best friend. All of the quirky townspeople from Three Times Lucky are back to keep an eye on Mo and keep her from getting in too much trouble. A charming new character is introduced as well. Harm Crenshaw is as sassy as Mo and even smarter. His quick wit turns Mo green with envy. He is the perfect foil for her abundance of confidence. A couple of the secondary plot lines from book one continue in book two and are sure to show up in book three. Can't wait
