Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Moses LoBeau (Mo for short) has lived most of her 11 years in the small town of Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, ever since she washed ashore on a makeshift raft during one of the worst hurricanes on record. Luckily the colonel discovered Mo after he crashed his car during the terrible storm.  Unfortunately, the Colonel lost his memory due to the crash.  He does however remember finding Mo.

Mo has become a fixture in the community where she lives with her “guardians”, the Colonel and Miss Lana, and helps to run the Café, frequented by many of the towns residents on a daily basis. Nothing much exciting happens in Tupelo Landing until one day a detective shows up at the Café asking questions about a murder in a nearby town.  Unfortunately the Colonel has disappeared again, which casts suspicions his way.  Then the unthinkable happens, a murder takes place right in Tupelo Landing, and Mo’s best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, is the prime suspect!

In less than a week Mo’s summer has been turned upside down.  She is determined to clear both Dale and the Colonel as well as find the real murderer.  But with the detective, his creepy assistant, and a sudden unexpected kidnapping of someone close to her, it seems the cards are stacked against her.  Can a “rising sixth grader” solve the mystery and bring a murderer to justice, or will she be the next victim?

I can honestly say I loved this book.  The story just takes you in and you’re no longer sitting in your house reading a book.  You’re in Tupelo Landing, helping Mo run the Café, or riding a bike down a dusty dirt road with Mo and Dale looking for clues, or hiding in a deserted house as a murder suspect looks for you.  I certainly hope the author, Shelia Turnage, writes a sequel, as I’m not yet ready to leave Tupelo Landing.