Well, where to begin? First of all this book is recommended for children in grades 5 and up. I will agree with that. It is a hefty 312 pages which will put many elementary readers off. It certainly looks like a behemoth when placed beside other books of it's genre. For example, most Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys novels under 200 pages, and the Alexander McCall Smith book Mystery of Meerkat Hill is a brief 90 page affair. It may be difficult then, to convince your reader to check out Three Times Lucky, but I encourage you to try anyway. It will be well worth the investment. Speaking of investment, I will admit that this book required two attempts on my part. The first attempt I didn't read much past the first 20 pages. I don't know what it was, but It simply rubbed me the wrong way and I put it back on the processing shelf. About a week later, I picked it up a second time and the experience was somehow different. I devoured this book in about 4 days. I stayed up late to read the last 100 pages because my brain wouldn't let me stop reading it. The novel was behaving just like the setting of the small Carolina town of Tupelo Landing. It may seem unusual and discombobulating at first, but given time, you'll surrender to it's charm and welcome it as family.
In addition to being a first-rate, wire taut murder mystery, Three Times Lucky is a touching story about the notion of the unconventional family and the relationship between children and their parents. In this case, we have two steel strong main characters in Mo Lobeau and Dale Earnhardt Johnson III (Yes, he is named after the NASCAR driver. No he is not the third. Yes, the 3 is a reference to Dale Earnhardt's car number. We are in the south after all.) Mo Lobeau is 11 years old and in her words, is "a rising sixth grader". She is an orphan that washed up to Tupelo Landing during a hurricane that separated her from her mother when Mo was just an infant. Mo was rescued by her now surrogate father, the Colonel. She stays with The Colonel and her surrogate mother, Miss Lana. The Colonel and Miss Lana run the only cafe in Tupelo landing and they employ Mo and Dale during the summer months when school is out. Mo spends a good deal of her time sending notes up the river in hopes for a response from her "upstream mother". She also catalogs her experiences and thoughts in notebooks which she claims are for research into her autobiography. I really grew to love this character. She's a sassy, southern loudmouth, but she's equally as observant and smart as Lisa Simpson. She's tough too. This is a glittering example in how to write a strong female lead. As sassy and tough as Mo is, she has her feminine side as well. She is smitten with Dale's older brother Lavender (Yeah, the family really has a creative flair for naming their boys) and she gushes over him accordingly. Despite her toughness, Mo really yearns to belong to someone. Her constant references to her "upstream mother" and her never-ending quest to find her blind her to the unconventional family that has blossomed around her. As the story, the town, and the weather change in the story, so does Mo and she gradually understands that your family can be where you make it. Even without blood relations, family can be made from spare parts if they provide the same love and security.
The entire town of Tupelo landing is a character in and of itself. There are so many colorful, memorable people living there that it seems like a living entity of its own. The North Carolina river town of Tupelo Landing is a more realistic version of Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show, or a less zany version of Springfield from The Simpsons. It's not a place you'll soon forget after you leave.While many other characters could be mentioned in this review, I'll allow you to discover the town for yourself. However, I have to mention that my favorite character is Mo's sidekick and best friend Dale. Dale is smart but simple, lazy but eager to help. Dale has some of the funniest moments in the mystery, from how he turns his alleged part in the murder into celebrity status to his fear of ghosts and demons (his family is Baptist). He is completely devoted to his best friend, but also her moral compass. Dale keeps Mo in check (as much as that is possible) and is actually responsible for the emotional turn around toward the end of the story. Dale figures out the mystery before anyone else, but no one takes him seriously enough to believe him. Dale is what Huckleberry Finn would be if he were Jim's sidekick on the raft...and if Jim was a skinny 11 year old sassy Lisa Simpson.
Sheila Turnage has a writing style that is truly unique. She is completely comfortable writing in her home turf of North Carolina. She can punch you in the stomach with her references to physical abuse without telling you what's going on. "I used to think that Dale was clumsy. Then I realized he only got clumsy when Mr. Macon took drunk." She's also written some descriptions in this novel that were refreshing "I smoothed my hair, which had gone feral in the heat". If there are complaints, I would have to argue that some of the character development is uneven and inconsistent. I understand that characters are supposed to change throughout the course of a novel, but the changes here are very sudden and unexpected. Too unexpected, in my opinion. In the first chapter of the book, Mo talks about The Colonel as if he's someone not to be disturbed. The townsfolk who filter into the Tupelo Landing cafe treat him as someone to skitter around, or almost be in fear of. There is also a nagging plot hole that drove me crazy. This is a very small town where any outsider would have been noticed and made suspect of immediately, especially once the murder has taken place. Mo and Dale talk about being followed around after Dale is "arrested" by what they assume is Dale's bodyguard. They call him Plainclothes Phil. Well, Phil turns out to be the murderer. He is repeatedly seen ducking behind bushes and lurking at the carnival. My question is...didn't anyone else notice this strange, dangerous looking guy lurking around the small town? Especially after a murder? It bothered me a touch, but not enough to pull away the enjoyment of this sizzling, southern-fried mystery.
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