MURDER, KIDNAPPING, AND...BAD WIGS?

Mo LoBeau isn’t your typical tween. Abandoned at birth during a raging hurricane, she’s being raised by The Colonel and Miss Lana, eccentric café proprietors with amnesia issues and a penchant for tacky wigs. But Mo’s life gets a whole lot stranger when a police detective arrives in her small North Carolina town investigating a murder . . . and her best friend Dale turns out to be a prime suspect!  

As Three Times Lucky unfolds, Mo and Dale launch their own detective agency and attempt to track down the real killer. They navigate a crazy world of sneaky cops, stolen cash, phone taps, and deep-fat-fried Oreos with considerable skills and smarts. When The Colonel and Miss Lana go missing, though, the Desperado Detectives find themselves in over their heads, wondering who they can trust. 

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage is Newbery Honor book, an action-packed murder mystery with a heart of gold, and a great read for fifth to eighth graders.