Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/15/2013 *Starred Review* More tightly focused than Turnage’s Newbery Honor book, Three Times Lucky (2012), this absorbing sequel quickly reacquaints readers with the Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, setting and its quirky inhabitants, while introducing a few new characters and another mystery for Mo and her friend Dale (aka the Desperado Detective Agency) to solve. Each question they answer leads to another: Who was the girl whose ghost haunts the dilapidated Old Tupelo Inn, which operated from 1880 to 1938? How did she die? Who killed her? Why does she still haunt the inn? When a sixth-grade history project sends Mo, Dale, and their classmates out to interview elderly residents, the pieces of the puzzle gradually move into place—with an occasional nudge from the ghost herself. The intrepid Mo LoBeau, who narrates the story, gives full credit to her best buddy, the occasionally trepid Dale, and slowly warms up to Harm, an initially cocky newcomer whose family history is intertwined with the mystery. The portrayal of Dale’s attitude toward his father, now in prison, is handled with sensitivity and perceptiveness. Turnage’s ability to create convincing characters and her colorful use of language combine to make this a fresh, droll, rewarding return trip to Tupelo Landing. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 01/01/2014 Gr 4–6—Gr 4–6—The perspicacious Mo LoBeau is at it again! This companion to Three Times Lucky (Dial, 2012) takes place only three months after the Desperado Detective Agency's first case in Tupelo Landing. Mo and her partner, Dale, are entering the sixth grade and their very first assignment is to interview a town elder. Mo's first thought is an interview with Grandmother Miss Lacy Thornton, but arch-enemy Anna Celeste Simpson (a.k.a. Attila) has dibs on her. Mo blurts out that she and Dale will interview the ghost that is purportedly haunting the inn that her guardian, Miss Lana, impulsively purchased at an auction with Grandmother Miss Lacy as her partner. The whole town is buzzing about their rash purchase so, in typical Mo fashion, the child tackles the rumors, the ghost, and a few other mysteries head-on. Humor and action abound with Mo's saucy commentaries comprising the cherry on top. The story is filled with the sixth grader's colorful, Southern-flavored friends and her equally juicy similes. Underlying all this fun are more serious themes, including an abusive father doing time, a grandfather involved in an illegal distillery, Mo's absent and unknown mother, and the stunting power of guilt and greed. All of these challenges define Mo's reality, but her unfailing pluck robs them of their sting.—Kathy Cherniavsky, Ridgefield Library, CT - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 03/01/2014 Readers first met Mo LoBeau and her somewhat reluctant sleuthing sidekick, Dale, in Three Times Lucky (BCCB 7/12), when they helped solve a murder in their beloved hometown of Tupelo Landing, NC, and founded the Desperado Detective Agency. Mo is now itching for a new case (Dale decidedly less so), and she finds it when Miss Lana and Grandmother Miss Lacy make the winning bid on the Old Tupelo Inn with all its fine print, which includes, of all things, acknowledgment of a ghost on the premises. As Dale’s brother and Mo’s heartthrob, Lavender, strives to renovate the old inn in time for the community’s 250th birthday celebration, strange things happen, making it hard for him to keep laborers. Could it be the ghost, or is someone else trying to sabotage the renovations? And whoever is responsible, what are their motives? Mo’s spritely narration alternates between pithy, wise remarks and wide-eyed misdirections as she attempts to uncover the truth, outwit and outdo the annoying Attila Celeste, keep Dale from chickening out on the investigation, and figure out how to deal with Harm, the new boy who could turn out to be either friend or foe. With less real danger here than in the first book, some Scooby Doo twists, and a bona fide ghost, this is sure to please both fans and readers new to Mo, who remains as quotable as she is lovable. Gems like “The problem with having a temper is you find out what you’re going to say at the exact same minute everybody else does” guarantee head-nodding identification with the obstreperous heroine; we certainly hope there is more to come from the Desperado Detectives. KC - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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