Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Sheila Turnage’s third Mo & Dale mystery, The Odds of Getting Even, was a pleasure to listen to (I can still hear the narrator’s lovely North Carolina drawl).  Mo and Dale of Three Times Lucky–plus Harm and a few other characters we met in The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing–are back; this time they’re worrying about testifying at Dale’s daddy’s trial when Mr. Macon escapes instead and (apparently) goes on a far-reaching crime spree.  Add in a newly (and suddenly) arrived newspaper reporter, a boyfriend for Miss Rose, a litter of imminent (royal!) puppies, and massive amounts of collard greens, and you’ve got a story full of poignancy and laughter that parents will be loving right along with their middle graders.  Don’t miss this series, folks–it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.