Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage 

Kathy Dawson Books (Penguin), 2014

from Goodreads:
When Miss Lana makes an Accidental Bid at the Tupelo auction and winds up the mortified owner of an old inn, she doesn't realize there's a ghost in the fine print. Naturally, Desperado Detective Agency (aka Mo and Dale) opens a paranormal division to solve the mystery of the ghost's identity. They've got to figure out who the ghost is so they can interview it for their history assignment (extra credit). But Mo and Dale start to realize that the Inn isn't the only haunted place in Tupelo Landing. People can also be haunted by their own past. As Mo and Dale handily track down the truth about the ghost (with some help from the new kid in town), they discover the truth about a great many other people, too.

A laugh out loud, ghostly, Southern mystery that can be enjoyed by readers visiting Tupelo Landing for the first time, as well as those who are old friends of Mo and Dale.


Sheila Turnage won a Newbery Honor with Three Times Lucky (2013) and here she is revisiting Tupelo and hoping for the gold this time.  She's bringing the same cast of characters with a little ghostly twist but will that be enough or will the judges feel like they are reading the same "mo" same old??

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett - 2014

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett
Scholastic Press
274p.


Summary: On a cold winter day in Chicago, Early's father disappeared, and now she, her mother and her brother have been forced to flee their apartment and join the ranks of the homeless--and it is up to Early to hold her family together and solve the mystery surrounding her father.

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Pie by Sarah Weeks
Scholastic Press
2011
183p.

After the death of Polly Portman, whose award-winning pies put the town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, on the map in the 1950s, her devoted niece Alice and Alice's friend Charlie investigate who is going to extremes to find Aunt Polly's secret pie crust recipe. Includes fourteen pie recipes.

The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty

The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
Harcourt Children's Books
2011
345p.

In early twentieth-century New York, Sacha Kessler's ability to see witches earns him an apprenticeship to the police department's star Inquisitor, Maximillian Wolf, to help stop magical crime and, with fellow apprentice Lily Astral, Sacha investigates who is trying to kill Thomas Edison, whose mechanical witch detector that could unleash the worst witch-hunt in American history.

With A Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo
Farrar Strauss Giroux
2011
249p.

Thirteen-year-old Olivene Love gets tangled up in a murder mystery when her itinerant preaching family arrives in the small town of Binder, Arkansas in 1957.

City of Orphans by Avi

City of Orphans by Avi
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2011
351p.

In 1893 New York, thirteen-year-old Maks, a newsboy, teams up with Willa, a homeless girl, to clear his older sister, Emma, from charges that she stole from the brand new Waldorf Hotel, where she works. Includes historical notes.

Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker

Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker
Candlewick Press
2011
224 p.


In Iowa circa 1929, spunky twelve-year-old Tugs vows to turn her family's luck around with the help of a Brownie camera and a small-town mystery that only she can solve.

Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach

Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach
Henry Holt
2011
262p.

When brothers Simon, Henry, and Jack move with their parents to Arizona, they are irresistably drawn to explore the aptly named Superstition Mountain, in spite of warnings that it is not safe.

The Wikkeling by Steven Arntson

The Wikkeling by Steven Arntson
RP Kids
2011
234p.

Henrietta and her pals Gary and Rose all have headaches with an unknown cause and experience other strange incidents--including the appearance of a threatening creature called the Wikkeling--and are hopeful that an ancient bestiary can help solve these mysteries.

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine
Harper Collins Children's Books
2011
328p.

Twelve-year-old Elodie journeys to Two Castles in hopes of studying acting but instead becomes apprentice to a dragon, who teaches her to be observant and use reasoning, thus helping her to uncover who is poisoning the king.

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin
Little, Brown
2011
359p.

When hard-boiled, seventeen-year-old private investigator Dalton Rev transfers to Salt River High to solve the case of a dead student, he has his hands full trying to outwit the police, negotiate the school's social hierarchy, and get paid.

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett
Scholastic Press
2010
306 p.

Summary:
In small-town Michigan, twelve-year-old Zoomy and his new friend Lorrol investigate the journal found inside a mysterious box and find family secrets and a more valuable treasure, while a dangerous stranger watches and waits.