Flashbacks: Echoes of Past Issues
herrings Moose employs provide entertaining and engaging subplots. Like the iconic Agatha Christy in her Miss Marple novels, Moose uses humor and clever dialogue to allude to violence without describing it in detail. As engaging as the plot are the characters. Ida Plum, the only employee at the B&B and longtime friend of Beth’s grandmother, Mama Alice, is a driving force in keeping the B&B running. Her dialogue and small gestures, such as ironing the linens, bring a sense of tradition to a town that is being forced into the future – yet Beth resists by not having any televisions in the B&B. Mama Alice, though deceased, also has an important role. Throughout the novel, Beth repeats the wisdom and sayings passed down to her by
her grandmother. Beth measures events by how Mama Alice would react to them and remembers simpler times: “Ida Plum brought a stack of fresh, warm sheets from the ironer to the linen closet. ‘Wait,’ I said. . . . ‘I just need one good smell to remind me of Mama Alice and sweet childhood dreams on sun-dried sheets and summer and Littleboro when all was right with the world’” (195). Beth, and Moose, recognize how small towns have been forced to change and adapt in the name of progress. To encourage more people to stay at the Dixie Dew, Beth had Scott, her handyman and maybe boyfriend create a website for the B&B and her tea room, The Pink Pineapple. But Beth is resistant to modernizing the B&B;
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she wants it to be a retreat for people to escape the pressures of life and relax in a small town. Much like Beth and Mama Alice, Moose adds insights throughout the novel on small Southern towns, their unique culture, and how town members help their neighbors come together in moments of crisis, whether it be a death or the destruction of a town icon. As someone who grew up in a small town, I recognized and appreciated many aspects of Wedding Bell Blues, such as the town newspaper that always has the latest gossip, church bells on Sunday mornings, parades down Main Street, and baked-good judging. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment in the Dixie Dew Mysteries series. n
SHEILA TURNAGE: THIRD TIME LUCKY PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHEW WAHNER; COURTESY OF NC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
Sheila Turnage received the 2016 American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature for her novel The Odds of Getting Even (Kathy Dawson Books, 2015). Third in her Mo and Dale Mysteries series, Odds joins Turnage’s Newberry Award–winner Three Times Lucky (2012) and The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing (2014), both New York Times bestsellers. Set in the fictional town of Tupelo Landing, NC, the series follows young protagonist Moses (Mo) LoBeau and her sidekick Dale on their detective adventures. The Odds of Getting Even picks up Mo’s story as the Desperado Detectives prepare for the long awaited conviction of Dale’s father, which links this latest story to the crimes he committed in the first novel of the series. As events unfold the team is forced to take the case and rush to find Dale’s brother and his recently-escaped father. The AAUW NC Award recognizes this book for Turnage’s signature richness in characterization. A native of Eastern North Carolina and a graduate of East Carolina University, Turnage is also the author of two nonfiction adult titles and a picture book. Turnage was presented the award, sponsored by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association and the AAUW of North Carolina, at the 2016 annual “Lit & Hist” meeting. n
ABOVE Sheila Turnage accepting her award, Raleigh, NC, 18 Nov. 2016 (During her acceptance remarks, she noted that the awards “from her own people” are “the sweetest.”)