There are three things that are resolved at the end of Three Times Lucky—the murder, the mystery of the Colonel's origins, and Mo's desire to find her "upstream mother." The police arrest Robert Slate and his associates, the Colonel discovers that he used to be a lawyer, and Mo lets go of her need to find her birth mother, deciding instead that she's happy where she is:
The café door banged open. Miss Lana ran toward him, her arms wide. He scooped her up and whirled her around as friends and neighbors spilled across the parking lot, laughing and crying, and then clapping the Colonel's back.
As I watched them together, my earth found its axis and my stars found their sky. (29.86-87)
The ending leaves things just as they should be, with Mo in Tupelo Landing surrounded by the people who love her. Who could ask for anything more?