First Shot by Walter Sorrells

I can see why this adventure mystery is a hit with teenage boys at my school. It's a bit cheesy with the coincidences, but has enough of the Goonies flair to make the plot work. David Crandall's mother was murdered and his own dad is arrested two years later. But his mother had a history of cheating, and even her own father ripped off the family's military school. Didn't he? Maybe. It's up to David, his grade school trailer park trash friend Leo and a crack shot Mississippi beauty queen to solve the crime.