Problem JOINing three tables
What you need can be achieved via a simple combination of two joins, Let's have a look at a sample query

Select &lt; Fields as per your requirements &gt;
From items i
Inner join item_categories ic On i.item_id=ic.item_id
Right outer join categories c On c.category_id=ic.category_id
Where &lt;Any conditions you may have&gt;


I hope this is what you were looking for.