Cordelia Underwood (edition 1998)

This book is a wonderful find, since well written books full of humor are ever so rare. Set in about 1898 in Maine, it features Cordelia, the heroine, and a troupe of eccentric and funny friends who fancy themselves as detectives. This is the first in a series and I highly recommend it. Oh, there is the mystery of buried treasure, nasty rogues, a lady who performs with a hot air balloon wearing a daring costume, a bear that stands on its head, possible romance and much more. ( )

This novel is the rare humorous book that can be equally entertaining to both the barely literate 500 Club crowd in search of something fitting into the milquetoast genre of "cozy mystery" (murder OK, so long as it's not too gory, and all beautiful heroines are ideals of Victorian morality), and those voracious readers of all kinds of books who love a good story, but love a good quirky story even more. The plot of Cordelia Underwood—at least the main plot, which becomes quickly obscured by more extraordinary, although not strictly relevant, events—revolves around a bog standard main character, the Lovely, Fair-Minded and A Little Plucky Young Woman in the person of Cordelia of the title and some things that happen to her that are not really worth mentioning, because the point of the book is really its population of everyday eccentrics, their bumbling follies, and the very funny turns of phrase used to describe them (much is made of a certain aerial daredevil of the fair sex and her "attractive suit of tights"). This style is reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's better novels and stories; and the men of what become the Moosepath League are literary descendants of Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat. This book wouldn't suffer from a slightly more burlesque treatment, but it's good fun nonetheless. ( )

light and lovely - well written, completely inoffensive. i didn't know a novel could still be written for adults that did not have bad language or gorey bits. i applaud mr. reid for proving there is still some humanity left in the world. i've read the whole series, and enjoy each one equally. i loan these books out to friends who are convalescing, and they always appreciate them. ( )

Originally written in serial format, this novel of Victorian Maine is chock full of characters, plot lines, and just plain fun. As the subtitle implies, this is the first book in a series about the Moosepath League. However, instead of starting out focused on the creation of said club, it opens with Cordelia Underwood, a sweet, young, redheaded woman, finding out that she has inherited a parcel of untamed land land well to the north of Portland from her ship's captain uncle. This inheritance starts a whole crazy chain of events, including some that are ridiculously coincidental but somehow work in this wacky, madcap adventure story.

The Underwood family meets and befriends many strangers along the way as they travel north to examine Cordelia's property. Those strangers meet and befriend their own plethora of strangers and the connections and characters grow and grow. There are three goofy male characters who seem to be the literary equivalent of the Three Stooges. There's Tobias Walton, who becomes the leader de facto of the Moosepath League (not that this comes into existence until late in the book). There's the charming and ever-present John Benning. There's a circus bear who stands on her head, an ascentionist in a hot air balloon and an "attractive suit of tights." There's attraction and love. There's the rumor of buried treasure, a kidnapping, and a runaway horse carrying illegal booze. In short, this book is chock full of action and entertainment.

Because of the serial nature of the book, the chapters are short and often end with a teaser. Subsequent chapters often skip to another of the many characters in the book and to start with, this makes it very hard to differentiate between storylines (the characters themselves are all very different from each other) and to become fully engrossed in the story. But upon perseverance, the reader is richly rewarded as the climax of the novel nears and the seemingly disparate plot lines coem together to finish a delightful romp. Unlike many series books, this one feels complete in and of itself, not requiring the reader to go on to further books to feel a sense of closure. But I suspect that the main characters (Cordelia and her family) do not reappear in later Moosepath books, unless tangentially, and so their stories are full and satisfying when you come to the end of this first book. Walton and the three bumbling musketeers surely appear in later books but that doesn't detract from the wrap-up here. I will be eager to read the following books now that I've gotten into the groove of this one. I'm very interested to see what happens to the Moosepath League members next. ( )

The first installment of a series detailing the adventures of The Moosepath League is a witty if episodic novel featuring mannered yet eccentric characters in 1896 Maine. Reid's writing is often compared to Charles Dickens because of the serial nature of the writing, the characterization, and the subtle satire. For the same reason, I find it similar to Armistad Maupin's Tales of the City which was also published originally as a series, and also to The Sot-Weed Factor because of the effort to write in the style of the time, although this book lacks the potty humor and acidic sarcasm of Barth's novel. In fact, Cordelia Underwood sometimes verges on the sickly sweet. It was an enjoyable diversion reading this book but I don't feel particularly moved to continue the series ( )