Mollie Peer: Or the Underground Adventure of the Moosepath League
The first book in this series of adventures of the Moosepath League, Cordelia Underwood, took place in the summer of 1896. This, the second, follows in the very same fall – and the colors and sharp, clear weather of an autumn in Maine were never lovelier.
The story of what happened the next winter has already appeared in hardcover (Daniel Plainway), but you would be wise to read them in order. There’s an advantage to this serialized format – the reader is already familiar with the characters: Tobias Walton and his man Friday, Sundry Moss, plus the three inimitable (and charmingly inept) charter members, Ephram, Eagleton and Thump – and is eager to get on with the tale.
The disadvantage? Part of the charm of the first book was the leisurely introduction to the people inhabiting it. In this one, the seriousness begins with page one and continues on with hardly a breather. There is a mystery about the small boy, Bird, who was met briefly in the first installment. After a rescue and a long flight to safety, by book’s end, although clues have been found, we still do not know precisely why the lad is so important.
Nor does the heroine in the title, society reporter Mollie Peer, appear enough to suit this reader. In fact while romantic overtures are made to several of the characters (renowned redheaded baseball player Wyckford O’Hearn, in Mollie’s case), none of them has enough follow-through to keep the mind of the reader from wandering off.
A murky affair, still capable of producing small yelps and shivers of delight from the very same reader, mind you, but the loose ends will have to be gathered together next time.
