Cordelia Underwood

In his amiable, richly populated first novel, a bookseller from Maine named Van Reid draws a past that should soothe even the twitchiest reader. His re-creation of the summer of 1896 has its mishaps and villains, but it's so sunny that even the violence isn't too scary.
Reid's gazillion characters sparkle. Their collective adventures are engaging and (especially when talking in concert or at cross-purposes) they can be funny.
In a society populated by sterling types and delightful ninnies, even the villains are decent sorts. Escapists will be charmed by what the author, in an endnote, describes as a ''world of decency and kindness, goodness and laughter,'' in which there's plenty going on and nothing too terrible ever happens.

Diffuse and leisurely, the novel seems designed for long afternoons in a hammock.

Reid's debut takes place in a simpler, gentler time in 1898, among the well-to-do of Portland, ME. It has parallel plot lines, one of which involves 23-year-old Cordelia Underwood, who lives with her parents and has just inherited from her Uncle Basil a parcel of land in upper, inland Maine that possibly contains buried treasure. The other plot line involves middle-aged Tobias Walton, a man of independent means who travels the world and who this year does his home state. Along the way he has picked up a valet by the name of Sundry Moss, twin brother to Varius Moss. Then there are the three nutty fellows who want Tobias to be the chair of their newly formed club, subsequently named the Moosepath League. In their journeys, Cordelia and Tobias cross paths with the strangest crop of crazies ever to sail into a Maine port or come out of a Maine forest. It's refreshing to read a story with no sex (just a little romance), hardly any violence, and absolutely no naughty words. Recommended, especially for the YA crowd.