We Dare Not Go A-Hunting

by Charlotte MacLeod

When Molly is hired to care for a child on the Ledges of Netaquid Island, she uncovers the truth about a kidnapping of the previous summer and becomes involved in an even more disastrous kidnapping.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult

186 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Naturalized US Citizen

Also wrote as Alisa Craig

Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only recently found out (or perhaps I should say noticed) that the author of the Shandy, Kelling, et al, cozy mysteries I've long been fond of wrote a number of YA-ish stand-alones before her better-known titles. I requested one from my library to give them a try, and I'm pleased to say you could do a lot worse for a quick, clean, and even suspenseful read. I wondered about a couple things, but I didn't come near the imaginative actual solution.

Oddly, the jacket copy doesn't mention that it takes place back in 1932, but honestly, that doesn't change island life a great deal more than the 1980 writing date would itself, to my mind (no cell phones, for instance). The lingering effects of the crash of 1929 (the Great Depression) do make immediate financial worries more severe, and there's a minor subplot that relates to Prohibition.

I'd compare the intrepid heroine to Nancy Drew, but she's more pragmatic, hardscrabble working class; Carson Drew's household would likelier have been among the summer people. The class prejudices (in both directions) are well-depicted, including among well-meaning people. Still, there are a number of likable characters, and the curious, somewhat impulsive lead is definitely the sort who would tell the Emperor that he's not wearing any clothes.

There are a few lines that ring oddly to modern, PC-adapted ears, and the revealed secret wouldn't be plausible today, but there's nothing really objectionable. The ending does rather tie things up quickly with a sparkly bow, but it's sweet (re. the characters we like, anyway, and hiss-worthy for the villainous and/or selfish). And as one of the only other reviews pointed out, there is refreshingly not one murder to be found!

I think I'll see which others are also available on request.

[Hello · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read! The author hooks you on from the beginning and challenges stereotypes with her characters. Loved it!

[Buff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but not one of MacLeod's better mysteries.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 1980 young adult mystery from Charlotte MacLeod. On an island neighboring Nantucket, the young daughter of a rich off-island family is kidnapped in the summer of 1931. A week later, she is returned for a $2,000 ransom. She is unharmed but persists in saying she spent the week with fairies, describing them and their clothing and singing their songs. In 1932 her father has gotten the other summer folk from hiring islander help, the islander's primary source of income, believing that an islander was responsible for the kidnapping. Molly Bassett has obtained a short term baby sitting job when the parents of four year old Sammy Truell have to independently leave the island. As is true of MacLeod's heroines, Molly is bright, capable and inquisitive. Before long people are confiding in her and she begins wondering about events.
The title seems to come from "We daren't go a-hunting, For fear of little men" lines from The Fairies a poem by William Allingham (1824-1889).

Non-series - YA - Summer of 1932, Molly Bassett is grateful to get a job as babysitter to four-year-old Sammy Truell. Most Netaquidders have not found employment with the summer people because of last-season's kidnapping of Annette Sotherby, daughter of one of the rich off-island families; though Annette was returned unharmed, Sotherby blames the islanders - and fears for his child's sanity since she persists in describing the fairies she spent her missing week with. Molly's concern for young Sammy ultimately involves her with Annette, the earlier mystery, and a new kidnapping .

[Charlie Moses · Rating 4 out of 5]

While MacLeod has written a great number of mysteries, mostly for one of her four series, this is a single book mystery, and, that rarity of rarities, there is no murder involved! Woo-hoo! It's actually a rather unique mystery, in my experience, that is interesting, enjoyable, and really well written. The characters are well-drawn and fleshed out, the dilemma they are presented with is believable, and the story goes from there. Try this on for size. I think you'll enjoy it. Unless it takes dead bodies in droves to get you excited...