HOW TO MOON A CAT by Rebecca M. Hale

Publisher:  Berkley

Published:   July 5, 2011

ISBN:  978-0425242179

Genre:   Cozy Mystery   

Format:  Paperback
Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

TWO HEARTS

 

Still mourning her Uncle Oscar’s death, Rebecca has tried to make a go of her inheritance – his antique store.  But like her uncle, Rebecca sees few customers.  She’s filled the time by cleaning up the shop and along the way finding some interesting packages of money that Oscar hid for her.  With not much going on, when fellow shop owner, Monty who is now the assistant life counsellor to the mayor, asks her to join him as he hosts the Tour de California ceremonies she’s ready to go.  Not wanting to leave her cats, Rupert and Isabella alone for many days she pulls out their carriers to bring them along.

Rupert has no problem with traveling, in fact, it works out okay for him because if he were left home alone he might…need something.  Isabella has other ideas but is willing to go because she hopes one day soon she will be in the driver’s seat.

As Monty, Rebecca and their cadres of friends and others continue along the Tour’s route they encounter a Mark Twain impersonator.  While she likes Twain as much as anyone, there is something about the actor, Clem Samuels, that haunts Rebecca.  And isn’t it just like Oscar to have a bit of history and a mystery pop up along the way.

Can Rebecca find the original California bear flag before a killer gets her in his sights?

I’ve been kind of on the fence about Rebecca M. Hale’s Cats and Curious mysteries.  I like Rebecca and for the most part the historical background in each of the books.  I adore Rupert and Isabella.  I really like what Hale has done with them in HOW TO MOON A CAT, the third book of this series.  Their personalities have come through more and more and grown in each book.  Hale has cats and their unique personalities down pat.  Isabella’s antics and determination to drive the car are pretty entertaining—and I saw it with one of my own cats.  Rupert, however, totally steals the show, especially in the chapter where he ponders just what would happen to him if Rebecca were to leave him and how he might need something.  Not that he would need something in particular – but you never know.

The historical facts are interesting but in this book they tend to become didactic narrative that often do not add to the story.

The worst part of the story, however, were the scenes where the moon and the bricks offered their perspectives.  If the book had not been for review I would have skimmed these sections and more than once I was tempted just to put the book down and forget about it.  I have to wonder if those chapters were there for word count or if she thought they were just clever.  I struggled to get through me.  And Monty—he’s either got to change for the better or he’s gotta go.  His character is really starting to disrupt what could be a really good historical mystery.

The Tour de California aspect was fun as was Clem Samuels.  At this point I’m not sure I’ll continue with the series but fans of mysteries with oddball twists will enjoy it.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

NINE LIVES LAST FOREVER by Rebecca M. Hale

Publisher:  Berkley

Published:   July 6, 2010

ISBN:  978-0425234327

Genre:   Cozy Mystery   

Format:  Paperback
Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

THREE HEARTS

 

One fine morning antique store owner Rebecca is woken to the sound of her two cats, Rupert and Isabella racing through not only her cozy apartment above the shop, but through the shop itself.  Actually, it’s more Rupert than Isabella and he is a man…err…cat on a missions.

Meanwhile, down the street a grungy man, dressed in stale overalls, makes his way to the Jackson Square area of San Francisco.  He meanders by Rebecca’s shop, the Green Vase, peers in and goes on his way. 

And then there is the elderly Chinese woman who also has an interest in the shop…or at least what she perceives to be contents hidden within its walls. 

When her friend, Della ask Rebecca to venture to fellow shop owner, Monty Carmichael’s new job and pick something up for her, Rebecca is less than thrilled with the request, but for a friend?  She’ll go.  It turns out Monty has a new appointment down at City Hall.  But instead of one of the offices in the upper floors he’s ensconced down below.  When a strange custodian comes along and offers to show Rebecca where to find Monty, at first she doesn’t want to go…but in need of directions she follows him and so begins a bizarre treasure hunt. 

I really enjoyed Rebecca M. Hale’s first book in her Cats and Curios mysteries, HOW TO WASH A CAT. What’s not to like about a book that takes place in San Francisco, right?  Living in the Bay Area it was not just easy to visualize the areas Ms. Hale takes her readers through in both HOW TO WASH A CAT and in book 2, NINE LIVES LAST FOREVER.  We Bay Area residents tend to like to read about our local venues and visitors to the city no doubt smile at different scenes as well.  But more than “visiting” parts of the City when you read one of Ms. Hale’s books, you are treated to some of its incredible history.  In NINE LIVES LAST FOREVER she not only weaves some of Mark Twain’s life in the area as well as his famous jumping frog story, she takes readers into one of our darker moments – the assassinations of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. 

Despite the wonderful historical facts in the book and travels through San Francisco, the story sometimes became bogged down with those very facts. 

NINE LIVES LAST FOREVER is not your traditional cozy mystery but neither is it a historical mystery.  It falls somewhere in between as kind of treasure hunter’s mystery—finding long lost artefacts from San Francisco’s history.  But it doesn’t go completely there.  It is a book looking for a genre and while it searches for it, it gets muddled in the history lesson narrative. I was near city hall the day Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk were killed—people at my day job knew them both.  To this day, even though it happened 36 years ago, it is still difficult for me to read in a fictional context.

Rupert and Isabella are by far the best parts of the book.  I love the cats’ antics.  Ms. Hale has a firm handle on cat behaviour and relates it in wonderful style.

For me, NINE LIVES LASTS FOREVER fell into what I’ve termed “secondbookitis”.  It’s a pattern I’ve started to see more and more where an author has a fabulous first book in a series and the second falls far below the bar set by book 1.  At least half the time the third book turns out to be a super read so I will be continuing the series and seeing where Ms. Hale goes from here.

If you love San Francisco you’ll love NINE LIVES LAST FOREVER.  Ditto for fans of missing artefacts and mysteries in general.  If you are looking for a traditional cozy, this one isn’t it.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.