Genre:
Cozy Mystery
Format:
E-Book
Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime
Release Date:
July 2010
Rebecca is settling into the antique store, the Green Vase, which her late uncle Oscar bequeathed to her. Unfortunately, her sales aren’t booming but it’s not stopping her from trying with the help of her beloved cats Rupert and Isabella.
Besides the shop, her uncle left her in the middle of a huge mystery. Suddenly frogs start appearing in the Green Vase and they seem to have invaded City Hall. Then Rebecca finds a letter from her uncle saying “follow the frogs”. Rebecca is surrounded by a variety of eccentric characters who all appear to be involved in the mystery which happens to involve missing money as well as frogs.
She also begins to doubt her uncle’s death as she is constantly smelling his secret chicken recipe. He never gave the recipe to anyone, not even her - or did he? There’s one cute scene where her cat, Rupert, smells the chicken too and proceeds to turn the house upside down looking for it.
This is the second book in Rebecca M. Hale’s “Cats and Curios Mystery” series. I have to stress, that I really believe readers should start with the first book and not jump into the middle of this series. There are many details that carry over from one book to the next.
This one is chockfull with tidbits of San Francisco history and it’s politics, including Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay elected office who was killed in 1978. I found the historic information interesting, but I thought it became a bit too much and a bit too detailed. I would have liked there to be more about Rebecca's life (plus her cats, of course). For most of the book, she is never referred to by her name. We find out towards the end of books 1 and 2 what her name is.
I’m hoping book #3 will go a little more into Rebecca’s personality and maybe we will get more character growth as the series moves along. I’m a few books behind in this series and it may already have happened. I’m planning to read book 3 soon.
For a change this isn’t a book I was sent to review, it’s part of my Nook e-book TBR that I bought myself and I’m using it for my “Just for Fun Reading Challenge”.
For reading challenges:
2014 Just For Fun Reading Challenge
2014 Mount TBR Reading Challenge
Yvonne, thanks for your honest review. The cover is purrfectly adorable.
ReplyDeleteI do need more cozy books in my life
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Harvey Milk shows up in this, there's a film on him. This sounds like a good one.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for featuring this book and for showing an interest in this series!
ReplyDeleteI think I read the first book but it was years ago. As I recall, I didn't love that one and although you enjoyed this one, I'm not sure I would. I'm glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting and I'm curious about the frog angle, for some reason. The cover is cute with the cat playing with the frog... sounds like a fun book!
ReplyDeleteIt would drive me insane not knowing the main character's name until the end of the book. But I love the cover art and the storyline seems interesting.
ReplyDelete