Friday, May 23, 2014

Review: How To Moon A Cat by Rebecca M. Hale (#3 in A Cats and Curios Mystery Series)

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
Paperback

Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Release Date:
July 2011


Thanks to the antics of Rebecca’s beloved cat Rupert, she has uncovered several bundles of cash stored away in her home. She’s sure they were hidden by her late Uncle Oscar, not long before he died. Now, she uncovers another one of Oscar’s clues. This time it’s an old green vase with a toy bear from Nevada City holding a paper flag. Rebecca is sure this will lead to more hidden treasure.

Her nosy neighbor Montgomery Carmichael is on his way to Nevada City to represent the Mayor at the Tour of California cycling race.  Dressed in green spandex, Monty is very impressed with himself and his new job as the Mayor's Life Coach Apprentice.   Rebecca decides to hitch a ride with him to see what she can learn about the bear and the Gold Rush era. She plans to leave her two cats at home, but Rupert and Isabella have ideas of their own. So, seated in their new stroller, she takes them along for the adventure.  Rupert is more than thrilled to learn he's going in Monty's white van which suspiciously smells of fried chicken and he's more than disappointed not to find any.

This is the third book in the series and I thought it was the best of the three I read. There’s still quite a bit of historic information sprinkled throughout the book. A little too much for my liking especially since I’m not much of a history buff, but the mystery itself was interesting. It’s kind of like a puzzle created by Uncle Oscar and our heroine has to figure out what it’s all about.  She has to peel off each layer to try and discover exactly what her uncle was trying to tell her.

The author writes the cat’s point of views with such flair. I always enjoy reading what Rupert and Isabella are thinking. Their thoughts ring so true to what, I think, a cat would be thinking. I still have two more books to catch up on in this series. Anything with cats gets my interest. There are human characters, too, of course. Readers get to catch up with old friends (and a couple of enemies) that we met in previous books.

Don’t plan to have everything wrapped up in one book. The mystery continues through each book. The author does give you a bit of a synopsis about what has happened previously at the beginning of this book, but you will want to read this series from book #1 yourself to truly enjoy and appreciate it.



For reading challenges:
2014 Just for Fun Reading Challenge

FTC Disclosure: This book came from my own personal collection. All opinions expressed are my own.






8 comments:

  1. I had to laugh when you said too much history - that's why I read mysteries - history, reading about an occupation I don't know about, etc. Pity the poor authors who have to find a place in the middle or sacrifice readers!

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    1. LOL - Isn't it great there are so many different choices of reading materials for all of us and our different tastes? No author can please everyone. I do enjoy reading about different occupations and about different places, but history has never been one of my favorite things.

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  2. I like the title for this. :D I read book one, maybe I should get back into this series.

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    Replies
    1. Not only does this series have great titles, but I love the covers.

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  3. These sound so cute...I love that you get the kitties perspectives! I'll have to check out book 1.

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  4. Thank you so much for featuring HOW TO MOON A CAT! Here's a tidbit about the title. The working title was Fur is Pre-furred, but just as I was finishing the manuscript, Penguin marketing decided that the rest of the series should be branded "How to ... a Cat." We brainstormed for hours on a new title - until my mom came up with "Moon" :-)

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    Replies
    1. That's an interesting tidbit, Rebecca. I like both titles. You also get some great covers.

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