Product Description

Set in modern day San Francisco - the tale of a Gold Rush legend, a pair of tulip-shaped cufflinks, an enigmatic uncle, a persistently obnoxious neighbor, an inartfully stuffed kangaroo, and, of course, the washing of a cat...

From the inside cover:

"San Francisco has always been a beacon for second, third, and fourth-chancers." That's what my Uncle Oscar used to say. "There's nothing here to hold you back. You can do - or become - whatever or whoever you want."

Oscar owned a small antique shop called the Green Vase, here, in San Francisco. His specialty was Gold Rush history. He'd acquired an extensive collection of artifacts from that time period, mostly due to his network of contacts in the construction industry.

You see, after the discovery of gold back in the spring of 1848, hordes of gold-seeking masses crammed themselves onto every ship heading towards San Francisco. As soon as the city was in sight, passengers and sailors alike jumped off and ran for the Sierra gold fields. There was no one left to unload the cargo, much less sail the ships on to their next destination.

As the rapidly expanding city crawled out into the bay on a foundation of hastily constructed landfill, many of these rotting and abandoned ships were sunk in their moorings, drifting down into a man-made sediment of ship hulls, sand scraped off of nearby dunes, and anything else the residents of this growing shoreline wished to get rid of.

Downtown San Francisco is once again experiencing a building boom. As each new high-rise office building sinks its roots down into this landfill debris, many long-discarded items from the Gold Rush Era are being disgorged. Most of these relics were tossed into the mire as unwanted trash, but - every now and then - an item of far greater historical significance is uncovered. Thanks to his construction industry contacts, Oscar was always the first on the scene.

I recently inherited the Green Vase after Oscar's sudden death from an apparent stroke. As I began to sift through the contents of his store, I couldn't shake my suspicions about Oscar's death - and that it might be related to something he unearthed about the last Gold Rush legend he'd been investigating.

It wasn't long before I realized that there was a lot I didn t know about my Uncle Oscar.

Danger can sneak up on you, especially when you're not looking for it. Sometimes it helps to know How to Wash a Cat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1523459 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 302 pages

Review
"...just plain funny...In today's popular use of cats in storytelling, this one ranks as one of the best." --Bill Duncan, The News-Review, March 6, 2008

A "delightful little mystery" with "an intriguing cast of kooky characters..." --Faye Dasen, The Pilot, March 21, 2008

About the Author
Rebecca M. Hale worked as a patent attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area for several years before taking time off to write her first novel, How to Wash a Cat. Thoroughly addicted to the writing process, Rebecca and her two cats, Rupert and Isabella, now live in Western Colorado where they are hard at work on the sequel, Nine Lives Last Forever.

Customer Reviews

Good Quirk
This is a quirky little novel, but it's a good kind of quirk. Rebecca M. Hale blends the line between narrator and author, reality and fiction, in such a subtle way that you only might figure it out by the last line. An intricate lesson in Gold Rush San Francisco that never bores, with cats that are almost as expressive as the people - certainly easier to understand. I had to read the last two chapters twice to pick up all the little details, but it was worth it. Looking forward to her next one.

Fun and Enjoyable
I bought this book for my wife's birthday, but ended up reading it before she has. I thought it was pretty enjoyable. The mysterious part was sufficiently difficult to figure out without being impossible (I hate when mystery authors keep you from guessing the ending by not telling needed information). Sometimes I said while reading, "Oh, Main Character [who is nameless until the end of the book, which was somewhat distracting in places], why are you going to trust that guy who probably is going to kill you?" but then I realized it was because I knew Main Character was in a mystery novel and she did not, which was appropriate. The only other questionable part was when Main Character meets a carpenter and describes him in a way I took to mean she thought he was attractive, and then she notices his mullet. What?! Does Main Character find mullets attractive? Why would she? She seems like such a normal girl! I expect a full explanation from the author the next time I run into her in my local bookstore.