Cat in a Topaz Tango: A Midnight Louie Mystery

by Carole Nelson Douglas

Overview

Temple Barr and Matt Devine make a cozy engaged couple, and the feisty redhead is all for her handsome radio host fiance staring in a week-long televised Las Vegas charity event, "Dancing with the Celebs." But while ex-priest Matt struggles to master the sexy moves of the tango, a killer stalks the dance floor. Not only is Matt in danger, but so is the lovely tween Mariah, daughter of homicide cop C. R. Molina, who is dancing in the Junior Divison of the show.

And so Temple gets dragooned into resurrecting her kicky teen persona, Zoe Chloe Ozone, now an Internet hottie, to ensure Matt and Mariah don't foxtrot into a fatal mistep.

Where is Louie in all this? Well, he's out and about, proving that he's still the cat's meow. But he's got his paws full as he tries to keep all the various players in his little troupe from dancing right into death's arms....

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250311986
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/29/2010
Series:	Midnight Louie Series , #21
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Carole Nelson Douglas is the author of the bestselling Midnight Louie series, which include Cat in a Sapphire Slipper, Cat in a Red Hot Rage, Cat in a Quicksilver Caper, and many more. She is also the author of the historical suspense series featuring Irene Adler, the only woman ever to have "outwitted" Sherlock Holmes. She resides in Fort Worth, Texas.

Editorial Reviews

In Douglas's glitzy 21st Midnight Louie mystery (after 2008's Cat in a Sapphire Slipper), Temple Barr, Las Vegas PR whiz, goes undercover at a charity dance contest featuring celebrities like Temple's radio star fiancé, Matt Devine, while tomcat sleuth Louie provides backup. The Barbie Doll stalker has been targeting local teen talent, and soon contestants in the dance competition start to suffer "accidents." Mariah, the teenage daughter of LVPD's Lt. Carmen Molina, goes AWOL to help a friend who's won a place in the contest's junior division. Meanwhile, magician Max Kinsella, Temple's ex-boyfriend, is still recovering from amnesia in Europe while romancing a mysterious blonde. Dance lovers will especially enjoy this installment, which includes an opening summary of Louie's previous outings that even series fans will find useful. (Aug.)

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Publishers Weekly

Temple Barr and her housemate, noir feline detective Midnight Louie, dance with second-string stars. P.R. flack Temple Barr has persuaded her fiance, ex-priest radio advice show host Matt Devine, to raise money for charity by entering a Dancing with the Stars copycat whose junior division Temple is emceeing in her persona as wild teen queen Zoe Chloe Ozone. What looks like fun turns dangerous when the celeb dancers start having accidents. Temple has long had a rocky relationship with hard-boiled homicide cop Carmine "C.R." Molina, who thinks Temple's lover Max Kinsella, presumed dead, is not only alive but a killer. But Molina prods Temple to pitch in when her star-struck daughter Mariah vanishes. In on the hunt is Rafi Nadir, Mariah's father and security chief at the site of the dance contest, the Oasis Hotel. When Mariah is found managing a friend's attempts to get into the contest, a seething Molina agrees to let her accompany her friend for the week the show will be televised. Interspersed chapters follow Max's struggles with amnesia as he tries to escape unknown killers in the Alps and Louie's romance with the Oasis's femme fatale, a topaz-wearing cat. Despite ever-tightening security, the nasty pranks progress to near-death experiences before Temple and Louie can nail a killer. Though Louie's latest alphabetical caper (Cat in a Sapphire Slipper, 2008, etc.) is longwinded and not especially mysterious, fans and feline fanciers will no doubt curl up and purr.

Kirkus Reviews