"Midnight Louie"

There are a lot of unsolved crimes in Las Vegas, many of them involving ex-magician Max Kinsella since some of the victims were magicians or their assistants. There is also a rash of attacks and killings of strippers, one of whom was last seen with the mysterious Max.

All of the above is too much coincidence for Lieutenant Carmen Molina to dismiss. She goes undercover to try and ferret out the killer, hoping desperately that it is Max and not the father of her twelve-year-old daughter. Temple, who knows that Molina is going after the wrong man is going to do whatever it takes to protect her hunk. Temple's fearless feline Midnight Louie decides that if he wants to keep his human safe, he must be the one to guard her back.

This is the fourteenth installment in the Midnight Louie series and yet the novel remains fresh and exciting like a cat with more than nine lives. Several sub-plots from other books in the series culminate in CAT IN A MIDNIGHT CHOIR but there are other threads left purposely dangling so readers will want to read the next episode in this fantastic series. Carole Nelson Douglas knows what readers want and gives it to them so they will come back for more.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted April 10, 2002

Summary

In Cat in a Midnight Choir, the fourteenth Midnight Louie Mystery, both feline and human evil-doers and crime-solvers work overtime to make Las Vegas the Capital of Noir Suspense. This time our feisty black cat detective is hunting a mysterious and possibly murderous organization of renegade magicians called the Synth, which has been making Las Vegas too hot to hold for some of Louie's human friends, particularly ex-magician Max Kinsella. Louie's on the case . . . but the trick may be on him this time. And just to make things interesting, while Louie and his furred cohorts battle black magic, both human and not-so- human, Louie's cherished roommate, plucky PR freelancer Temple Barr, is investigating the murderous side of the Synth despite the intense discouragement of female homicide lieutenant C. R. Molina. Molina herself is secretly moonlighting as an undercover operative to nail the killer of a sad, young stripper, and the search has boiled down to two suspects: Temple's current significant other, Max Kinsella, and Molina's long-gone ex-lover, Raf Nadir. Unfortunately, proving either man guilty will seriously impact the lives of Molina and her daughter, Mariah. As Louie and his human friends sink deeper into a lose-lose situation of crime and punishment, there doesn't seem to be any way out of this escalating crisis, except another murder. Can Louie solve some nagging past mysteries, find out just what some mad magicians have in store and stop the stripper killer before he claims another victim? And what will Louie do if he finds that the killer is someone Louie knows . . . and likes?