Cat in a
Topaz Tango
By Carole Nelson Douglas from Tom Doherty Associates
MYSTERY
MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERIES
Catnap
Cat in a Leopard Spot
Pussyfoot
Cat in a Midnight Choir
Cat on a Blue Monday
Cat in a Neon Nightmare
Cat in a Crimson Haze
Cat in an Orange Twist
Cat in a Diamond Dazzle
Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit
Cat with an Emerald Eye
Cat in a Quicksilver Caper
Cat in a Flamingo Fedora
Cat in a Red Hot Rage
Cat in a Golden Garland
Cat in a Sapphire Slipper
Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt
Cat in a Topaz Tango
Cat in an Indigo Mood
Midnight Louie’s Pet Detectives
Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit
(anthology)
Cat in a Kiwi Con
IRENE ADLER ADVENTURES
Good Night, Mr. Holmes
The Adventuress *(Good Morning, Irene)
A Soul of Steel *(Irene at Large)
Another Scandal in Bohemia *(Irene’s Last Waltz)
Chapel Noir
Castle Rouge
Femme Fatale
Spider Dance
Marilyn: Shades of Blonde (anthology)
HISTORICAL
ROMANCE
Amberleigh †
Lady Rogue †
Fair Wind, Fiery Star
SCIENCE
FICTION
Probe †
Counterprobe †
FANTASY
TALISWOMAN
Cup of Clay
Seed upon the Wind
SWORD AND CIRCLET
Six of Swords
Exiles of the Rynth
Keepers of Edanvant
Heir of Rengarth
Seven of Swords
*These are the reissued editions.
†Also mystery
Cat in a
Topaz Tango
A MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERY
Carole Nelson Douglas
A Tom Doherty Associates
Book New York
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
CAT IN A TOPAZ TANGO
Copyright © 2009 by Carole Nelson Douglas
All rights reserved.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Douglas, Carole Nelson.
Cat in a topaz tango : a midnight Louie mystery / Carole Nelson Douglas.—1st hardcover ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1862-6
ISBN-10: 0-7653-1862-8
1. Midnight Louie (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Barr, Temple (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 3. Women cat owners—Fiction. 4. Cats—Fiction. 5. Las Vegas (Nev.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3554.o8237c27698 2009
813'.54—dc22
2009012866
First Edition: August 2009
Printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the late Mary Katherine Marion, a friend
who was fun, fearless, and fashionable,
clever, creative, and supportive,
and for all the great times we had together
Contents
Previously in Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times . . .
Chapter 1: Nervous Nuptials
Chapter 2: Louie Left Out
Chapter 3: House of Max
Chapter 4: Alpine Do-si-do
Chapter 5: Missing in Action
Chapter 6: Lost in Cyberspace
Chapter 7: Duty Call
Chapter 8: Police Premises
Chapter 9: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Chapter 10: Grilled Crawfish
Chapter 11: Wolverine Dreams
Chapter 12: Shotgun Reunion
Chapter 13: Car Chase
Chapter 14: Road Scholars
Chapter 15: Emerald City Express
Chapter 16: Text for Two
Chapter 17: Leaving Laughlin
Chapter 18: The Bus Fume Boogie Blues
Chapter 19: Unhappy Hoofer
Chapter 20: Dancing with Danger
Chapter 21: Celebrity Is the Cat’s Pajamas
Chapter 22: Pool Shark
Chapter 23: Shaken, Not Stirred
Chapter 24: En Sweet
Chapter 25: Everybody Undercover, Quick!
Chapter 26: Insecure Security
Chapter 27: Reinvention Waltz
Chapter 28: Precious Topaz
Chapter 29: Brothers, Where Art Thou?
Chapter 30: Undressed Rehearsal
Chapter 31: Hot Stuff
Chapter 32: Wardrobe Malfunction II
Chapter 33: Hotfooting It
Chapter 34: Mama’s Girls
Chapter 35: Purse Pussycat Prowl
Chapter 36: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Chapter 37: The Shoe Must Go On
Chapter 38: Mercedes Pasodoble
Chapter 39: Chef du Jour
Chapter 40: Rapid Recovery
Chapter 41: Too Dead to Dance?
Chapter 42: Pasodoble Double Cross
Chapter 43: Stomp ’Em If You Got ’Em
Chapter 44: Too Hot to Handle
Chapter 45: Postmortem on a Pasodoble
Chapter 46: A Perfect Barbie Doll
Chapter 47: Madness in His Method Dancing
Chapter 48: Paso de Deux
Chapter 49: Another Opening, Another Blow
Chapter 50: One-armed Bandit
Chapter 51: Crime Seen
Chapter 52: Rehearsed to Death
Chapter 53: Fighting Form
Chapter 54: Rest and Recreation
Chapter 55: Last Tango in Zurich
Chapter 56: On the Topaz Trail
Chapter 57: An Open and Shut Case
Chapter 58: Fenced In
Chapter 59: Terminal Tango
Chapter 60: Curtain Calls
Chapter 61: Dial M for Motive
Chapter 62: Topaz Tango
Chapter 63: Ciao Ciao Ciao
Chapter 64: For Her Eyes Only
Chapter 65: Cane Dance
Chapter 66: Dancing in the Dark
Chapter 67: No Good Dude Goes Unpunished
Tailpiece: Midnight Louie Mulls Many Matters
Carole Nelson Douglas Plays the Dance Card
Cat in a
Topaz Tango
Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times . . .
There are a lot of fat cats in Las Vegas.
These glitzy media-blitzed streets host almost forty million tourists each year and a ton of camera crews. If cameras are not recording background shots for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, they are capturing thousands of personal videos. People think they know this town—from film if not firsthand experience—know it from the flashy hotels to the seamy side of the Strip.
And a good number of them know one particular Las Vegas institution.
That would be me.
Oh, I keep a low profile. You do not hear about me on the nightly news. That is the way I like it. That is the way any primo PI would like it. The name is Louie, Midnight Louie. I am a noir kind of guy, inside and out. I like my nightlife shaken, not stirred.
I am not your usual gumshoe, in that my feet do not wear shoes of any stripe, but shivs. Being short, dark, and handsome . . . really short . . . gets me overlooked and underestimated, which is what the savvy operative wants anyway. I am your perfect undercover guy. I also like to hunker down under the covers with my little doll.
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