Кэрол Дуглас - Cat In A Leopard Spot

Cat in a Leopard Spot

By Carole Nelson Douglas from Tom Doherty Associates

MYSTERY

MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERIES

Catnap

Pussyfoot

Cat on a Blue Monday

Cat in a Crimson Haze

Cat in a Diamond Dazzle

Cat with an Emerald Eye

Cat in a Flamingo Fedora

Cat in a Golden Garland

Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt

Cat in an Indigo Mood

Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit

Cat in a Kiwi Con

Cat in a Leopard Spot

Midnight Louie’s Pet Detectives (anthology)

IRENE ADLER ADVENTURES

Good Night, Mr. Holmes

Good Morning, Irene

Irene at Large

Irene’s Last Waltz

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

Keepers of Edanvant

Heir of Rengarth

Seven of Swords

Cat in a Leopard Spot

A MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERY Carole Nelson Douglas

A Tom Doherty Associates Book

New York

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For all defenders and rescuers of creatures great and small.

You know who you are, and you know what you do, and why it matters so much.

And the animals know it too.

Contents

Previously in Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times…

Prologue: Caged Heat

Chapter 1: Caged

Chapter 2: Bad News Breakfast

Chapter 3: News Flush

Chapter 4: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Chapter 5: Magic Act

Chapter 6: Sister Act

Chapter 7: A PR in PI Clothing

Chapter 8: Portrait

Chapter 9: Heads or Tails?

Chapter 10: Animal Instincts

Chapter 11: Portrait of a Shady Lady

Chapter 12: Caged Meat

Chapter 13: Trial and Error

Chapter 14: Heaven Scent

Chapter 15: Hussy Fit

Chapter 16: Hissy Fit

Chapter 17: Judgment Day

Chapter 18: Day of the Jekyll

Chapter 19: Sketched in Suspicion

Chapter 20: Feast

Chapter 21: Taxidermy Eyes

Chapter 22: Likely Suspects

Chapter 23: Déjà Vu

Chapter 24: Chuck Wagon

Chapter 25: Guilt-Edged Invitation

Chapter 26: Polishing Off the Past

Chapter 27: Cousins Under the Skin

Chapter 28: K as in Karrot Stick

Chapter 29: Damage Control

Chapter 30: Ringed In

Chapter 31: Elvis Leaves the Building

Chapter 32: Animal Wrongs

Chapter 33: Track of the Cat

Chapter 34: Calling on Agatha

Chapter 35: Tiger Paws

Chapter 36: Synth You Went Away…

Chapter 37: Human Error

Chapter 38: Murder Wears a New Face

Chapter 39: Collusion Course

Chapter 40: Calling the Cops

Chapter 41: Hunt Club

Chapter 42: Secret Witness, Silent Witness

Chapter 43: The Black and Blue Max

Chapter 44: Pretty Please Don’t!

Chapter 45: The Most Dangerous Dame

Chapter 46: Stalemate

Chapter 47: Dead Ahead

Chapter 48: Men in Beige

Chapter 49: Bless Me, Mother

Chapter 50: Action Traction

Chapter 51: Cops in Khaki

Chapter 52: AnticliMax

Chapter 53: Cat Burglar

Tailpiece: Midnight Louie Enjoys Being a Pussycat

Carole Nelson Douglas Considers Louie’s Future

Cat in a Leopard Spot

Previously in Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times…

As a serial killer-finder in a multivolume mystery series (not to mention a primo mouthpiece), I want to update my readers old and new on past crimes and present tensions.

None can deny that the Las Vegas crime scene is a pretty busy place, and I have been treading these mean neon streets for thirteen books now. When I call myself an “alphacat,” some think I am merely asserting my natural feline male dominance. But no, I refer to the fact that since I debuted in Catnap and Pussyfoot , I then commenced to a title sequence that is as sweet and simple as B to Z.

That is when I begin my alphabet, with the B in Cat on a Blue Monday . From then on, the color word in the title is in alphabetical order up to the current volume, Cat in a Leopard Spot .

Since I associate with a multifarious and nefarious crew of human beings, and since Las Vegas is littered with guidebooks as well as bodies, I wish to provide a guide to the local landmarks on my particular map of the world. A cast of characters, so to speak:

To wit, my lovely roommate and high-heel devotee, freelance PR ace Miss Temple Barr, who has reunited with her only love…

the once missing-in-action magician Mr. Max Kinsella, who has good reason for invisibility: years of international counterterrorism work after his cousin Sean died in a bomb attack in Ireland during a post-high-school jaunt to the Old Sod…

but Mr. Max is sought by another dame, homicide lieutenant C. R. Molina, who is the mother of preteen Mariah…

and the good friend of Miss Temple’s recent good friend, Mr. Matt Devine, a radio talk-show shrink who not long ago was a Roman Catholic priest and has tracked down his abusive stepfather, Mr. Cliff Effinger…

which did not delight Matt’s mother in Chicago, who is emerging from her unhappy past and desperately seeking Matt’s real father, purportedly long dead in Vietnam.

Speaking of untimely pasts, Lieutenant Carmen Molina is not thrilled that her former flame, Mr. Rafi Nadir, the unsuspecting father of Mariah, is in Las Vegas taking on shady muscle jobs after blowing his career on the LAPD…

or that Mr. Max Kinsella is hunting Rafi himself because the lieutenant blackmailed him into tailing her ex. While so engaged, Mr. Max’s attempted rescue of a pathetic young stripper soon found her dead…and Mr. Rafi Nadir looks like the prime suspect.

Meanwhile, Mr. Matt has drawn a stalker, the local girl that young Max and his cousin Sean boyishly competed for in that long-ago Ireland…