Carole Douglas: Cat in a Zebra Zoot Suit

THE COLORFUL MIDNIGHT LOUIE ALPHABET SAGA CONTINUES…

Follow the clues from the Cat in an Alphabet Soup foundation novel through a colorful kaleidoscope of crimes as the bestselling cat mystery series goes from A to Z

SWING DANCE INTO DEATH!In the twenty-seventh Midnight Louie mystery the feline PI channels the jazz and swing-dance age. Circle Ritz residents petite PR powerhouse Temple Barr and her faithful roommate, Midnight Louie, must solve a bizarre murder that echoes a long-past atrocity.

From Cat in a Zebra Zoot Suit , move on to the final book of the alphabet series Cat in a Alphabet Endgame

DEAR READERS:Since Midnight Louie’s mystery adventures began in 1992 and will be 28 books in all, the series is a retro-modern saga that portrays twenty-five years of amazing Las Vegas Strip reinvention from the early 1990s to today. Yet the story only covers a couple of years in the lives of the four human characters: two women, two men; two pro and two amateur detectives. It’s like the old movies that filmed a foreground couple walking on a treadmill against a constantly changing background. You will watch the Las Vegas Strip, technology and detection methods evolve as the characters veer from allies to antagonists to…romantic quadrangle anyone? And even the irreverent rascal tomcat, Midnight Louie, will become politically correct in one key department.

As Louie says, “Any surprising developments do not surprise me. Everything is always up for grabs in Las Vegas 24/7…guilt, innocence, money, power, love, loss, death, and significant others. Like Las Vegas, The City That Never Sleeps, Midnight Louie, private eye, also has a sobriquet: The Kitty That Never Sleeps. With this crew, who could?”

For more on the series, subscribe to Midnight Louie’s Scratching Post-Intelligencer newsletter. Louie would love reviews on online book sites if you want to lend him a hand.

CAT IN A

ZEBRA ZOOT SUIT

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH

MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERY

by

CAROLE NELSON DOUGLAS

Digital ISBN-13: 978-1-943175-03-1

Copyright © 2015 Carole Nelson Douglas

A Wishlist Book

www.wishlistpublishing.com

Praise for Carole Nelson Douglas

and the Midnight Louie feline PI series

“Midnight Louie’s contributions to the book are insightful, humorous, and imaginative… Along with all these wonderful offbeat characters, Douglas has an interesting plot, good story, and an intriguing mystery. If you are looking for something fun to read, this is the book for you.”

— Affaire de Coeur on Cat in an Alphabet Soup

“…just about everything you might want in a mystery: glitzy Las Vegas, real characters, suspense, a tough puzzle. On top of it all, it has a fine sense of humor and some illuminating social commentary.”

— The Prime Suspecton Cat in an Aqua Storm

“Midnight Louie sniffs through plenty of plausible red herrings…before pointing a claw at the killer in this brisk tail that even mystery readers who don’t love cats will relish.”

— Publishers Weekly on Cat on a Blue Monday

“…the best Louie adventure yet, full of intricate plotting and sharp characterization. And Louie? Nine lives wouldn’t be nearly enough for this dude.”

— Publishers Weekly on Cat in a Crimson Haze

“Feline PI Midnight Louie prowls the alleys of Las Vegas, solving crimes and romancing runaways like a furry Sam Spade. This time out, the always engaging Louie stalks a serial killer.”

— People magazine on Cat in an Indigo Mood

Cat in a Yellow Spotlight

“fun, frothy, and charming.”

— Publishers Weekly

Cat in a Zebra Zoot Suit

“Never fear, amateur detective Temple Barr is on the job, along with her feline roommate Midnight Louie, with an assist from his Vegas Cat Pack… Louie is as charming and debonair as always, and this reader, for one, wishes the alphabet had more letters! The savviest feline detective around, Midnight Louie shines, unequaled!”

— T. C. LoTempio, national bestselling author of the Nick and Nora mysteries

For Betty Willis, neon designer, 1923-2015

She will shine forever for her iconic Vegas signs.

1955 Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino

1956 Blue Angel Motel (just saved)

1959 “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas”

Previously in

Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times…

What is a humble hotshot PI to do?

Here I sit in Las Vegas, a city that has been a Capital of Crime for seventy-five years. I have an inkling that my nearest and dearest clients have scattered or are ready to scatter to the wind’s four corners.

(Why the wind has corners, I do not know. I have four corners myself…right front and rear shiv holders and left front and rear shiv holders.)

Anyway, shivs aside, how am I supposed to keep an eye on those who need it if they are planning on leaving me at home alone?

Although we just successfully concluded the case of Murder Most Rock ‘n’ Roll and the music show is a hit performing nightly at the Crystal Phoenix, I have not forgotten the messy, ragged ends of the previous adventure.

Not long ago, my posse—both human and feline members—had their lives on the line, but the Las Vegas Cat Pack came through the confrontation with snaggle-tooth and ragged nail mostly intact. The outcome is that all of my human associates are concealing the facts of what went down from the police, and, like the Cat Pack, the offending psycho is nowhere to be found.

I was not the only one among the wounded—if you count broken nails as a wound, and I do. Mr. Matt Devine was shot in the side, not seriously only because I launched my twenty fully-packed pounds at the perp’s weapon as the gun fired. He is recovering nicely under the ministrations of my doughty roommate, Miss Temple Barr.

Mr. Max Kinsella received another blow to his already banged-up head. Who knows what setbacks his recovering AWOL memory may encounter?

The Cat Pack acted only as intimidating muscle, under my direction. However, their usual leader and my esteemed streetwise mother, Ma Barker, performed a banshee howl as I jumped the gun and I then administered a four-shiv slash to the assailant’s face as a coup de claw .

This “coup de claw” is a classic finishing move in the art of cat fighting, a swipe across the kisser. Since our opponent is a female of her species, she will see my handsome white-whiskered black face and razor-sharp stilettos every time she looks in a mirror.