Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt: A Midnight Louie Mystery (Midnight Louie Mysteries/Carole Nelson Douglas) [Hardcover]

Carole Nelson Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Midnight Louie Mysteries/Carole Nelson Douglas | Publication Date: July 1998

The ninth novel in the popular series. Back in Las Vegas after a trip to the Big Apple, Midnight Louie, the black tomcat detective with a nose for the notorious, witnesses death on the Nile when the battling Egyptian barges outside the Oasis Hotel force a dead body to the surface.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Midnight Louie, cat detective, falls under the spell of an exotic feline fatale in his latest adventure, while his human, Temple Barr, is further swayed by magician-on-the-lam, Max Kinsella. Back in Las Vegas after a stint in New York City (Cat in a Golden Garland), Louie is in the audience at the Oasis Hotel watching the Egyptian barge battle, when a body is observed strapped to the prow of a ship. Ex-priest Matt Devine, another of Temple's enduring love interests, identifies the body as that of his unlamented stepfather, Cliff Effinger. What first appears to be just a mob-style rubout of a two-bit con man becomes something else with the discovery of a soggy note attached to the body that links Temple with hyacinths. While Temple and Max research the uses of the flower, Louie takes matters into his own paws and pads down to a nightclub called the Opium Den to take in the magic show of one Shangri-La and her lilac-point Siamese, Hyacinth. The humans finally tumble to Shangri-La's link to the case and converge on the magic show. But only after Temple is drugged, kidnapped and finally rescued with the help of a squad of DEA is resolution achieved. Midnight Louie's fans will rejoice that a perennial villain Cliff Effinger is finally laid to rest, and will likely hope for a comparable tidying up of Temple's increasingly tiresome vacillation between her two admirers.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Turn those summertime blues into cool, cool jazz as Midnight Louie trips the light fantastic one more time as sleuth extraordinaire, defender of truth, justice, and the American way....As always, Ms. Douglas dishes up a crackerjack mystery superbly developed and resolved. But even better, she provides a depth of ambiance and keen insight to the soul that make each of her books a treasured keeper for her ever-increasing, totally devoted audience."--Romantic Times

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 383 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312866348
• ISBN-13: 978-0312866341
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With her home office a Twilight Zone landscape of mannequins in vintage dress, no wonder award-winning ex-journalist and novelist Carole Nelson Douglas's 55 novels range from historical and contemporary mystery and romance to science fiction thrillers to high and urban fantasy. They include two Las Vegas-set series: the Midnight Louie, feline PI, mysteries partially narrated by a "Sam Spade with hairballs" and the Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, noir urban fantasies of werewolf mobsters and Silver Screen zombies in a paranormal Vegas.

Douglas was the first author of a Sherlockian series with a female protagonist, diva-detective Irene Alder, the only woman to outwit Holmes, debuting with the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Night, Mr. Holmes. Rachel McAdams plays Irene in the Dec. 25 film with Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock. Douglas says if she has a literary muse, it's definitely feline: mysterious, wise, playful, and packing sharp shivs in velvet gloves.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Everything but the kitchen sink, March 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt: A Midnight Louie Mystery (Midnight Louie Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read all books in the series (which I'm normally fond of), but this one was just a little too overloaded with characters, plots, and angst. I didn't really care about the too out-there Shangri-la villianess or her cat, and I was annoyed with the heroine Temple (who actually seemed to be more in the background). I think Ms. Douglas does a much better job juggling a complicated storyline in the next book, Cat in an Indigo Mood.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best series ever!, March 13, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt: A Midnight Louie Mystery (Midnight Louie Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read all of the first nine books, except for the first and they are absolutley incredible!. I just ordered the first one and I'm getting ready to order the tenth one INDIGO MOOD. The books are fast paced and very exciting, I read 8 of the books in just two weeks, I couldn't put them down! Cat on a Hycanith Hunt was one of my favorites in the series. If you're looking for a good read, these are definitly it!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Louie is back-fresh and charming as usual, June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt: A Midnight Louie Mystery (Midnight Louie Mysteries/Carole Nelson Douglas) (Hardcover)

Midnight Louie is upset because he suddenly has stiff competition for the affections of his human pet, Las Vegas publicist Temple Barr. To Louie's dismay, Temple has resumed her romantic relationship with master magician Max Kinsella, who lives in a James Bond-like world. Louie has no intention of sharing his "doll with anyone"; but Temple does not notice his displeasure.

Accompanied by his offspring, Midnight Louise, Louie returns to his former home, the Oasis Hotel, for a bit of rest and relaxation. However, the feline discovers the body of the odious Effinger, whose corpse is wrapped like a mummy.Effinger is the heavy-handed stepfather of Matt Devine, a former priest and questionable third wheel in the Barr-Kinsella romance. Only a few days ago, Effinger beat up Temple as a warning to his stepson to stay out of his life. However the death of the mean spirited person does not end the danger to Louie and his associates, especially Temple and her two male companions. It is only the opening gambit.

CAT ON A HYACINTH HUNT is the ninth entry in the Midnight Louie cat series and surprisingly the book retains the fresh and exciting perspective of its forerunners. The mystery remains first rate while the romantic triangle (or is that rectangle with Louie being the other corner) has become more complex and interesting. The brilliantly talented Carole Nelson Douglas has set in motion story line twists leading the series in a new direction that is sure to surprise yet please Louie's biggest fans.

Harriet Klausner