Cat in a Red Hot Rage (Midnight Louie Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Carole Nelson Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2007

Cat in a Red Hot Rage is the nineteenth title in Carole Nelson Douglas's sassy Midnight Louie mystery series. This tough talking twenty-pound tomcat PI is playing at the top of his game as he walks the walk and talks the talk on the mean streets of Las Vegas.

 

Temple Barr and Midnight Louie are up to their tails in froufrou, chapeaux, and murder when the Red Hat Sisterhood convention hits Las Vegas. Electra Lark, Temple's spirited landlady, has dragged her to the con. Accused of murder after a woman is found strangled with an official Red Hat Sisterhood scarf, Electra begs Temple to clear her name by posing as a pink-hatter, an under-fifty member of the organization. 

 

Louie and his partner in Midnight Investigations Inc., Midnight Louise, join the hunt for the killer at the Crystal Phoenix. They find old friends already there, including C-movie actress Savannah Ashleigh, and her Persian cats, Louie's ex-love, the Divine Yvette, and her sister Solange.

 

As Temple and Louie dig under all the makeup and shopping bags it becomes clear that a whole lot of folks want to crush or cash in on the red-hot rage of female empowerment that is the Red Hat Sisterhood.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Douglas's arch 19th cat caper (after 2006's Cat in a Quicksilver Caper), feline sleuth Midnight Louie and his human companion, PR whiz Temple Barr, scramble to clear the name of their friend and landlady, Electra Lark, when Electra's wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time makes her a murder suspect. Electra had volunteered for security at the Vegas convention of the Red Hat Sisterhood, an association of aging women determined to prove their pizzazz. The crime du jour occurs when Pink Lady Oleta Lark (an under-50 Red Hatter) is strangled with a purple scarf that Electra earlier happened to help her tie. And the common last name? Oleta was another ex-wife of Electra's third ex-husband, Elmore Lark. Eager to prove Electra's innocence, Temple and Midnight Louie swing into action with the help of Electra's fellow Red Hatters and some clever cats. Douglas's humor and keen plot twists keep this long-running series purring. (May)
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From Booklist

The hefty feline sleuth Midnight Louie and his human partner, Temple Barr (whom Louie refers to as "a grown-up Nancy Drew on killer spikes"), accompany Temple's outrageous landlady, Electra Lark, to a Red Hat Sisterhood convention. Trouble ensues when Electra is accused of murder, and it's up to Louie and Temple to get her out of the jam. The most likely suspect is another one of the convention attendees, or could it be any of the protesting Black Hat Brotherhood? Leave it to Louie to solve this mystery in his usual cunning manner. For readers who can tolerate over-the-top, crime-solving kitties who act like people, Louie is the name of the game. Wilkens, Mary Frances

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765314010
• ISBN-13: 978-0765314017
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Cat Sleuths

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Louie!, May 13, 2007

By 

Gloria Oliver "Unveiling the Fantastic" (The Colony, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cat in a Red Hot Rage (Midnight Louie Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Premise: This the 19th book in the Midnight Louie Mystery series. This volume brings into play the Red Hat Sisterhood - an organization for women over 50 that encourages freedom, fun, and that life is not lost once that benchmark is reached. For PR wiz Temple Barr, this gig should have been a piece of cake - that is until murder enters the scene and Electra Lark, Temple's fun loving landlady is the prime suspect.

Review: For those of you still screaming from the cliff hanger in book 18, you will still be screaming. Aside from some very subtle hints, we still don't know what exactly has happened to Max after the piece of sabotage at the Neon Nightmare club. But there is still plenty going on to keep our minds occupied and away from the happenings with Mr. Max Kinsela. Things continue to heat up between Temple and Matt. Lines have been drawn and crossed! We get info on Electra Lark's past and even get to meet her ex (or is he?). Louie has his own problems, as now that Electra has been fingered for possible murder, it wrecks his plans to get the crew of stray cats (and his Mom) taken in and fed by the neighbors. His daughter (though never proven and he will never admit it), Midnight Louise, harps on him about needing to find out what has happened to Max Kinsela and is not happy Louie's attentions are being split to the Red Hat Murders at hand. And let's not forget Lieutenant Molina, who makes a late but definite flashy entrance as she too continues on her own Max hunt and gets bit as she once more crosses the line of the law. Carole Nelson Douglas once more takes us an a fun ride of all that is Las Vegas and sets us up nicely for what else is soon to come.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Picking up Midnight Louie's "third season", April 28, 2007

By 

Virginia E. Demarce "veasleyd" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cat in a Red Hot Rage (Midnight Louie Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Oh, dear, one must not snerk.

This is the nineteenth book in a series. The author has described the set of books as episodes in a three-season drama. The prior book, Cat in a Quicksilver Caper, was the culmination of "season two," so some very dramatic events occurred involving the major ongoing characters (Temple Barr, Matt Devine, Max Kinsella, and Midnight Louie the feline detective).

This one sets up the situation for "season three," so it has fewer dramatic developments and astonishing turnabouts, but provides a lot of teasers for the future, as well as giving the landlady of Temple and Matt (and, once upon a time, Max), Ms. Electra Lark, a book of her own. Electra is of an age to be fully eligible for the over-fifty Red Hat Society.

Temple is back at work at her old venue, the "classy" Crystal Phoenix owned by Nicky Fontana and his wife Van von Rhine, doing PR work for them in the midst of a Red Hat Society convention held at the hotel (and jointly at the Goliath, from which the Mystifying Max vanished so long before). The Fontana brothers are out in force.

I take notes on this series of books, trying to spot the planted clues about future developments. So far, I have several pages of notes on Cat in a Red Hot Rage.

Moreover, if you like puns, the one involving Max and the Scarlet Pimpernel is worth the price of the book all by itself.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Louie Rocks!, May 20, 2007

By 

Alison B. Cuff "Number One Midnight Louie Fan!" (Middleboro, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cat in a Red Hot Rage (Midnight Louie Mysteries) (Hardcover)

If you have not read any of the Midnight Louie Books by author Carole Nelson Douglas, you are missing out on an entertaining, and incredible series. Louie is a crime solving master along with his partner and self proclaimed long loast daughter Louise.. He takes care of a cast of characters that always seem to find trouble in their hometown of Las Vegas. There is mystery,magic,intrigue,sex and love. One is held spellbound by the mysteries that unfold as told by the master crime solver of all time, Mr. Midnight Louie. Here's the best part...Louie has black fur and four legs and he can out-think and out-smart any human on this planet. This is witty,clever and heartwarming for any cat lover who loves mysteries as well as anyone looking for some clever twists and turns to keep them guessing about "Who Done It."

Louie; I don't know what I'd do without you...keep on rocking!!