Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme

Midnight Louie #22

by Carole Nelson Douglas

Temple Barr, publicist extraordinaire, is itching to bring off her most dangerous and exciting assignment, helping to launch an endeavor that many a Vegas showmen have dreamed a Las Vegas mob museum/casino. While city powers-that-be hem and haw over doing an official project on the subject, the Family Fontana plans to connect two hotels with a "Chunnel of Crime" featuring an underground speakeasy, a fast "ride" through Vegas crime history by Gangsters custom limo sevice, and other fun attractions. Temple's grand scheme to do a live "opening Bugsy Siegel's vault" media event built around a huge safe found buried underground produces a two-day-old body wearing white tie and tails. With Temple's magician-counterterrorist ex-lover, Max, gone missing and her new fiance, radio shrink Matt Devine, in Chicago for week-long media gig, Temple must depend on "the Vegas Strip Irregulars," a posse of cats, to solve murders old and new that smack of mobs vintage and all too contemporary. Success, or failure, could cost Temple her life, and all nine of Louie's. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Cats, Romance, Cozy

380 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 26, 2010

About the author

Carole Nelson Douglas is the author of sixty-four award-winning novels in contemporary and historical mystery/suspense and romance, high and urban fantasy and science fiction genres. She is best known for two popular mystery series, the Irene Adler Sherlockian historical suspense series (she was the first woman to spin-off a series from the Holmes stories) and the multi-award-winning alphabetically titled Midnight Louie contemporary mystery series. From Cat in an Alphabet Soup #1 to Cat in an Alphabet Endgame #28.
Delilah Street, PI (Paranormal Investigator), headlines Carole's noir Urban Fantasy series: Dancing With Werewolves, Brimstone Kiss, Vampire Sunrise, Silver Zombie, and Virtual Virgin. Now Delilah has moved from her paranormal Vegas to Midnight Louie, feline PI's "Slightly surreal" Vegas to solve crimes in the first book of the new Cafe Noir series, Absinthe Without Leave. Next in 2020, Brandi Alexander on the Rocks.

Once Upon a Midnight Noir is out in eBook and trade paperback versions. This author-designed and illustrated collection of three mystery stories with a paranormal twist and a touch of romance features two award-winning stories featuring Midnight Louie, feline PI and Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator in a supernatural-run Las Vegas. A third story completes the last unfinished story fragment of Edgar Allan Poe, as a Midnight Louie Past Life adventure set in 1790 Norland on a isolated island lighthouse. Louie is a soldier of fortune, a la Puss in Boots.

Next out are Midnight Louie's Cat in an Alphabet Endgame in hardcover, trade paperback and eBook Aug. 23, 2016.

All the Irene Adler novels, the first to feature a woman from the Sherlock Holmes Canon as a crime solver, are now available in eBook.

Carole was a college theater and English literature major. She was accepted for grad school in Theater at the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University, and could have worked as an editorial assistant at Vogue magazine (a la The Devil Wears Prada) but wanted a job closer to home. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then editor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. During her time there, she discovered a long, expensive classified advertisement offering a black cat named Midnight Louey to the "right" home for one dollar and wrote a feature story on the plucky survival artist, putting it into the cat's point of view. The cat found a country home, but its name was revived for her feline PI mystery series many years later. Some of the Midnight Louie series entries include the dedication "For the real and original Midnight Louie. Nine lives were not enough." Midnight Louie has now had 32 novelistic lives and features in several short stories as well.

Hollywood and Broadway director, playwright, screenwriter and novelist Garson Kanin took Carole's first novel to his publisher on the basis of an interview/article she'd done with him five years earlier. "My friend Phil Silvers," he wrote, "would say he'd never won an interview yet, but he had never had the luck of you."

Carole is a "literary chameleon" who's had novels published in many genres, and often mixes such genre elements as mystery and suspense, fantasy and science fiction, romance with mainstream issues, especially the roles of women.

Reviews

[Mary Tonks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I've chosen to begin a series near the end of the author's collection. Maybe that was a bad thing, but the book can stand alone with minimal confusion. I'm not crazy about the Temple/Max relationship, but Midnight Louie and his family are fun! Having visited the setting in April, I could relate to the plight of Lake Mead.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fontana brothers own Gangsters Limousine Service. Nearby is the Gangsters Hotel and Casino. Nicky Fontana, the youngest, and his wife, Van von Rhine, own the Crystal Phoenix, which is Temple Barr's only regular PR client.

Nicky has been in touch with The Gangsters Hotel and Casino, which is connected by an old tunnel to the Crystal Phoenix. Plans are to build a Chunnel of Crime between the two locations, where guests can ride a train from one to the other, with flashes of old crime movies and old criminals visible from the windows as they speed by.

When an old vault is discovered, supposedly belonging to Bugsy Siegel, and is opened, it contains a fresh dead body.

The adventure goes on from there, with Temple in trouble, as usual, and Sgt. Molina Louie, and various other characters, including the Synth, involved.

[Sandy]

Actually did not like the beginning any more than the last. At least I don't have to back and start reading book A. Just not a fan.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me forever to finish this book, I stopped and started so many times, but I was bound and determined to finish it!
It was not my favorite!, but I actually liked it, and now I want to read the next o e!

[Ch J Loveall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Midnight Louis is noir personified.

[Crystal Karre · Rating 5 out of 5]

the very best!

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was not as riveting as the previous book, but still good nonetheless. The plot twisted AGAIN and I amnot sure if it is one twist too many.

[Carleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It probably didn't help that I started in the middle of the series.

[Kayoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty predictable

[Pixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread. Love cat mysteries

[Laura Ruetz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good mystery, throw in a cat and I'm your demographic. This is the first book that I've read in this series, and as it's the 22nd book, I am coming late to the party. I think that if you've read more of the series that this book would make more sense. The author tried to do an introduction to "catch up" readers as to the prior events but it cleared up very little and made it harder to keep track of who was who, who knows who and what has happened before - as some of the prior books seem relevant to this book, I don't recommend coming into the series as a newcomer like I did.

But, since I did jump into the series with book 22, here are my thoughts on the book itself. I like the character of Temple, she is smart, sexy and engaging. I liked how the story is told from her perspective, and that of Midnight Louie ( the cat) but yet the basic story seemed too muddled with unresolved issues from prior books ( the entire Max story arc) that took away from the central story. That being said, if you were familiar with the prior books, I doubt this would be a problem, but if you didn't know what was going on, it detracted from the story too much while you tried to figure out what was going on. The book was well written though, with a colorful cast. I would love to read more of these, starting with the first ones though this time.

[E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Midnight Louie is back again, combined with the complicated life of Ms. Temple Bar, engaged to Matt Devine. An almost overwhelming melange of Fontana brothers, the Glory Hole gang, the mysterious Synth and the phalanx of felines calling themselves the Cat Pack are juxtaposed with Michael Aloysius Xavier Kinsella's search for his missing memories in Ireland. Nice cameos by several familiar characters but not a lot of resolution by the end of the tale.

[Caryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not get into this book. I love Midnight Louie and I want to know what happens to him and everyone else, but this was not his best tale. I thought the murder was solved too easily...like, the murderer was revealed and that was that. I never saw it coming.

However, Louie's growing family is the best, and I loved the ending. Hopefully, the future mysteries will be more enjoyable.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites in this series. On the surface, these books seem like frothy mysteries with a regular cast of characters and a very smart cat. But the author always includes a serious sub-plot to move things along. Plus, the heroine has two delectible men she must choose between. I am constantly changing allegiances as to who that should be!

[Mary Newcomb]

All things must end, including this series. There are only a few more letters (and colors) to go, thank goodness. This story seemed a bit tedious, whether it was in establishing a new murder or two (which may not have been resolved) or discussing the romantic back story or providing depth to current characters.

[LaDawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all these books in the past year. Now I am going to have to wait as I have caught up to what has been written.
I like the sub-plots in the series. It's what has kept me coming back! And, I like the characters.

[Julia Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Midnight Louie stories are getting a little dull. The only reason I'm still keeping up with the series is to find out whether Temple chooses Matt or Max, and even that is getting tiresome.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The threads are all starting to come back together, and it looks like the last few books in the series are going to be one hell of a ride.

[Jamie Burkett · Rating 1 out of 5]

i tried really hard to get into this book. i just couldn't get into it.

[Melony · Rating 1 out of 5]

hated it, could not finish it.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good summer read. Love Midnight Louis.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm hooked, I have to find out what happens in this mystery series. If you have never read one f the Midnight Louie books, you really need to start with number 1. This is #23.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good mystery about Midnight Louie. I'm behind in the series, so I'll take this back to the library tomorrow and get the next one. A new one is due out soon.

[Brett Bydairk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Midnight Louie (and Temple Barr) book, with several stories going on: the current murder, past mysteries, and how they play out, and Temple's love life, a mystery of its own.

[Ann Goldfarb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved "Midnight Louie." Enjoyed reading a book that was written from the perspective of the cat as well as the narrator. Terrific cliffhanger ending!

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am seriously getting put off by the author's nasty digs about a woman taller than the protagonist, and some very ugly talk about same. Brings the book from a 3 to a 2.

[Mary Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series is getting monotonous. Author has gone in two different directions. I am wondering if it will all come together in the end.

[Anne-Kathrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note 2

Enjoyed another good book in the series.

[aem · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first introduction to Midnight Louie and entourage, though I know this is a series. Unfortunately, all the slang was difficult to understand. The storyline also seem convoluted and disjointed though the last third of the book finally made it clearer...