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



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



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



Book Description
Back in Las Vegas after a holiday trip to the big apple, feline detective Midnight Louie witnesses death on the Nile when the battling Egyptian barges outside the Oasis hotel bring a dead body to the surface. The soggy victim is well known to Louie's redheaded, high-heeled human companion, Temple Barr: her two best beaux are loosely related to the drowned man, and both have reasons to want him dead. Perhaps Temple can finally choose between handsome hotline counselor Matt Devine and the mysterious magician, Ma Kinsella--by finding out which of them is a killer.

And then there are the new girls in town: an inscrutable lady magician named Shangri-La, who may play a bigger role in this scenario than anyone might think; and her winsome Siamese familiar, who may solve Louie's problems by giving him the key to her heart--or the key to solving the mystery.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Midnight Louie, the black tomcat detective with a nose for the notorious, returns in the ninth episode of Carole Nelson Douglas's beloved series chronicling the follies of everyone's favorite feline. Back in Las Vegas after a holiday trip to the Big Apple, Midnight Louie witnesses death on the Nile when the battling Egyptian barges outside the Oasis hotel bring a dead body to the surface. The soggy victim is well known to Louie's redheaded, high-heeled human companion, Temple Barr: her two best beaux have been closely involved with the drowned man, and both have reasons to want him dead. Perhaps Temple can finally choose between handsome hotline counselor and ex-priest Matt Devine and the mysterious magician, Max Kinsella - by finding out which of her beaux is a killer. And then there are the new girls in town: an inscrutable lady magician named Shangri-La, who may play a bigger role in this scenario than anyone might think; and her winsome Siamese familiar, who may solve Louie's problems by giving him the key to her heart - or the key to solving the mystery.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly