Cat in a Golden Garland

A Midnight Louie Mystery: 8

ISBN: 0-812-53036-5 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com

A playful continuation of the Midnight Louie mysteries, this novel combines two spunky narrators, romantic complications, and a puzzling death amid a tangle of distracting motives.

Reviewed by David on January 20, 1999

Genre: Mystery (Amateur Sleuth, Cat)

Synopsis: Temple Barr, a short, curious and energetic PR consultant for a Las Vegas casino, comes to New York with her feline companion Midnight Louie to be checked out by a prestigious PR firm as a possible spokesbeings for a national cat-food advertising campaign. As Temple copes with the unfamiliar perils of the Naked City around Christmas, the high-pressure competition at the PR agency is interrupted by a mysterious death. Being incurably nosy, Temple insists on searching out clues and putting them together.

Louie, meanwhile, has a reunion with his favored lady-cat, the Divine Yvette, as well as with her lovely sister, the lovely Golden Solange.

Full Review: Carole Nelson Douglas is the author of several fantasy, science fiction and mystery books, including Probe and the pleasant fantasy series starting with Six of Swords. This is another of her Midnight Louie mysteries, a book where Temple Barr and her black tomcat Midnight Louie alternate as narrators. The series started with Catnap.

The red-haired, diminutive and perky Barr, who loathes the adjective "cute" when applied to her person and any part thereof, travels to New York City. After his successful video debut in Cat in a Pink Fedora, Midnight Louis is a contestant for the coveted position of a national cat-food campaign spokescat. Dodging the evil viles of his rival, the perfidious Maurice, Louis is the perfect star, wooing the downcast Yvette, charming her sister the Golden Persian Solange, while helping his human partner sniff out villainy. And the prestigious PR firm has villainy aplenty: when a Christmas party turns up a corpse, Temple finds a web of suspicion, fear and secrets. The secrets going back to the sixties, the time of passion and war, drugs and death, the memories of which still haunt all too many people.

At the same time, Temple's handsome friend, Matt Devine, confronts his own past, from a search for his abusive stepfather, who may already be dead, to the memories of shame in his native Chicago neighborhood. As Temple's friend finally gains a measure of peace, her own is threatened by her former lover, the mysterious, dangerous, and charming Max.

The mystery plot of this book is somewhat weak, as the author concentrates more on the sleuth (Temple), her cat, friends and relatives than on a plausible detection story. Unlike many typical serialized mysteries, some of the crimes, especially those affecting the protagonist and her romantic interest, are not resolved in a single book. Instead, they form a slowly shifting backdrop to the more episodic "foreground" crimes in every book.

The feisty and intelligent heroine, combined with the hectic pace and humorous tone, make this an enjoyable and fun read. This novel is more attractive for its human interest elements associated with Temple and Matt than for the ostensibly important murder.

Overall: 6.5; Plot: 5; Characters: 6.5; Style: 6.5; World-building: 6; Originality: 5.5;

ISBN: 0-812-53036-5 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com