Catnap

Catnap (Midnight Louie #1) by Carole Nelson Douglas

I picked this book up years ago at a library book sale as I love mysteries and I love cats, so when they are combined they are a serious winner!

This book is not only a noir-it is a chat noir! LOL

Midnight Louie is a giant, eighteen pound cat who roams the streets. He used to call the Crystal Palace Casino his home, but since the owner got married and had a baby-it isn’t really the place for him.

He’s a P.I. investigating crimes on the strip and finds himself at the convention center where the ABA, American Booksellers Association, is holding thier annul convention. As he peruses the book stalls, he discovers a dead body-stabbed by a knitting needle. Not wanting to be the one who is suspected for the murder, he decides to have someone else find the body.

That patsy just happens to be Templeton Barr, P.R. for the ABA conference.

Templeton Barr had a wonderful job at the Guthrie Theater and left it to follow her magician boyfriend to Las Vegas, Nevada. He disappeared, and Temple couldn’t get her job back-so she stayed in Vegas, working as a freelance P.R.

She is finishing up her work, worried sick about the disappearance of Scottish Fold cats, Baker & Taylor-mascots for the booksellers; when a guard tells her a cat has been spotted on the main floor. Templeton scurries down there to find Midnight Louie and the dead body.

It isn’t just any body, but Chester Royal, head of Pennyroyal Press-specializing in medical murder mysteries and thriller. He was a rude, crude, penny-pinching, misogynistic man who only cares about himself and making more money for himself. Suspects abound!

He was found with the knitting needle through the chest and the word “STET” on his body.

Templeton has a PR nightmare, but gets the idea to use Midnight Louie-detective cat angle-shielding the B&T cat disappearances and making the story a human interest piece on the front page.

She also finds herself caring for Midnight Louie, investigating the murder, and having to do a ransom drop to get the B&T cats back.

She goes to work investigating, but will curiosity kill this P.R. cat?

Hmm…

Thoughts After Reading:

It’s funny because I read this book over thirteen years ago and Baker & Taylor meant nothing to me, other than a side storyline. Now that I work in a library, as soon as I read Baker & Taylor I knew it meant the booksellers and I knew how important the cats are. Funny, isn’t it.

I thought it was an interesting mystery-especially the switching of chapters from Templeton’s view to Midnight Louie’s 1940s PI entries.

The mystery was a bit dry and hard to slog through in places. I also think how she figured it out was a bit jumping the shark-as a new character enters the story in the last few chapters that holds the “key” to discovering the truth.

I hate that. It always feels lazy to me or a last ditched effort to figure out a way to reach the conclusion instead of interweaving it throughput.

For more Noirvember, go to Wolverine Noir

For more cat mysteries, go to The Tell-Tale Purr

For more mysteries with Private Detectives, go to Lowcountry Boneyard

For more mysteries set in Las Vegas, go to Innocent in Las Vegas

For more books from a library book sale, go to The Key to Midnight

Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters

Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters by Lida Sideris

After Corrie Locke’s father died, she decided to give up the private investigating business and get into something that is safe and secure; becoming a lawyer.

Everything will be fine.

In fact, Corrie has just landed the job of her dreams, an associate lawyer at a big entertainment production house. Only problem is, this is far from what she dreamed as safe and secure.

Instead Corrie has a crazy supervisor who changes his mind every second, her ex-boyfriend that was a huge mistake works there too, a gossipy Human Resources executive, a Vice President that doesn’t understand the word “no”, and much more.

To make things even more complicated, Corrie finds herself donning her gumshoes when someone begs her to investigate a suicide, he believes is a cover for murder.

Once word is out that Corrie is back in business, she gets two more cases: finding a famous basketball player’s lost lucky charm, his Siamese cat; and figuring out who is making a famous rapper believe he has been abducted by aliens.

In between lawyering and investigating; Corrie has an old friend she’d always crushed on come back in her life; and a man she can’t stand but is attracted to. What’s a girl to do?

Thoughts After Reading:

            Fans of Veronica Mars will enjoy reading about this teenage private investigator trying to leave the life, only to discover it is something in her blood.

Corrie was a fun and likable character as you relate to her normalcy in an office full of strange temperamental people. Her partner in investigating, best friend, and secret crush; Michael, is not only adorable in his nerdy everyday personality, but just as lovable in his attempts to be like Colombo or other TV detective.

This novel was very engaging and the three mysteries were fun, interesting and great to challenge any reader. The lost cat and rapper tales are minor, but still engaging, and the overall investigating arc of the suicide as murder; is intriguing as it takes a series of twists and turns in trying to find out is it really a murder? And if so who could be the killer?

Who??

The only issues I had with the book was at times it seems to be a little bit disorganized, waiting until halfway in to give us the back-story the author is constantly hinting at.  I would have preferred if we were introduced to it earlier as it helps one understand the characters better. The other problem I had with the novel was the love triangle between Corrie, Michael, and the assistant district attorney. A lot of mysteries have been doing this lately, and I for one am tired of reading it.

But as those are such minute issues, and on a whole the story was almost impossible to put

down,

I would give this four and a half stars out of five.

For more books on private investigators, go to Fool Moon

For more female private investigators, go to One for the Money

For more suspicious suicides, go to Knit, Purl, Die

For more not in a series mysteries, go to The Italian Wife