Cat in a Kiwi Con (Midnight Louie #12)
 0812584252, 9780812584257

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^s 'Feline

PI

Midnight Louie prowls

the alleys of Las Vegas, solving crimes and romancing runaways like a furry

Sam Spade."- People

mmvm

mm

$24.95 ($35.95CAN)

0-312-86955-X

(AT in A kiwi con Midnight Louie, the purring PL,

is

making

Carole

twelfth

his

outing

in

a jet-black feline sleuth

Nelson Douglas's

acclaimed cozy-flair mystery series. This time "the always

engaging Louie" {People magazine) the prowl, lured into the

While Barr,

his

human

and her

toils

is

on

his

partner, public relations

whiz Temple

Max

significant other, ex-magician

Kinsella,

most magical on the Las Vegas

are bespelled by murder

campus, Louie has followed the

University

own and on

of a feline fatale.

lethal

and

lovely Siamese, Hyacinth, into the alien territory of the

world's largest science fiction and fantasy convention,

GigantiCon.

They're Star Trek

all

m

there: Hercules

and Xena, elves and

aliens,

captains and crew, actors, writers, readers,

and Godzillions of fans, both fantasy figures and out.

in

New

costume as

to the milieu

Louie's radio-shrink neighbor, ex-priest

their favorite

is

Temple and

Matt Devine, chap-

eroning Mariah, a pre-teen dazzled by the multimedia

entertainment world that soon

will turn

from a wonder-

land into the perfect landscape for violence and murder.

Lucky that Mariah's mother

is

homicide lieutenant

C. R.

Molina.

Or

is

it?

When

dered, not only

is

the usual suspects

thousands. in their

Many

a prominent player the

method

in this

is

horribly mur-

of death perplexing, but

case are a very unusual cast of

of the actors

and fans are so immersed

alternate worlds of reality that they won't or can't

"break" character even to answer a police interrogation. (continued on back flap)

Ate-

m

1

Louie's

newsletter

him at Midnight Louies Box 331555, Fort Worth, or

visit

Scratching

and/or Post-

TX

76163,

the

Web

by

page

Carole Nelson Douglas

Muses on Masks

Actor William Shatner

famous

is

for

more than creating the

totypical space -captain role of the past thirty-five years,

pro-

James

T.

Kirk of the starship Enterprise.

He "Get

is

also credited with coining a

contemporary catch phrase:

a life."

Reportedly, he was

common

on

show when he

yelled this

now-

phrase at a devoted fan in the audience.

Certainly Shatner and

running

a talk

all

the Star Trek crew have seen fan fever

at its highest temperature.

And

certainly he has enjoyed



what most actors hope for playing a role that unexpectedly roots itself in the cultural continuum and supports him for the rest of relinhis life. He has also faced what actors find hardest of all quishing a signature role in the face of age. First, Clayton Moore, the fifties's Lone Ranger, was legally forced to doff his mask and



give up personal appearances.

Then

the Star Trek franchise wrote

CAT finis to

Captain Kirk so

A KIWI CON

IN it

415



could continue the saga with other lead

actors.

even and perhaps especially

Life goes on, though, alien or not,

on

screen. Shatner has evolved other roles since starring in Star

Trek

on

sixties television

and

in a series of feature films that

bridged the seventies and eighties, including that of ghost-written celebrity author.

must have been a

Still, it

James

and

T. Kirk's

bitter

assignment to participate in

on-screen demise so that an imported Englishman

a set of younger actors could continue Star Trek into the next

generation.

And that leads to the question of whether it is better to have no fantasy

life

Realists

at

all,

than one that

is

too

all- consuming.

have no patience with fans who dress in past or future

costumes to honor favorite books, movies, and television shows. That doesn't stop countless annual weekend conventions in the science fiction/fantasy field, and occasional ones in the romance and mystery-novel world that allow fans to don special- occasion personas and even win awards for the elaboration of their recreated costumes and personas. Sometimes the fan personas go from merely dressing a part to playing one, which is where role -playing games come in. And sometimes, especially with impressionable teenagers, the games become too serious, the fantasy never quite recedes, and then you can have suicide or even homicide. Or would the extremes have happened anyway, without the costumes and props? I once wrote a newspaper editorial, after a couple of Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts had gotten into serious trouble, suggesting that role -playing games might be too dangerous to developing personalities.

The

fierce rebuttal, I

but

editorial director of I

had

just

another paper wrote a

been playing

devil's advocate.

believe that exercising our imaginations

privilege

and

responsibility, that

manifestations of

human

is

a peculiarly

costume and

creativity

and

ritual are

spiritual longing,

human inborn

and that

416



harmless for as

it is

as

are,

such

as the

hunt

Carole Nelson Douglas

much for

of the time as other

life, liberty,

empathy is where artists, dancers, cians, and shamans come from.

No

human

pursuits

and happiness. Fantasy and

actors, musicians, writers, magi-

doubt a few personalities hide so long behind the admired

persona that they can't step out from behind the mask. But most o{ us do, with

many

o{ us the better for

it.

fY\\|St>r PS 3554 .08237 C276 2000

Douglas, Carole Nelson Cat in a Kiwi Con )

Pl

iiliiJi^iii iiiii

DUE DATE II 11

L ICLIBRARY

i iif i

111

3 9999 03740 070

HYfo P«A Branch dtwmf 35 Hajvartf Avenue Hyte Park, MA 021SB

(continued from front flap)

Molina soon finds that she needs some out-of-this-world help

from a

lot

unexpected sources, including her

of

media-versed daughter and that black cat

named Midnight

Louie.

And cial

just as

soon

becomes

it

clear that

or unofficial investigators in this case

atmosphere that provides cover not only murderer, but for an unseen antagonist is

none

after the hides of

for

is

of the

safe

offi-

in

an

an unknown

in alien

guise

who

each and every one of them. Joining

the fantasy-in-progress

may

be their only escape.

CAROLE NELSON DOUGLAS is

the author of the bestselling Midnight Louie series,

which includes Cat

in

on Indigo Mood, Cat

Jumpsuit and many more. Carole

is

in

a Jeweled

also the award-

winning author of several fantasy, mystery, and romance titles.

She

resides in Fort Worth, Texas.

Jacket art by Roger Loveless

Jacket design by Joe Curcio

8

HARDCOVER

A FORGE

www.t0r.com Distributed St.

in

175 New

the United States by

Martin's Press Fifth

Distributed

Avenue

NY 10010

York,

in

Canada by

H. B. Fenn and Company, Ltd.

Printed

in

the

USA

Praise for Carole Nelson Douglas "You never know what madness and be sure

it

will

be wild,

witty,

and

mayhem

you'll find in Douglas's mysteries, but



utterly irresistible."

— —

"Carole Nelson Douglas has taken anthropomorphism to elegant heights."

"Move

over, Miss Marple, Midnight Louie's

back

in

"A new Midnight Louie book puzzler

in style

is

human

who ranks

right

"The tenth Midnight Louie novel retains ters continue to

all

it

experience. And

in

up with the greats

brilliantly talented Carole

new

direction that

is

not only does

the irresistibly witty Louie, she



Travis

McGee



in fur!"

Romantic Times

the freshness of the previous books as the charac-

be interesting and entertaining....A

CAT



as an incandescent prism through

crisp story line, highlighted with

new

—Midwest Book Review

insights into several of the secondary protagonists."

series in a

Magazine

pure reading catnip, as Ms. Douglas exquisitely crafts a clever

which she superbly illuminates the creates a legendary sleuth

Cats

MOOD

no/r with striking characterization and a rare clarity of vision

she set a scene with vivid precision, but she in turn uses

"The

Publishers Weekly

town."

CAT IN AN INDIGO

you can

San Francisco Chronicle

ON A HYACINTH HUNT Nelson Douglas has set

in

motion story

line twists leading the

sure to surprise yet please Louie's biggest fans."



Midwest Book 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.

even

better,

she provides a depth of ambiance and keen insight to the soul that

But

make each

of

her books a treasured 'keeper' for her ever-increasing, totally devoted audience."



Romantic Times/RAVE Reviews