232 70 45MB
English Pages 424 Year 2001
^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