Cat in a Zebra Zoot Suit

“Just about everything you might want in a mystery: glitzy Las Vegas, real characters, suspense, a tough puzzle, and...on top of it all, a fine sense of humor and some illuminating social commentary.” — The Prime Suspect

Readers are biting their nails as the popular alphabetic Midnight Louie feline PI mystery series' penultimate book arrives with this 27th entry. Even then, Las Vegas's hairiest sleuth (whose feline-noir voice has been compared to Hammett, Hammer, and Nathan Detroit) will not be hanging up his fedora. Cat in an Alphabet Endgame is still to come.

In the 27th Midnight Louie mystery by New York Times Notable Book of the Year author Carole Nelson Douglas, Midnight Louie channels the jazz and swing-dance age. In Cat in a Zebra Zoot suit, Circle Ritz residents petite PR powerhouse Temple Barr and her faithful roommate, Midnight Louie, must defend their beloved elderly landlady from a bizarre murder charge that echoes a long-past atrocity. Meanwhile Temple's fiancé, Matt Devine, turns detective on a secret mission and her ex, a magician with a counter-terrorist past, tangles with vengeful IRA members and a psycho stalker in Ireland. And what makes a defunct fifties nightclub building in Las Vegas the pit of all evil and greed?

All involved will face surprising dangers and choices and will balancing on the edge of survival... and maybe even shocking new futures. Deadly encounters and unexpected reunions force all the main characters into unforeseen loss and disclosure, the suspense leavened by Douglas's characteristic wit and heart.

Janet Evanovich says of this USA TODAY bestselling series "Midnight Louie is the funniest, hairiest, hard-boiled PI on the planet." Publishers Weekly finds Temple "fun, frothy and charming".

(The series' first two non-alphabetic titles, Catnap and Pussyfoot, have been reissued in ebook as Cat in an Alphabet Soup and Cat in an Aqua Storm.)

"So in this typically fun-filled, witty and comic Midnight Louie outing, Douglas tackles a multitude of serious and topical issues [including] monogamy, celibacy, sexual responsibility and familial responsibility, theology, stalking, sanity and lack of same, honor and commitment, and the keeping of vows and trusts," said Mostly Murder on Cat in a Flamingo Fedora.

Editor Carolyn Nichols called the Midnight Louie novels "Sophisticated, mainstream, and upmarket."

Carole Nelson Douglas penned the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Night, Mr. Holmes, about Irene Adler, and also writes the Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, noir urban fantasies. She specializes in witty, adventurous novels in the mystery/thriller, high and urban fantasy, and romance/women's fiction genres.

A former award-winning newspaper reporter, she has three lifetime achievement awards in mystery/suspense from RT Book Reviews and has won many Cat Writers' Association Muse Medallions. In 2012, she was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. She rescues cats and the occasional dog in her spare time.

“Las Vegas’s feline detective extraordinary returns... Louie is an irresistible combination of Nathan Detroit and Sam Spade. Plenty of interest here for a lengthy, fun-filled series.” — Mostly Murder

“If it's murder, it must be Midnight Louie time! Carole Nelson Douglas's cool dude feline detective pulls off some fancy footwork when he matches wits with a murderer... Written with stylish zest and irresistible panache, this clever tale operates on a multiplicity of levels.” — Melinda Helfer, RT Book Reviews 4½ stars