Cat In An Alphabet Soup (Catnap)

 “AMONG THE MANY APPEALING FELINES ON THE  MYSTERY SCENE, MIDNIGHT LOUIE STANDS OUT AS THE COOLEST CAT OF ALL. You don’t have to be a cat lover to appreciate his savoir faire as he strolls the streets of Las Vegas, not to mention his sleek looks and keen intelligence. No doubt about it, CND has hit the jackpot again with her nifty new sleuth and his intrepid investigations.”

—Melinda Heifer, RT Book Reviews

 

ATTENTION! ALL YOU AILUROPHILES ADDICTED TO LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN’SThe Cat who... mysteries can latch onto a new purrivate eye: Midnight Louie... slinking an sleuthing on his own á la Mike Hammer.”

—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Carole Nelson Douglas takes anthropomorphism to elegant heights as Midnight Louie, a tom who’s a private dick, harries Las Vegas malefactors.”

—Publishers Weekly

“THE READER WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE MIDNIGHT LOUIE and his feline friends in this hilarious satire of the American publishing industry at work.”

—Andrew M. Greeley

And Praise from Felines:

 

“MIDNIGHT LOUIE IS ONE HEAVY DUDE. Gourmand, ladies’ man and world-class dog-baiter, this feline detective attacks crime tooth and nail. But if he lays a paw on my lasagna, he’ll tangle with a real heavyweight.”

—Garfield, as told to Jim Davis

“A felony against felines has been purrpetrated! As corporate mascots, catnapping is something we enjoy, but not when we are the catnapees! The fur flies as this furmidable feline detective gets inside the book publishing scene to solve the mystery and save our tails. Midnight Louie is one cool cat!”

—Baker and Taylor, mascots of Baker & Taylor Book Distributors

The adventures of Baker and Taylor—the cats—as depicted in Midnight Louie’s memoirs are purely fictional.

 

COPYRIGHT

 

Cat in an Alphabet Soup

First Kindle edition Copyright October 2013 Carole Nelson Douglas

Previously published and copyrighted as Catnap Copyright March 1992

Proofreader: Pat Martin

Images Copyright iStock.com

Cover and interior book design Copyright Carole Nelson Douglas

Author photo Copyright Sam Douglas

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

A Wishlist Book

www.wishlistpublishing.com

CAT IN AN

ALPHABETSOUP

THE FIRST

MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERY

by

CAROLE NELSON DOUGLAS

 

For the real and original Midnight Louie, nine lives weren’t enough

Prologue

Midnight Louie, P.I.

Ihave a nose for news and pause at nothing. That is why I always find the body.

This time it is one dead dude tucked at the back of one among three thousand booths cramming the half-million-square-foot East Exhibition Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

As usual, my presence on the scene—not to mention my proximity to the corpse—puts me in a delicate position. For one thing, my unappetizing discovery is made in the wee hours of morning. Security with a capitalsis blissfully unaware of my presence among the aisles of merchandise on display, which is the way I like it.

Now Las Vegas is a twenty-four-hour town and I am a twenty-four-hour kind of guy. That is why they call me Midnight Louie.

It is in my veins, Vegas. I know every back alley and every gawdy-awful over-electrified Strip sign. Vegas is people on the take, people on the make, people just out to have a good time—to win a little, maybe lose a lot. There are times I might be wiser to skip town (I am no angel), but I stay and even try to go straight.