Cat in an Orange Twist: A Midnight Louie Mystery [Hardcover]

When I wrote my review for the last book in this series, _Cat in a Neon Nightmare_, I said that due to the deterioration of the series over time I was going to give it one more book to see if I wanted to continue reading it. Well, this book paid off. Carole Nelson Douglas has returned to basics, and _Cat in an Orange Twist_ is the most enjoyable Midnight Louie book for quite some time.

Temple Barr is acting as PR rep for a large furniture store that, as part of its grand opening, is hosting an internationally known Feng Shui master. During the opening cermonies, the store comes under attack from unknown people bearing automatic weapons. Shortly thereafter, one of the furniture store employees is murdered. Because murder is bad public relations--and because she knew the victim--Temple leaps in to make right.

"Orange Twist" resembles earlier Midnight Louie books in that the crime takes the main stage here. Gone, for the nost part, are the long, introspective monologues that made the last few volumes increasingly tedious. We still get insight into the characters, but it's more subtle. CND has let them stand on their own, rather than telling us what to think, and that was a good choice as far as I'm concerned.

There are also fewer of the main characters to deal with. Several ongoing plotlines take a back seat and I can't say that I miss them. At the same time, some old faces are shown in a new light and I enjoyed that a great deal.

Temple's (and Louie's) investigation proceeds along lines standard to the genre and this series in particular, with lots of red herrings, spooky locations and strangely overblown action sequences. Sloppy editing and a few internal inconsistencies prohibit me from giving this book 5 stars, but for a good evening's light entertainment, you could do worse than visit Las Vegas with Louie and Company.

I'm desperately addicted to these books. While I really enjoy the individual mysteries, and "Orange Twist" is a good 'un, I'm absolutely hooked on the overarcing storyline, laid out in what will, eventually, be 27 chapters (starting with "Catnap" and "Pussyfoot" before the alphabet starts with "Blue Monday"). About the only thing I can't stand is that I'm going to have to wait about eleven years for, oh, say, "Cat in a Zebra Stripe"!

This installment moves the lives of our intrepid cast of characters forward without losing track of the intriguing mystery at hand, murder in a new furniture store. The ever-resiliant Miss Temple Barr tackles her PR duties while sleuthing out who the culprit(s) are with her usual finesse and style, and in the meantime, my favorite golden boy Matt finally makes his move while the nice-but-rarely-there Max is too busy, once again, saving the world from rogue magicians to get in the way. Pardon my lack of impartiality, but good.

Midnight Louie and possible-daughter Midnight Louise round up a cast of cat characters to help save the day and rope in the baddies and, of course, save Louie's beloved Miss Temple! Also nice to see some folks from the "old days" back, including Danny Dove and the flotilla of Fontana Brothers. I also very much appreciated the extremely sensitive and intelligent use of gay characters. Hooray for Ms. Douglas.

All in all, an extremely pleasant read and my favorite of the series since "Cat in an Indigo Mood." It's really tough to have to wait a year between chapters. One fun thing is to read the series rapidly and in order, which, with this volume, is up to 16 chapters and of course has taken over a decade to write, while only about two years of "book time" has passed, which means Las Vegas has swelled, changed, and grown at an awesome rapid pace. Topical events happen in staggeringly rapid session. But no matter. Even with the occasional inconsistency (often a sudden change of hotel or stumble over detail, and just a few little things anyone familiar with Vegas might cringe at), I just can't wait for the next installment.

Kitty the Cutter finally got what she deserved in the last book, which is where this book picks up.

Temple is hired to do PR for a furniture store, which is really a front for a drug smuggling operation. Bad things happen to nice people and Temple investigates the murder of a loved one for an old friend. Windows are shot out, Temple is threatened by a gay motorcycle gang, and there is another murder.

The romantic triangle is back and stronger. Max has other fish to fry and just sort of drops in a time or two in this book. That leaves Temple open to the attentions of Matt who is definitely interested in a relationship with her, and they come VERY close to acting on it. Max had better do more than just feel guilty about neglecting her.

The Fontana brothers are an absolute hoot and I hope we see more of them. We also find out a little more about them in this book. More of Ma Barker and her gang would be welcome, too.

There are some weaknesses. Like an earlier reviewer said, there are too many Jimmy Choo references and shoe talk in general. It is hard to tell who is speaking sometimes (a chronic fault in this series). The part about the pictures used as a signal is weak and not very subtle, even if the plot is built on it. Also, there is one glaring error that neither the writer nor the editor caught: Mozart's "murderous rival" was Salieri, not Solari (Solari was an architect). Antonio Salieri was Mozart's competitor of sorts, not a killer. Why change the name, unless it was an error? Temple put her Jimmy Choo'd foot in it

Overall, it was a good read and I look forward to the next one.