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5.0étoiles sur 5
This is where it all began, Nov. 11 2003
Both the adventures if Midnight Louie and my addiction to said cat and his "roommate", the petite but very professional PR specialist, Temple Barr. Little does she (or the new reader) know that when Temple sets off in her trademark high heel shoes after a black cat on the loose at the American Booksellers Association convention in Las Vegas that this is the beginning of not just a mystery and murder but one of the most intriguing partnerships in mystery books. Not only is Louie - the back cat that Temple pursues - intent on leading her to discover the body of Pennyroyal Press publisher Chester Royal- he also manages to squirm hs way into her heart - especially when he does a Sidney Carton and risks life and limb to help rescue Baker and Taylor - two cats who have been catnapped at that same ill-fated convention. Temple is a Mighty Mite - small but brave and ferociously curious. Following Louie's lead, and with a bit of martial arts training from her divine new neighbor, Matt Devine - she manages to solve all the crimes. In the process she acquires a roommate and protector - the somewhat oversized but magnificent Midnight Louie. It is the rollicking beginning to an aphabetical series of Midnight Louie mysteries - what could be looked on as the first chapter of one very long and entertaining mystery saga. While each book in this series stands on its own merits as a good read, it is great fun to start at the beginning and read the books in order. Then the real structure of this series becomes evident and the entertainment value triples. Louie is not your ordinary cat detective. He plays an active part in solving the mysteries he encounters, whether it is simply calling attention to the most vital clues or by intervening tooth and claw to preserve and protect. He's tough talking, with an amusing way with words - a sort of feline Sam Spade but with a heart of gold - although he'd prefer that you not notice that. And Temple Barr is not your typical small female with a shoe obsession, but an intrepid investigator full of courage and heart. Along the way we get some intriguing glimpses into the world of publishing as well as the vagaries of human nature. The Midnight Louie series may read like light cozy mysteries on one level, but read carefully. They are also insightful on a number of levels - and that insight keeps growing as the mystery progresses.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
A Fine Mystery Set In An Unusual Place, Mai 4 2002
Midnight Louie does his usual great job of "solving" this murder mystery set in a Bookseller's Convention. Actually, he finds the body and of course he is responsible for his human, Temple Barr learning who did the dastardly deed and proving it. Miss Barr gets into a lot of trouble along the way and, of course, Midnight Louie "rescues" her from it. Midnight Louie is the ultimate in purrivate eyes with his tough, hardboiled outlook, just like the human detectives.
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3.0étoiles sur 5
Another Cute Book from Carole Nelson Douglas, Fév 15 2002
Everything I've read by Carole Nelson Douglas has been both kind of sweet and not particularly original -- the kind of book that leaves you thinking, "Well, that was cute." This can either be marginally appealing, as in her Irene Adler series, or downright annoying, as in her attempts at high fantasy. _Catnap_ falls into the first category, as the author jumps on the feline sleuth bandwagon.For those interested in the combination of cats and crime, I place the maunderings of Midnight Louie solidly between the interminable "Cat Who..." series and the delightful adventures of Mrs. Murphy. Louie plays a marginally more active role in crime solving than the Siamese Pair of the former, but is not quite so involved as the latter. Like Mrs. Murphy, he has a perky female associate to do the actual work of putting together clues and bringing them to the attention of the proper authorities. Unlike Mrs. Murphy, Louie seems a great deal more interested in self-agrandizement than in true crime solving. There is less of an emphasis on the legendary feline curiosity than there is on the equally legendary feline ego. The setting is interesting as it gives a kind of perspective on Las Vegas as an alien culture. The supporting characters and subplots are derivative, and I thought the grand "revelation of the crime" scene, where the case was presented to all the suspects gathered in one room, was super unrealistic and annoying. Still, _Catnap_ kept me occupied on a grey afternoon when I couldn't think of anything better to do. If you don't go into it with very many expectations, you won't be disappointed. As a series, the Midnight Louie books are standard for the genre and many are much more interesting and original than the first volume. The ongoing supporting cast is appealing, and the series-spanning subplots hooked me into reading past the first two books. Though the crimes and motives are fairly stock, some of the settings are quite original -- I especially liked the book set at a strippers' convention (_Pussyfoot_) and the one set at a Romance Novel convention (_Cat in a Diamond Dazzle). The series could use help from a continuity editor, however. In one book, a major event is stated to have happened both in 1969 and 1959; in others it seems that the author can't remember where one early crime happened, but sets it in this Vegas hotel or that as the whim takes her. Also, there are long sections dealing with the characters' "personal growth" that seem more like something from a psychology or self-help text than real conversations between people. And the characters have an annoying incapacity to use common contractions like "don't" or "won't," which makes much of the dialog seem stilted and unreal. If you like gimick mysteries with a lot of fluff and not much suspense, you could do worse than the Midnight Louie books. Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers they're not, but they're still amusing.
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