Catnap

What a fun cat detective murder mystery! I've not read the Braun "Cat Who..." series, so I can't compare it to the Midnight Louie series (this being the first book of the mystery series, though Louie was a character in some romances before this). Louie is a 18 pound black-as-night cat who leaves his former Las Vegas hotel residence due to the arrival of a new baby. He stumbles upon a dead man in the convention center where the American Booksellers Association is having their convention.

Not wanting to be accused of the murder himself, he leads the PR person for the center, Temple, on a chase which ends with her on top of the body. Temple then can't help but do some sleuthing of her own to try to figure this all out. In the mean time, show more she's also preoccupied by the disappearance of Baker and Taylor, two Scottish fold cats that are the mascots of the book jobber of the same name. We follow Temple and occasionally hear from Louie about his predicament of how to tie everything up so Temple doesn't get in trouble.

Even though it was written around 20 years ago, the ABA convention seemed not much different than current ALA (Am. Library Assoc) ones I've been to recently, so I enjoyed that connection in the atmosphere. I had an inkling about the murder, but didn't figure it out - always good in a murder mystery.

Overall, it was quite the enjoyable read and I'm waiting for the second book in the series to arrive at my Public Library for me to borrow. Hopefully, the mysteries will continue to intrigue and Louie will continue to charm me. show less

Midnight Louie is an enormous 20 pound black cat who roams free in Las Vegas. He has lately been mostly living in the hotel and casino, the Crystal Phoenix, but looking for more action, he moves to the Convention Center, and after being found next to a dead body, finds himself as a material witness in a murder investigation in the middle of the ABA (American Booksellers Association) Convention. Templeton Barr, a public relations specialist at the Convention, ends up taking him home with her and thus begins an partnership that has extended into 20 some mystery titles.

In this mystery, most of the chapters are from the point-of-view of public relations director Templeton Barr, with a few short chapters that are from Midnight Louie's show more humorous voice. I liked both Temple and Louie, so I imagine that I'll move on the next in the series. The mystery itself was average with some pacing problems, but the description of some of the ABA and publishing politics was interesting. The side mystery of the missing Baker and Taylor cats was almost more interesting to me than the murder investigation. Finally, the Las Vegas setting was very well described, from the glitzy Strip, to the non-descript suburbs, to the unrelenting heat. This was a fun cozy for cat lovers and I suspect that the plot elements will improve in future books in the series. show less

‘Midnight Louie’ is an 18 lb black tom cat who lives in Las Vegas. While roaming the American Booksellers Association convention, he discovers a hidden corpse, and leads PR woman Temple Barr to it. Soon they both find themselves trying to solve the murder mystery-and a possibly associated catnapping- in their own ways. Both end up with attempts made on their lives before the murder is solved.

The story is told in alternate sections: Temple in the third person and Louie in the first. Louie sounds like Sam Spade, going on about dolls and his own prowess- mental, physical and sexual. Temple’s sections are interesting, although they dwell on her shoes an awful lot.

The book is the first of a series, and truly reads like a first novel. show more I was surprised to find that Douglas was an established author of other types of books. ‘Catnap’ could have used some editing- although given that the murder victim in the story is an editor, that might have been rather daunting! I assume the author settled into the characters in later books and things became smoother and more mature, and so I will give another book in the series a try. show less

Midnight Louie is a cat, living in Las Vegas. When he discovers a dead body at the American Booksellers' Association convention, he must help figure out what happened. Temple is a PR person, working at the convention and was the first human to discover the body. She also wants to find out what happened. In the meantime, Baker & Taylor, the two cat mascots for the company of the same name, have disappeared. Temple is trying to keep this quiet and find the cats at the same time.

It was ok. I wasn't crazy about Temple at the start of the book, especially, though I guess she wasn't so bad later. I did like Louie (who had the occasional chapter to himself, from his point of view); that part of the book was cute. I don't think it's enough to show more keep me reading the series, though. show less

This was a good mystery book, not the best one I have ever read but it kept me intrigued. I actually did like most of the characters, even if they were all sort of a trope and kind of weird. This book has a cat element that is clearly evident from the cover and the first pages. The problem was that the chapters that were narrated by the cat were not chapters I enjoyed very much. Luckily for me those chapters didn't come up very often but in a book that's kind of short I wanted to enjoy all of it. I really liked Detective Molina's character for some reason when she was first introduced, but as the game went on it seemed like all the other characters hated her. The main character even equated he to a Nazi once, which I did not like at show more all. I did like the setting for this book at a book publishers conference because I like book themes in books. Without giving anything away, I wasn't a big fan on how they wrapped up the mystery. It was one of those big reveal type situation but it felt to fast to me and I wasn't very satisfied. Overall with this book, I may pick up another in this series if I want something fun and easy to read, because I did find this book a fun and easy read, but the next book won't be high on my TBR list, and with all the other books I have to read, I know if I do read another book in this series it won't be soon. I would say if you're thinking of picking up this book, do so if you just want a fun mystery and maybe read something else if you want something with more depth. show less

I am generally not a fan of cat mysteries (or cats themselves for that matter), but there is something so cunning about Midnight Louie that I would even take him in. Temple is great as well. This fun and intelligent series is a fun one to read.

Temple Barr, a p.r. lady, winds up in the middle of many murders throughout this series, primarily set in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her large, street-savvy tom, Midnight Louie, as usual saves the day. In this series the animals talk to each other but not to the people. This particular story is set partially at the American Booksellers' Association convention, with employees of Baker & Taylor being kidnapped.