Cat in a Quicksilver Caper: A Midnight Louie Mystery

Midnight Louie, hard-boiled feline PI, and his human pal, Temple Barr ("Miss Nancy Drew on killer spikes"), whose Vegas PR jobs invariably land her in shark-infested hot water, team up for their 18th cat-astrophically cool crime caper (after 2005's Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit ). Once a flaming natural redhead and now a bottle blonde, Temple is still dithering between two lovers, Mystifying Max Kinsella, a former magician, and Matt Devine, an ex-priest and radio shrink. Her current PR job is helping the New Millennium Hotel prepare for the White Russian art exhibition and aerial magic show featuring the Cloaked Conjuror and a scary Asian diva. A mysterious death before the opening, a fatal "accident" at the opening plus the theft of the exhibition's crown jewel, Czar Alexander's scepter, spell big trouble. Meanwhile, LVPD's Carmen Molina believes she's being stalked by Max, Matt proposes marriage to Temple, and the Synth (a cabal of evil magicians) plots more chicanery leading to a shocking cliffhanger. (July)