Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme: A Midnight Louie Mystery

The recession may be dimming the glitz, but the action still roars in Las Vegas, as shown in Douglas's twisty 22nd Midnight Louie mystery (after 2009's Cat in a Topaz Tango). PR expert Temple Barr is helping the Fontana family to publicize a new tourist attraction exploiting Vegas's mob past, the "Chunnel of Crime," a museum/monorail that connects two hotels. During a promo event, an old underground vault opened in hopes of revealing lost gangster loot uncovers instead the stabbed corpse of Cosimo Sparks, an ex-Vegas magician. The Fontanas and Temple investigate, along with the LVPD. Meanwhile, Temple's fiancé, radio star Matt Devine, is in Chicago and her presumed dead amnesiac ex, magician/counterterrorist Max/Michael Aloysius Xavier Kinsella, is in Ireland with mentor Garry Randolph (aka Gandolph the Great) researching the past of the late Kathleen O'Connor (aka Kitty the Cutter), an abused orphan. Some closing surprises will leave series fans eager for the next installment. (Aug.)