Danger in D.C.: Cat Crimes in the Nation's Capitol

The latest entry in the popular Cat Crimes series is a collection of original stories featuring cats in Washington, many, aptly enough, focusing on the First Cat. In Carol Nelson Douglas's ``Sax and the Single Cat,'' feline detective Midnight Louie persuades runaway Socks Clinton to forego his longings for the simpler pleasures of Little Rock and return to the White House for the good of his country. In ``Code Red: Terror on the Mall,'' by Bill Crider, a terrorist plot to blow up the President's cat--and incidentally the Washington Monument--is foiled when the President himself rescues Socks. ``Enduring as Dust,'' by Bruce Holland Rogers, the high point of the book, plays to the public's worst fears about what bureaucrats actually do. A government agency whose mission statement is ``don't get noticed'' is home to a horde of cats, each named ``Dust.'' Generally lighthearted and pleasant, the collection is marred by Kristine Kathryn Rusch's ``Strays,'' in which multiple, gruesome and graphically described cat murders support a far-fetched plot about Republican dirty tricksters killing Socks look-alikes. Cat-loving mystery buffs who bypass this tale will lap up the other offerings, including those by such veterans as Max Allan Collins, Jon L. Breen and Barbara D'Amato. (Nov.)