Temple Barr and Matt Devine make a cozy engaged couple, and the feisty redhead is all for her handsome fiance starring in a Las Vegas charity event, "Dancing with the Celebs." But while Matt struggles to master the sexy moves of the tango, a killer stalks the dance floor.

Entreated by a B-movie actress to investigate the suspicious death of a handyman, Temple Barr discovers that the actress's wealthy aunt is planning to leave her estate to her resident cats, much to the chagrin of greedy humans.

As she prepares to launch a high-risk Las Vegas mob museum and casino, publicist Temple Barr uncovers a buried safe and a recently murdered body and turns to Midnight Louie's cat posse to stave off mafia threats on her life.

"Temple Barr and Matt Devine make a cozy engaged couple, and the feisty redhead is delighted when her handsome radio host fiance stars in a week-long televised Las Vegas charity event called "Dancing with the Celebs." But while ex-priest Matt struggles to master the sexy moves of the tango, a killer stalks the dance floor. Not only is Matt in danger, but so is Mariah, the lovely tween daughter of homicide cop C. R. Molina. And so Temple gets dragooned into resurrecting her kicky teen persona, Zoe Chloe Ozone, to investigate."--BOOK COVER.

When an Area 51 attraction on the Strip brings hordes of UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists to Vegas, feline private investigator Midnight Louie and the gang tackle an all-too-human adversary who is taking advantage of easily swayed victims.

Chaperoning Temple Barr's visit to Chicago to meet fiancé Matt Devine's family, hard-boiled feline sleuth Midnight Louie is unexpectedly catnapped by an abductor with ties to an unsolved string of murders in Vegas and Temple's ex, the amnesiac magician Max Kinsella.

Cat in a Sapphire Slipper is the twentieth title in Carole Nelson Douglas's sassy Midnight Louie mystery series. The tough-talking, twenty-pound, tomcat PI is as feisty as ever as he and his gang try to keep his favorite roommate from losing her man. PR honcho Temple Barr's romance novelist aunt Kit has wound up in a romantic plot of her own. She's snagged one of the most eligible bachelors on the Strip, one of the elder Fontana brothers, a silver-tongued reputed ex-mobster with a heart of gold. There is to be a wedding...and where there is a wedding there is usually a bachelor party. Things go disastrously wrong when the entire party is hijacked and taken to a remote ranch out in the Nevada desert, a place where the women are wild and the sex is legal. And among the group? None other than Temple's own Matt, an ex-priest. Truly a fish out of water, he soon comes upon a beautiful young woman who is quite naked and most thoroughly dead. Given the remoteness of the location with very few suspects on hand (plus the Fontanas' shady reputation) this could be a very bad thing indeed. And Louie? Well, he managed to go along for the ride and once again it's up to that big old tomcat to bail out his humans and save the day. Cat in a Sapphire Slipper is a fast-paced, racy mystery with a loveable cast of characters and one terrific tough dude to keep them all in line. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Like other fictional characters, female sleuths may live in the past or the future. They may represent current times with some level of reality or shape their settings to suit an agenda. There are audiences for both realism and escapism in the mystery novel. It is interesting, however, to compare the fictional world of the mystery sleuth with the world in which readers live. Of course, mystery readers do not share one simplistic world. They live in urban, suburban, and rural areas, as do the female heroines in the books they read. They may choose a book because it has a familiar background or because it takes them to places they long to visit. Readers may be rich or poor; young or old; conservative or liberal. So are the heroines. What incredible choices there are today in mystery series! This three-volume encyclopedia of women characters in the mystery novel is like a gigantic menu. Like a menu, the descriptions of the items that are provided are subjective. Volume 3 of Mystery Women as currently updated adds an additional 42 sleuths to the 500 plus who were covered in the initial Volume 3. These are more recently discovered sleuths who were introduced during the period from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1999. This more than doubles the number of sleuths introduced in the 1980s (298 of whom were covered in Volume 2) and easily exceeded the 347 series (and some outstanding individuals) described in Volume 1, which covered a 130-year period from 1860-1979. It also includes updates on those individuals covered in the first edition; changes in status, short reviews of books published since the first edition through December 31, 2008.

Provide your mystery fans with background information on their favorite writers and series characters, and use this as a guide for adding contemporary titles to your collections. This book examines 100 of today's top mystery novels and mystery authors hailing from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, South Africa, and Australia. Equally valuable to students writing research papers, readers craving new authors or more information about their favorite authors, and teachers seeking specific types of fiction to support curricula, 100 Most Popular Contemporary Mystery Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies provides revealing information about today's best mysteries and authors—without any "spoilers." Each of the accomplished writers included in this guide has established a broad audience and is recognized for work that is imaginative and innovative. The rising stars of 21st century mystery will also be included, as will authors who have won the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award.

A Public Relations freelancer in Las Vegas and her eighteen-pound tomcat encounter a dead publisher and the theft of two short-eared cats from ABA exhibit hall in a Baker & Taylor exhibit booth.