CAT IN AN INDIGO MOOD

Midnight Louie, feline detective nonpareil, goes on the prowl for the tenth time (Cat in a Golden Garland, 1988, etc.) when Fanny Furbelow, she with the great double pair of legs, comes calling with a problem. Her boyfriend, she tells Louie, is suddenly and inexplicably “a missing pusson.” Suspecting foul play, she persuades Louie that the case is right down his alley. Coincidentally, Temple Barr, sometime p.r. flack and always Louie’s favorite human, finds herself enmeshed once again in things dark and murky. It seems that Las Vegas homicide lieutenant Carmen Molino thinks Temple can help solve the “she left” murders, which have been baffling criminology’s finest minds. Dead females keep turning up—the words “she left” spray-painted on or near them. “She left” what? Molino hopes Temple will be able to supply the answer. It’s not that the crusty, choleric cop likes Temple—or anybody else, for that matter. Instead, she respects Temple’s instincts. Molino, who on the sly doubles as a torch singer (it makes her feel better about her work) also respects the instincts of ex-priest Matt Devine and magician/secret agent Max Kinsella, and gets them involved, too. Along the way, the magician does a vanishing act, but the ex-priest confronts other ex-priests—in a denouement that solves the mystery. Does Louie’s case intersect with the humans’ case, and is he then instrumental in cracking both? Of course, he is. In Douglas’s world, it’s obligatory for cats to solve cute. Unfocused and meandering, even for this loosely strung series. Give it a catcall and a half. (Author tour)