What do you think?
Rate this book
Midnight Louie #10
Cat in an Indigo Mood
Feline sleuth Midnight Louie joins forces with his disapproving daughter, Midnight Louise, and his human partner, Temple Barr, to investigate a baffling series of murders of unidentified women, crimes that baffle tough homicide detective Carmen Molina. 25,000 first printing. Tour.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1999
7 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Carole Nelson Douglas
166 books569 followersCarole Nelson Douglas is the author of sixty-four award-winning novels in contemporary and historical mystery/suspense and romance, high and urban fantasy and science fiction genres. She is best known for two popular mystery series, the Irene Adler Sherlockian historical suspense series (she was the first woman to spin-off a series from the Holmes stories) and the multi-award-winning alphabetically titled Midnight Louie contemporary mystery series. From Cat in an Alphabet Soup #1 to Cat in an Alphabet Endgame #28.
Delilah Street, PI (Paranormal Investigator), headlines Carole's noir Urban Fantasy series: Dancing With Werewolves, Brimstone Kiss, Vampire Sunrise, Silver Zombie, and Virtual Virgin. Now Delilah has moved from her paranormal Vegas to Midnight Louie, feline PI's "Slightly surreal" Vegas to solve crimes in the first book of the new Cafe Noir series, Absinthe Without Leave. Next in 2020, Brandi Alexander on the Rocks.
Once Upon a Midnight Noir is out in eBook and trade paperback versions. This author-designed and illustrated collection of three mystery stories with a paranormal twist and a touch of romance features two award-winning stories featuring Midnight Louie, feline PI and Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator in a supernatural-run Las Vegas. A third story completes the last unfinished story fragment of Edgar Allan Poe, as a Midnight Louie Past Life adventure set in 1790 Norland on a isolated island lighthouse. Louie is a soldier of fortune, a la Puss in Boots.
Next out are Midnight Louie's Cat in an Alphabet Endgame in hardcover, trade paperback and eBook Aug. 23, 2016.
All the Irene Adler novels, the first to feature a woman from the Sherlock Holmes Canon as a crime solver, are now available in eBook.
Carole was a college theater and English literature major. She was accepted for grad school in Theater at the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University, and could have worked as an editorial assistant at Vogue magazine (a la The Devil Wears Prada) but wanted a job closer to home. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then editor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. During her time there, she discovered a long, expensive classified advertisement offering a black cat named Midnight Louey to the "right" home for one dollar and wrote a feature story on the plucky survival artist, putting it into the cat's point of view. The cat found a country home, but its name was revived for her feline PI mystery series many years later. Some of the Midnight Louie series entries include the dedication "For the real and original Midnight Louie. Nine lives were not enough." Midnight Louie has now had 32 novelistic lives and features in several short stories as well.
Hollywood and Broadway director, playwright, screenwriter and novelist Garson Kanin took Carole's first novel to his publisher on the basis of an interview/article she'd done with him five years earlier. "My friend Phil Silvers," he wrote, "would say he'd never won an interview yet, but he had never had the luck of you."
Carole is a "literary chameleon" who's had novels published in many genres, and often mixes such genre elements as mystery and suspense, fantasy and science fiction, romance with mainstream issues, especially the roles of women.
Delilah Street, PI (Paranormal Investigator), headlines Carole's noir Urban Fantasy series: Dancing With Werewolves, Brimstone Kiss, Vampire Sunrise, Silver Zombie, and Virtual Virgin. Now Delilah has moved from her paranormal Vegas to Midnight Louie, feline PI's "Slightly surreal" Vegas to solve crimes in the first book of the new Cafe Noir series, Absinthe Without Leave. Next in 2020, Brandi Alexander on the Rocks.
Once Upon a Midnight Noir is out in eBook and trade paperback versions. This author-designed and illustrated collection of three mystery stories with a paranormal twist and a touch of romance features two award-winning stories featuring Midnight Louie, feline PI and Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator in a supernatural-run Las Vegas. A third story completes the last unfinished story fragment of Edgar Allan Poe, as a Midnight Louie Past Life adventure set in 1790 Norland on a isolated island lighthouse. Louie is a soldier of fortune, a la Puss in Boots.
Next out are Midnight Louie's Cat in an Alphabet Endgame in hardcover, trade paperback and eBook Aug. 23, 2016.
All the Irene Adler novels, the first to feature a woman from the Sherlock Holmes Canon as a crime solver, are now available in eBook.
Carole was a college theater and English literature major. She was accepted for grad school in Theater at the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University, and could have worked as an editorial assistant at Vogue magazine (a la The Devil Wears Prada) but wanted a job closer to home. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then editor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. During her time there, she discovered a long, expensive classified advertisement offering a black cat named Midnight Louey to the "right" home for one dollar and wrote a feature story on the plucky survival artist, putting it into the cat's point of view. The cat found a country home, but its name was revived for her feline PI mystery series many years later. Some of the Midnight Louie series entries include the dedication "For the real and original Midnight Louie. Nine lives were not enough." Midnight Louie has now had 32 novelistic lives and features in several short stories as well.
Hollywood and Broadway director, playwright, screenwriter and novelist Garson Kanin took Carole's first novel to his publisher on the basis of an interview/article she'd done with him five years earlier. "My friend Phil Silvers," he wrote, "would say he'd never won an interview yet, but he had never had the luck of you."
Carole is a "literary chameleon" who's had novels published in many genres, and often mixes such genre elements as mystery and suspense, fantasy and science fiction, romance with mainstream issues, especially the roles of women.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 13, 2024
This one was very cat-centric and heavy on Matt, so I really enjoyed that. Also, of the 3 murders that occurred, only 1 was solved, so we have a continuing arc into the next book.
This series has really grown on me as I’ve gotten acquainted with the characters, even Max. I’m waiting for the next 3 books to be delivered from eBay as they weren’t available from my favorite UBS.
This series has really grown on me as I’ve gotten acquainted with the characters, even Max. I’m waiting for the next 3 books to be delivered from eBay as they weren’t available from my favorite UBS.
October 9, 2011
Even though I figured out the murder weapon immediately, I really, really loved this book. There were plenty of surprises. I continue to enjoy it as we delve deeper into the pasts of Matt, Max and Molina.
July 28, 2012
Never let anyone tell you size doesn't matter. Size matters. It's one of the reasons I love the heroine of this series, the barely 5 foot (in stiletto heels) Ms. Temple Barr, and owner of the eponymous cat, 20 pound Midnight Louie. Like a soap-opera, this series is best experienced in sequence, even though each book recaps some of the past action. I recommend CAT ON A BLUE MONDAY , although its the third in the series, as a good starting point. The books proceed in alphabetical order by color. Each time I approach a new book in the series, I feel like I'm slipping into a pair of comfortable old slippers.
The Temple-Max-Matt thread is ongoing, and the banter between Midnight Louis and Midnight Louise ignites a comic chemistry, much to my delight. Lieutenant C.T. Molina is given her most prominent part so far. After an evening moonlighting as the chanteuse at the Blue Dahlia club, Molina approaches her car to find an unidentified body propped up next to her vehicle, which has been defaced with the etched scrawl: “She left.” Meanwhile, Midnight Louie narrates his own tale. An alluring silvery long-hair persuades him to investigate the disappearance of her neighbor, a tiger-cat named Wilfrid. Meanwhile, Max continues his project, completing the revelatory book his murdered mentor Gandolf the Magician began. Matt is still decompressing from his exit from the Catholic priesthood. He lands a gig as a radio counselor, and joins a support group of ex-priests.
Firmly ensconced in the romance-mystery genre, these CAT books are saved from descending into sappiness by the quick pacing, intertwining multiple plot lines, and a generous sense of humor. The infamous red vintage couch, bought for a pittance at a consignment store, continues as the centerpiece of Matt's modest apartment. Perhaps because he has dogs on his mind, Louie remarks: “Mr. Matt Devine sits down on his long red couch (so like a giant, lolling dog-tongue!), on which I recently reclined to great photogenic effect.” Another scene finds Temple pursuing Louis with the sports section of the newspaper, attempting to intercept the inevitable hairball before it can land on her furniture.
As an aside, Roger Loveless deserves praise for the cover art for the series. I love the sinuous silhouette of Louie uncovering the pictorial clip from the current mystery. It was, in fact, what made me pick up my first book off the shelf to peruse.
If you love mysteries with cats as characters be sure to sample this series. It's literary comfort food!
The Temple-Max-Matt thread is ongoing, and the banter between Midnight Louis and Midnight Louise ignites a comic chemistry, much to my delight. Lieutenant C.T. Molina is given her most prominent part so far. After an evening moonlighting as the chanteuse at the Blue Dahlia club, Molina approaches her car to find an unidentified body propped up next to her vehicle, which has been defaced with the etched scrawl: “She left.” Meanwhile, Midnight Louie narrates his own tale. An alluring silvery long-hair persuades him to investigate the disappearance of her neighbor, a tiger-cat named Wilfrid. Meanwhile, Max continues his project, completing the revelatory book his murdered mentor Gandolf the Magician began. Matt is still decompressing from his exit from the Catholic priesthood. He lands a gig as a radio counselor, and joins a support group of ex-priests.
Firmly ensconced in the romance-mystery genre, these CAT books are saved from descending into sappiness by the quick pacing, intertwining multiple plot lines, and a generous sense of humor. The infamous red vintage couch, bought for a pittance at a consignment store, continues as the centerpiece of Matt's modest apartment. Perhaps because he has dogs on his mind, Louie remarks: “Mr. Matt Devine sits down on his long red couch (so like a giant, lolling dog-tongue!), on which I recently reclined to great photogenic effect.” Another scene finds Temple pursuing Louis with the sports section of the newspaper, attempting to intercept the inevitable hairball before it can land on her furniture.
As an aside, Roger Loveless deserves praise for the cover art for the series. I love the sinuous silhouette of Louie uncovering the pictorial clip from the current mystery. It was, in fact, what made me pick up my first book off the shelf to peruse.
If you love mysteries with cats as characters be sure to sample this series. It's literary comfort food!
February 6, 2018
I'm going to reserve rating this book in the Midnight Louie Mystery series for now and review the audiocassette product instead.
The only other entry I've read (and I physically read it rather than listened to a tape) at this point was the first one in the series - Catnap - and I gave it 4 stars. And though it's been a while since I read it, I still remember how much I enjoyed it. So I really was super disappointed with this taped version of book 10.
First of all, the product itself was just messed up...the first words on the first side of the first tape were "End of Side One." What the heck? I was so confused trying to find the beginning of the story! But actually once I let the tape continue to run after "End of Side One" ... the title information began.
The voice of Midnight Louie is Robert Forster...and he was great! The other reader was fine as well.
The second problem with this edition is that the book was quite abridged. I rewound and relistened to whole sides and found that references made later weren't ever preceeded by build up earlier in the story! I found myself repeatedly asking "when did she ask him to do that?" "What are they talking about?" And there would be nothing previously mentioned about the action or item on the tape.
Third, with so much series time between the 1st book that I'd read and this one - I had difficulty understanding who the characters were and what was going on. I borrowed a copy of the book thinking I would read a little bit of that to straighten out the questions but that really didn't help. This book is in no way a standalone...you need to have read more than what I'd read for the full enjoyment.
As before, the writing is clever and the mystery very good. So skip this abridged tape version and go straight through the series before you try for book 10. I think you're not going to want to miss anything in between anyway!
The only other entry I've read (and I physically read it rather than listened to a tape) at this point was the first one in the series - Catnap - and I gave it 4 stars. And though it's been a while since I read it, I still remember how much I enjoyed it. So I really was super disappointed with this taped version of book 10.
First of all, the product itself was just messed up...the first words on the first side of the first tape were "End of Side One." What the heck? I was so confused trying to find the beginning of the story! But actually once I let the tape continue to run after "End of Side One" ... the title information began.
The voice of Midnight Louie is Robert Forster...and he was great! The other reader was fine as well.
The second problem with this edition is that the book was quite abridged. I rewound and relistened to whole sides and found that references made later weren't ever preceeded by build up earlier in the story! I found myself repeatedly asking "when did she ask him to do that?" "What are they talking about?" And there would be nothing previously mentioned about the action or item on the tape.
Third, with so much series time between the 1st book that I'd read and this one - I had difficulty understanding who the characters were and what was going on. I borrowed a copy of the book thinking I would read a little bit of that to straighten out the questions but that really didn't help. This book is in no way a standalone...you need to have read more than what I'd read for the full enjoyment.
As before, the writing is clever and the mystery very good. So skip this abridged tape version and go straight through the series before you try for book 10. I think you're not going to want to miss anything in between anyway!
February 9, 2013
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this series. Carole Nelson Douglas knows what women want..to be desired by two gorgeous men. ;) Temple Barr is a woman you can relate to..she's cute, intelligent, feminine, tough, gets in to trouble regularly and shares her fabulous apartment with the awesomest of cats, Midnight Louie. Louie oftens leads the humans to the answer in these mysteries, since he is by far the better detective. ;) I am a devoted fan of Temple's fiance'....the handsome magician/covert operative Max Kinsella. These books are the perfect combination of fantasy and mystery. I love each and every one.
August 3, 2021
In Carole Nelson Douglas’ Cat in an Indigo Mood: A Midnight Louie Mystery, Lt. Carmen Molina finds a woman garroted and stabbed in the throat – beside her car – with the words, “she left,” written on her car. It won’t be the last woman, so Temple Barr starts to investigate.
Meanwhile, Midnight Louie, reluctantly accepting his daughter, Midnight Louise’s help, are hired by Miss Fanny Furbelow to find out what happened to her gentleman friend, Wilfred.
The stories run parallel and come to a satisfying conclusion.
[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Meanwhile, Midnight Louie, reluctantly accepting his daughter, Midnight Louise’s help, are hired by Miss Fanny Furbelow to find out what happened to her gentleman friend, Wilfred.
The stories run parallel and come to a satisfying conclusion.
[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
Read
August 15, 2021No rating.
Many mystery series you can pick up just about any book in there and maybe there's a bit missing but they basically just find the thief, murderer, what have you, and it's good enough.
Not this one. It feels like about half the book is references to previous cases and whether it has an effect on this one. There are 3 murders, not all of them are solved. I'm probably not going to read any more of this series.
Many mystery series you can pick up just about any book in there and maybe there's a bit missing but they basically just find the thief, murderer, what have you, and it's good enough.
Not this one. It feels like about half the book is references to previous cases and whether it has an effect on this one. There are 3 murders, not all of them are solved. I'm probably not going to read any more of this series.
August 29, 2017
"She left": words spray-painted near a dead body next to Lt. Molina's car at the Blue Dahlia night club.
Those words are also found in late-appearing ink on another dead body shortly later.
It is up to Midnight Louie (with the help of Midnight Louise) and Louie's roommate, Temple Barr,
to follow the clues wherever they lead, and finally solve the mysteries
Those words are also found in late-appearing ink on another dead body shortly later.
It is up to Midnight Louie (with the help of Midnight Louise) and Louie's roommate, Temple Barr,
to follow the clues wherever they lead, and finally solve the mysteries
January 1, 2021
Poor characterization, poor writing, and poor editing! The relationship between characters was confusing and after reading over half of the book, I didn't care who the murdered women were and put it down.
March 15, 2019
Midnight Louie never ceases to amaze..but this is not a hokey talking cat story. It is real cops, real criminals and all the real characters in Las Vegas.
June 10, 2019
It my kind of cat book.
February 15, 2020
This series does not disappoint - but this one was really fun! A few additional characters and a little zanier plot - very good and fun.
October 12, 2021
Midnight Louie is one purrfect feline detective! Happy reading 🙂
July 17, 2011
I picked this up while trying to branch out at the library. It was the earliest in the series they had. Overall, I did enjoy the story, but I didn't think I was going to make it through toward the beginning of the book. Rita Mae Brown does better animals-solving-mysteries, and there's WAY too much pop psychology/stereotypes/overgeneralizing, but somewhere in the middle I discovered I was actually interested and wanted to hurry up and find out the ending. Sometimes the author drops hints she seems to think are clear as day, but they aren't. That was a bit annoying.
July 4, 2012
Temples friend on the force Captain Molina try's her hand at "torch singing " at. The Blue Dalia" but a dead woman in the parking lot isn't meant to be a criticism of her talent? Needless to say Midnight Louie is back on the case sniffing it out whiskers at the ready. Will temple have the right shoes for this affair, or will she have to take them off to run for her life? Was the message " she left" spary painted by the body too cryptic to solve with out a computer? Not for our intrepid cat detective!
June 3, 2013
This book was good. It had twists and turns every which way, but in my opinion it left too many thing open ended. It was still another brilliant edition of Midnight Louie and his human companions' crazy adventure.
August 31, 2009
I tried to read the novel on three different occasions. Disjointed writing. One chapter the cat is talking and the main character. Next chapter it is the humans. Make it one or the other.
October 1, 2013
I came across this novel randomly...I think I'd like to read the entire series some day, at my leisure. Nothing amazing here, just well-told stories and an intrepid sleuthing feline.
March 31, 2011
still don't know who killed 1st corpse in series or last 2 in this one, characters still growing
Read
May 16, 2011Midnight Louie
February 4, 2016
Midnight Louie is at it again. For readers who enjoy the main character being an animal and solving mysteries from a different perspective, this is a fun read.
October 22, 2012
I love all the Carole Nelson Douglas books about Midnight Louie. But, then I am A cat Person.
Very well told story.
Very well told story.
Read
August 13, 2016Yet another light hearted mystery featuring "Louie the cat" and amateur sleuth Temple Barr who help crack the case. What a hoot.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews