Midnight Louie Books In Order

Publication Order of Midnight Louie Books

Publication Order of Midnight Louie Cafe Noir Mystery Books

The Midnight Louie series is a series of mystery novels written by the noteworthy American author Carole Nelson Douglas. The series contains a total of more than 25 books published between the years 1992 and 2015. All the novels of the series feature a feline protagonist in the form of Midnight Louie, which is a black cat who tries to solve the mysteries around him. Author Carole Nelson Douglas has actually used the character of Midnight Louie in one other series which is comprised of just two novels and serves as the prequel to the original series. In the main Midnight Louie series, the cat joins Temple Barr to form a sleuth team and carry out the investigations. Temple Barr has been described by the author as a public relations freelancer based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. In the prequel series, the feline protagonist works alone to carry out sleuthing activities and solve the mysteries of the city. Author Carole Nelson Douglas had published the prequel series as Crystal Days and Crystal Nights in the year 1990, which was later renamed as The Cat and a Playing Card series. It is also known by the name, Crystal Phoenix duology. Carole Douglas began writing the actual Midnight Louie series in the year 1992. She published the first novel of the series called Catnap later in the same year. After the success of the first novel of this series, she continued to write more novels and kept on publishing at least one novel in the series each year.

Except for the second novel of the series, which is titled ‘Pussyfoot’, the names of all the other novels of the series begin with the word “Cat”. Author Carole Nelson Douglas is still working on the latest novel of the series, which she is going to release in the first quarter of the next year. Each of the novels of the series is narrated by Temple Barr, who is the roommate of the Midnight Louie. Some parts of the novels of the series are told from the point of view of the cat herself. Author Carole Nelson Douglas has described the chapters of the series as a style reminiscent of the author Damon Runyan. As the series progresses with the further novels, three other prominent human characters are introduced by the author. One of them is C.R. Molina, who is described as a hard-boiled and short-tempered female homicide detective. The second one is Matt Devine, who is an ex-priest, and the third and last one is Max Kinsella, who has been described by the author as a stage magician. Author Carole Nelson Douglas very proudly describes the series as a cozy-noir series because of its interesting plots, which are a mixture of mystery, social issues, adventure, and humor. The prequel series was initially written by the author as a romantic mystery, in which she first introduced the character of Midnight Louie. Initially, she was not shown the galleys of the books of the prequel and when she demanded them, it was too late as the romance editor had cut the major portions of mystery elements from the books, including the sections of Midnight Louie. After a few years, author Carole Nelson Douglas reverted and reissued the books in their original form so that they can serve as the prequels to the main Midnight Louie series.

One of the initial novels of the series was titled ‘Cat on a Blue Monday’. It was published by the Forge Books publishing house in the year 1994. The plot of this novel is set in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, and continues to revolve around the main characters, Temple Barr and Midnight Louie who are introduced in the beginning of the series. The award winning author Carole Nelson Douglas had already captivated the readers with the first couple of novels of the series, which were irresistible mysteries introducing the main character of Midnight Louie, a sleuth black cat. The cat is described as jet black by the author and as a tomcat who has an appetite for suspense and mystery. Midnight Louie is also described as having an attitude which is similar to the characters developed by author Damon Runyon in his successful mystery novels. Temple Barr has been described as a red haired lady and the companion of the tomcat in his sleuthing activities. Her role as a publicist in the shining media scene of Las Vegas also helps Midnight Louie in his investigations. The initial novels of the series were such a huge hit among the readers that they were eagerly waiting for its follow-up novels. This novel also proved to be worthy of their eagerly wait. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, it is depicted that someone is trying to stalk the prizewinning purebreds competition at the annual Cat Show in Las Vegas. This allows Midnight Louie to be on the prowl once again. He is aided by a Birman cat called Karma, whom he finds as telepathic, to follow the trails of a deadly killer. On the other hand, Temple Barr tries to look into the past life of Matt Devine, who is described as a handsome and young counselor working for a hotline. He seems to have captured Temple’s heart. After a short while, Temple and Louie find themselves surrounded by extortion, blackmail and a cold-blooded murder. The novel proved a good read to all those readers who great interests in feisty female detectives, feline detectives, and foul play.

One of the other initial novel of the series was titled ‘Cat in a Crimson Haze’. It was published by the Forge Books publishing house in the year 1995. This novel continued to feature the main characters of Midnight Louie and Temple Barr and was set in Las Vegas just like the previous novels of the series. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Temple and Louie are shown as being involved again in the criminal activities in the sinful city of Las Vegas. Temple Barr gets hired by the manager of a famous vacation spot of the city named Crystal Phoenix to help in cleaning its image. However, the reputation of the hotel falls in even more danger after her involvement. Soon, the hotel becomes prey to a number of mysterious activities by a mischief who keeping endangering the life of Temple. Later, Temple is seen entangled against the local police, ex-priests, obnoxious reporters, and FBI agents, and everything falls on the shoulders of Louie to help Temple get out of her misery. However, he is required to act as soon as possible in order to save the life of Temple Barr and the reputation of Crystal Phoenix.