Cat in a hot pink pursuit

Noted for its delightfully tongue-in-cheek briskness, the indefatigable Midnight Louie series never seems to run out of steam. When Las Vegas public-relations ace and sometime amateur detective Temple Barr is approached by her worthy adversary, homicide detective Lieutenant Carmen Molina, to go undercover on a teen reality show, she initially balks at the request. Striking a bargain with Molina to lay off her former-spy and ex-magician -boyfriend, now you see him, now you don't, Max Kinsella, Temple adopts a suitably bizarre disguise, transforming herself into punk diva Xoe Chloe Ozone. Determined to nab the stalker threatening the teen contestants--including the lieutenant's precocious 13-year-old daughter--she and her streetwise feline sidekick, Midnight Louie, become embroiled in a series of deadly pranks and mishaps plaguing the Teen Queen set. As usual, suspense and mystery take a backseat to the zany humor, but who is complaining? Margaret Flanagan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved