Karen Kijewski: Katapult (UK 1994)

From the Publisher:
Kijewski proves a remackably agile plotter. More Kat adventures would be welcome' -- Booklist
Kat Colorado is a wise-cracking, feisty, thirty-something private investigator. And things don't look too hot when her day starts at 5 a.m. with a body and a phone call, but not in that order.

Kat's loveable cousin Johnny has been found stabbed to death in the car park of Sacramento's Homestead Cafe. This time the killer's struck too close to home... and Kat's taking it personally. Tracking the murderer through a world of shady property deals and teenage prostitution, Kat finds she's stumbled on a closetful of sordid family secrets - explosive enough to put her own life at risk...

Award-winning Karen Kijewski's other Kat Colorado mysteries, Copy Kat and Katwalk, are also available from Headline

'At die heart of this novel lies an intriguing mystery... Kat is an engaging heroine' -- Sunday Times
'Outstanding among today's female detectives, PI Kat Colorado exbibits conscience and compassion... Kijewski delivers an intricate plot to complete reader satisfaction' -- Publishers Weekly
'A seamless syncopation of sleuth and setting that will have mystery bufls recalling Grafton and Paretsky' -- Booklist

Karen Kijewski: Katapult. A Kat Colorado Mystery. In the bestselling tradition of Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky. Headline, ISBN: 0747243085 (July, 1994), 342 p., £4.99.

Karen Kijewski: Katapult (USA 1992)

From the Publisher:
KAT COLORADO
She's a wise-cracking, thirty-something California bartender-turned-P.I.--a curious cat with nine lives... and a passion for pushing the scales of justice in the right direction.

KATAPULT
Kat's cousin Johnny has been found stabbed to death in the parking lot of the Homestead Cafe. This time a killer has struck too close to home... and Kat Colorado is taking it personally. Now Kat's on the prowl, trailing a murderer through a dangerous world of shady real estate shenanigans and teenage hookers-uncovering a closetful of sordid family secrets almost certain to get an overly inquisitive Kat skinned.

"IMPRESSIVELY WRITTEN... GOOD CHARACTERS... GOOD FUN." -- Kirkus Reviews
"A GIFTED NEW WRITER... KIJEWSKI DISPLAYS AN EASY WIT AND HUMOR THAT ENLIVENS THE PRIVATE EYE GENRE WITHOUT EVER SLOWING ITS PACE." -- Booklist
"KIEWSKI HAS BOLDLY BROACHED THE PEBBLED-GLASS DOORS MARKED 'PRIVATE' AND LANDED A SOLID CUFF TO THE READER'S JAW." -- Sacramento Bee

Karen Kijewski: Katapult. A Kat Colorado Mystery. Avon Books, ISBN: 0380714868 (January, 1992), 244 p., $4.50.

Karen Kijewski: Katapult (USA 1990)

From the Publisher:
Readers first met Kat Colorado in Karen Kijewski's Katwalk, winner of both the 1988 Private Eye Writers of America's Best First Private Eye Novel contest and the 1989 Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel.

In Katapult, Kat, a feisty, small-time Sacramento female private eye, goes to work when a corpse is found in the parking lot of a local restaurant and a missing girl turns up skeletons in Kat's family closet. The dead man is Kat's cousin Johnny, a likable veterinary student more enigmatic in death than he ever was in life; the missing girl is Michaela, a country western singer with too many unanswered questions in her past.

When Kat sets out to find Michaela and track down Johnny's killer, she runs into a number of unsavory characters-Gil Jones, whose organization is opposed to the animal research Johnny had been involved in; Ned, a jealous friend whose girlfriend has a wandering eye; Bella, Johnny's mysterious girlfriend; and Rhoni, the cousin who inherits if something happens to Michaela.

Meanwhile, Kat's life is further complicated by: Bill Henley, a tough Sacramento cop who wants Kat off the case; Lindy, a fifteen-year-old hooker whom Kat pulls off the stroll; Charity, Kat's best friend, the advice columnist who can solve everyone's problems but her own; and Hank, the detective boyfriend who keeps trying to protect Kat from herself.

Katapult is set in the Sacramento delta, an area rich in early California goldmining and river lore.

KAREN KIJEWSKI is a bartender who lives and works in Sacremento.

Karen Kijewski: Katapult. A Kat Colorado Mystery. Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 0312046790 (November, 1990), 244 p., $16.95.