Karen Kijewski: Stray Kat Waltz (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
"[KAT COLORADO IS] AS APPEALING and likable as any female P.I. on the market." -- Booklist
"Quintessential female P.I."* Kat Colorado returns in the newest novel from award-winning author Karen Kijewski... Kat is still reeling from the loss of her beloved Hank. But when Sara Bernard insists that her husband is trying to kill her -- a claim seemingly backed up by the murder of her best friend-Kat finally agrees to investigate. The problem is not only that Jed Bernard, a police officer, has a clean record and glowing testimonials from everyone in town. It's also that the erratic, elusive Sara Bernard sometimes seems more dangerous than the man she's trying to avoid. And when Kat finds herself going undercover at a stylish rehab clinic, it seems that there's far more to this case than a marriage gone bad...

"A SASSY TONE... easy to enjoy." -- Houston Chronicle
"KAT IS INDEPENDENT, BRIGHT, AND VERY GOOD company... [a] twisty tale... a brisk pace. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune
"EXCELLENT PLOTTING." -- Tulsa World
"KAT COLORADO IS A WINNER." -- Detroit News

Karen Kijewski: Stray Kat Waltz. Berkley Books, ISBN: 042516988X (August, 1999), 341 p., $6.99.

Karen Kijewski: Stray Kat Waltz (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
"Kat Colorado remains one of the funniest, fastest-talking girl gumshoes, managing the usual feisty female PI stuff with more than usual flair and humor." -- Rocky Mountain News

"Kat Colorado is Karen Kijewski's finest character, a tough, flip, intelligent private investigator who takes a licking and keeps on ticking." -- The Washington Times

Kat Colorado -- "a private eye with a sense of fun and brains to spare" (The New York Times Book Review) -- takes on a seemingly straightforward case, only to find herself wandering a twisted trail of deceit and deadly menace.

Kat has seen -- and lived through -- just about everything. But when the unsolved murder of a cop hits too close to home, she suddenly finds herself very vulnerable.

Struggling to survive a mind-numbing personal loss, Kat doesn't want to take on a new client. Sara Bernard, the abused and frightened wife of another cop, won't let her off the hook, and a reluctant Kat is pulled back to work and into a frenzied and dangerous dance.

Things get ugly fast. Kat is almost killed by someone trying to scare her off the Bernard case. Sara survives a murder attempt, which claims a friend's life, and commences a series of mystifying disappearing acts, apparently on the run from her husband. But everybody who knows Sacramento cop Jed Bernard claims he's the greatest guy in town, a real straight-shooter.

It's clear that somebody's not on the level -- but who? Before she can solve the puzzle, Kat must go undercover at a stylish rehab clinic -- where getting better seems to be the furthest thing from anyone's mind...

Wry and affecting, pulsating with high-octane suspense and tantalizing mystery, Karen Kijewski's Stray Kat Waltz is superb work from one of detective fiction's stellar talents.

Karen Kijewski is the triple-award-winning author of eight previous Kat Colorado thrillers. She lives with her husband in Sacramento.

Karen Kijewski: Stray Kat Waltz. Putnam's, ISBN: 0399143688 (June, 1998), 311 p., $22.95.