Carole Nelson Douglas's Midnight Louie books have been popular for years. While looking for a book with a Nevada setting for this year's 50 State Reading Challenge, I decided to go back to book one of the Cat and the Playing Card series - The Cat and the King of Clubs.Carole Nelson Douglas is a local author and I've met her many times and heard of her battles with publishing companies, but it wasn't until I read on the front of the cover "Author's Preferred Edition" - "Original Text Restored" and the Author's Foreward that I realized how much the editors had changed her works by actually cutting 37% percent of her novel without her knowledge. She told me once, if she had to do it again she would go the route I've chosen - self publishing.
From Goodreads
Classy Van von Rhine finds herself in her dream job - managing the Crystal Phoenix hotel, and her first job is to oversee its renovation. She has no idea that Nicky Fontana, her boss, is a member of a Mafia family. Early on, Van and Nicky can barely tolerate each other, but before long they're swept up in romance. Midnight Louie watches as a silver-haired man appears down the hall from Van's room, and hoodlums try to sabotage the hotel work. Van's dream job is quickly turning into a nightmare, and her love life seems about to follow suit...
