Honky Tonk Kat

Murder mixes with those country-music familiars, booze and cheating, when the grown-up problems of a childhood chum draw PI Kat Colorado (last seen in Alley Kat Blues) into the rhinestone world of the C&W tour scene. Despite her years with a thieving, wandering ex-husband, country singing star Dakota Jones remains the warm person Kat remembers. Dakota even agrees to help aspiring singer Hope Delaney, a previously unknown relative who, Kat suspects, is not the simple, down-home girl she seems. So why is Dakota receiving threatening notes and bunches of dead roses? And why was her Memphis audience stampeded by a flash grenade? Enhanced security and Kat's reassuring presence enable Dakota to keep performing until a singer who resembles her is murdered, the body left with a note saying, ``Now we're even, Dakota.'' As the intimidation continues and Kat drags information out of Dakota's minimally helpful friends and associates, the singer gets an offer that's about as welcome as the threats: Clyde T. Jones, Dakota's no-account father who walked out on her as a child, wants to help his daughter in her time of need. With the alert dexterity of her namesake creature, Kat picks her way through her seventh, well-constructed case, and Kijewski persuades readers to share her sleuth's lively suspicions regarding, well, just about everybody. Mystery Guild alternate; author tour. (June)