The Last Days of Madame Rey

Book excerpt: In The Last Days of Madame Rey, Stephen Raszer—sleuth, scholar, shaman, and private eye—goes to hell and back to save the soul of his client's son, an ambitious and sexually conflicted young lawyer named Fortis Cohn. Fortis has drifted to the wrong side of the karmic tracks, and Raszer has been hired to free him from the spell cast by a neo–Nazi demagogue. On his quest to expose the spiritual hucksters who have duped Fortis, Raszer encounters more than Old and New World mysticism. A series of eerily unnatural earthquakes is rippling through Northern California, and it's possible that the cult behind Fortis's disappearance may be involved. Meanwhile, a cryptic message is left in the hands of a gypsy fortuneteller, and to learn its meaning, Raszer must put his trust in a stunningly sensuous and far too independent–minded operative named April Blessing. He will follow her almost literally to the ends of the earth to unravel the ancient mystery encoded in the gypsy's message. From its pseudo–gnostic predators to its bedazzled souls, The Last Days of Madame Rey is high on humor, rich on adventure, and injected with addictive, heart–stopping suspense.