Elephants in the Distance

Paul Galliard is a magician by training and heredity: his father died performing the Bullet Catch, an infamous trick that over the centuries has claimed the lives of more than a dozen magicians. A pragmatist, Paul confines his conjuring to commercials; he shows up often on TV screens, demonstrating the magical power of some brand of household cleanser. Then he gets a call. A producer wants to do a show highlighting his fathers old cronies, those grizzled vets of the glory days of TV magic-acts. Their top-hats are moth-eaten, their rabbits have arthritis, but theyre desperate for one last shot at the limelight. Paul would like to give it to them these fellows all but raised him. But theres a catch a Bullet Catch, to be precise. Either Paul does the trick that killed his father, or the show doesnt go on. "Stashower works powerful magic of the literary kind . . . this is a model whodunit, expertly constructed and executed with real finesse" New York Times Stashower is himself a magician, and his descriptions of magic arcana offer a fascinating counterpoint to the fast-moving plot Chicago Tribune