Trick of the Light — Stephen Smoke

“She was the kind of woman who could knock a monk off a celibacy vow at twenty paces.” The woman in question is Valerie Tyrell and she wants San Francisco private eye, Nick Sands, to find someone. She wants him to help her find God. “Your ad in the phone book says you can find anybody. If God is everywhere, this ought to be a piece of cake.” Thus begins Trick of the Light, two people's spiritual journey played out against the backdrop of the hardboiled detective genre. On the road to locating the ”missing person,” Valerie and Nick encounter some of the most bizarre and thought-provoking characters this side of the looking glass. It is a journey that challenges their assumptions and beliefs about themselves, the nature of reality, and the universe itself. “A masterpiece of inspirational fiction.” �"Thomas Morris, author of Ganz Weit Draussen (All the Way Out) “Somewhere between Mickey Spillane and Tielhard de Chardin, Trick of the Light provides a kind of nourishment best described as ‘private eye soul food.'” �"Ralph Blum, author of The Book of Runes “And yes, at the end of the search the place of beginning is found at last -- and seen for the first time. Not since Colin Wilson's The Mind Parasites have I so thoroughly enjoyed a metaphysical novel.” �"Ken Carey, author of Return of the Bird Tribes