THE HANGED MAN

Thirteen people attended the meeting of New Age healers at which reputed Satanist Quentin Bouvier was killed—hanged from the rafters- -after outbidding dealer Leonard Quarry for astrologer Eliza Remington's antique Tarot card. And by the time the fat lady (not Eliza) sings, Santa Fe shamus Joshua Croft (Wall of Glass, A Flower in the Desert) has interviewed each of the 12 survivors—including Leonard Quarry, who survives the interview only by a couple of minutes. Hired to vindicate Tarot reader Giacomo Bernardi, laid-back, skeptical Joshua finds lots of quirky kooks and crooks—a spiritual alchemist, a Saku master (don't ask), a muscle-bound New Age Sioux— but there's precious little interaction between the suspects (despite the best efforts of Bouvier's predatory widow Justine, who's been sleeping around with more vigor than discrimination): except for a couple of violent interludes, this is basically a series of sedate Golden Age interviews. Interesting people, humdrum detection—nothing to raise your blood pressure to unhealthy levels.