Demise of the Mystics

Having gained art-world renown, Dr. Zinka Pavlik, the zaftig transsexual, decides it's time to reconnect with what's left of her family. Starting her search in their Slovak hometown, she ends up in a decrepit castle in Bohemia where her sister Natalia is a Cult Priestess.

Her fellow sleuth, Father Brocard Connors, introvert to the core, hides away as chaplain to a women's college where he is tasked with supervising a thesis on Madam Guyon, the great 17th-century mystic and heretic extraordinaire.

His research and Zinka's life search converge in solving a massive plundering of Central European art, with the help of the devious and hapless characters of past exploits.

Magnificat refers to Luke 1:46-55, popularly called Mary's Song of Praise, specifically the verses: "He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate." The humor and clever turns of these books reveal the hypocrisy of those in power that is brought to light by those they so readily scorn.

Praise for Robert Stefanotti:

"Fans of cerebral mysteries will be fascinated." -The Portland Oregonian "I laughed out loud with turns of phrases and incredibly comic situations." -Dignity Newsletter