From publisher blurb: Restless academic James Desmond spent a semester abroad, and stumbled across the long-discredited teachings of Franz Mesmer. Desmond experimented with Mesmer's techniques, and found that in his hands, they were effective! Using his uncanny power of illusion, he reinvented himself as "The Mesmerist," a showman capable of seemingly impossible feats and thrills, delivered with Vegas spectacle and glamour. Flush with fame and wealth, and quite capable of rewriting memories and supernaturally concealing his actions, the Mesmerist now steals what he cannot buy, leaving behind mysteries without any clues.