After a long slow climb out of the strip clubs and fleshpots of Europe, Jurgen and Rudolfo have hit the bit time in Las Vegas, headlining a magic act at the Abraxas Hotel. A heart-stopping spectacle orchestrated by Rudolfo to showcase Jurgen's less-than-stellar talents as a magician, their act churns along with the aid of the beauteous box-jumper Miranda and of Samson, an ancient albino leopard who can bark like a dog and operate mechanical devices.

Rudolfo, a true misfit who longs to twin his soul with Jurgen's, is happy with their success. But Jurgen has been stricken since childhood with the irrational desire to make real magic. He hungers for more--and finds it in a musty, mysterious collection of old manuscripts, automata and magic cabinetry that once belonged to Harry Houdini.

In a narrative that is whimsical, comic, fantastic and melancholy by turns, Quarrington lovingly describes the chaos that results when Jurgen--once materialistic, muscular and monosyllabic--turns into the miracle-working saint of the Las Vegas strip, as unlikely a place for spiritual renewal as you could find. With The Spirit Cabinet, Quarrington takes dead aim at the place in the human heart that believes that doves really can bloom from top hats and illusions sometimes do come true.