"The Swami Deheftner" is a literary novel that chronicles the life of Solomon Deheftner.  As a young man, Deheftner achieves fame as a stage magician and escapologist, in the tradition of the Great Houdini. But he abandons that career to search for something far more elusive: the profound magic inherent in mystical transcendence. Using his knowledge of conjuring and his Jewish upbringing as a foundation, Deheftner makes his way from New York to San Francisco, probing the secrets of Yoga, meditation, vegetarianism, animal intelligence, bondage, and sadomasochism in his quest for spiritual enlightenment.