Mind Over Magic is the second of 5 books written by William Rabkin based on the television series Psych. The book was published in 2009.
An attempt to deliver a package to Henry’s friend’s bachelor party leads Shawn and Gus to a private magic show in Santa Barbara’s Fortress of Magic by the hottest act in Vegas: P’tol P’kah, the “Martian Magician”, who wears a massive, bright green alien costume. For his greatest act, P’tol is to be dissolved in a tank of water, then reassembled whole and unharmed… but when the dissolving ends, all that remains is the drowned body of a man in a three-piece suit and a bowler hat whom nobody seems to know, while the magician is nowhere to be seen. The magician’s manager, dumbfounded and eager to protect his reputation, hires Psych to investigate the strange death. Shawn and Gus now must infiltrate the backstage world of stage magicians, home to a murderer who may be intent on making them vanish next…
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- Angry Guard Dog: The Fortress of Magic is “guarded” by audio recordings of them in the bushes nearby.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Lyle Wheelock, the Best Man in Bud’s wedding and his best friend, tries to get Shawn to show off his psychic powers, even when it’s clear Shawn just wants to leave. Shawn reveals that he figured out Lyle was sleeping with Bud’s fiancée. Shawn even tried to be discreet about it, but Lyle himself blew the secret out of the water by yelling at Shawn in front of everyone. Subverted at the very end, when it turns out it was part of a mutual arrangement to help said fiancée stay in the country.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the book, Lassiter notes that several people reported Shrek driving around Santa Barbara the same night as P'tol P'kah’s disappearance. Turns out it was really the Martian Magician himself.
- Conspicuous Consumption: Benny Fleck, P’tol P’kah’s manager, treats Psych to a lobster meal in “The Dark Side of the Moon”, an exclusive restaurant in the Vegas casino “Outer Space”, after abruptly rerouting their cab driver. Shawn figures it’s to send a message regarding his influence.
- Disappearing Box: P’tol’s Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick is a variation of this: he climbs into a clear glass container filled with water, completely dissolves right in front of the audience, and then rematerializes right before their eyes. The plot kicks off when he fails to reappear one time.
- Driven to Suicide: The real fate of Doug Firrell, the bowler-hatted man and half of the P’tol P’kah duo: the two were two FCC agents who essentially stole a new bit of communications tech, which was basically a stick-on TV screen. They used it for their greatest trick, but when Holly Voges, the other half, caught on to Doug’s philandering and demanded they return to Washington to face the consequences of their actions, Doug decided to go out on stage instead.
- Exact Words: The invitations to the Fortress of Magic say that one needs to say “the Magic Words” to get in. After trying “Please” and “Abracadabra”, Shawn figures out that the password is literally “The Magic Words”.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Nearly every stage magician Shawn and Gus meet is envious of Pt’ol P’kah, largely because none of them could figure out his Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick no matter how hard they studied it. They could only conclude that it was through technological wizardry rather than their trademark sleight-of-hand, which made them even more resentful.
- Humanoid Aliens: P’tol P’kah’s costume makes him look like a seven-foot-tall green one.
- Kayfabe: P’tol P’kah, the Martian Magician, took it to such a level that his manager, Fleck, became increasingly suspicious that it was not entirely an act. He had never once been seen outside of his costume, hid his real identity extremely well, and had introduced himself to Fleck by hijacking his TV signal.
- The Napoleon: Fleck is extremely short, but tends to throw his money around, has a fearsome reputation, and when Shawn suggests P’tol may just want out of his contract, makes an Implied Death Threat on the magician in response.
- The Nicknamer: Shawn gives P’tol P’kah quite a few silly ones, including “P’ter P’rker” and “P’nut P’Brittle”.
- Noodle Incident: Exactly what Henry did that got him banished from the Fortress of Magic for life is this for most of the book. All we know is that he stormed in to speak to “Count Orloff”, who taught young Shawn a card trick that Shawn then used to fleece enough people out of their money to buy a huge cake. Eventually, we learn that he arrested Orloff for Contributing to the Delinquincy of a Minor.
- Omniscient Database: Fleck’s employees have access to one – Fleck is VERY thorough in screening his associates. When one of his employees speaks to Shawn about it, she tells him that Gus owes fees on a parking ticket, and Shawn is overdue for a tooth cleaning.
- Pick a Card: Augie Balustrade uses a version of this trick on Gus; while Obfuscating Stupidity, he pretends to screw up the trick, only for Gus to find the correct card in his sock.
- Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Barnaby Rudge uses this trick at a birthday party. The rabbit pees on him and the carpet.
- Shell Game: Stage Magician Count Orloff taught a young Shawn Spencer the "Find the Lady" card trick variant, which young Shawn then used to bilk enough people out of their money to buy a humongous cake.
- Shout-Out: To Monk; after Shawn has to grab the victim to pull him out of the water tank, he begs Gus for a wet wipe, then explains Gus is supposed to be a pretty blonde woman in the scenario, which confounds Gus.
- Also a few to The Prestige, with Shawn naming the film and suggesting the Martian Magician used the same trick as the protagonist.
- Shawn makes a few guesses about P’tol’s life story, based around The Phantom of the Opera and later, Les Misérables.
- Stage Magician: The whole book revolves around them; they even have a local club in Santa Barbara called the Fortress of Magic. The most-seen are Barnaby Rudge, Augie Balustrade, and Phlegm the Human Freak Show, a few aging, mediocre stage magicians who never got the hang of big-time show business, but still perform to tiny audiences because they sincerely love their craft.
