Cast a Spell

Raemunde ``Miz Magic'' Howard has passed beyond fortune-telling gigs and birthday party performances to become a highly successful children's TV magician. Perhaps she possesses occult powers? Neither she nor her cousin Carrie really thinks so, but Carrie wants to break through in journalism and is prepared to serve Rae up to the tabloids (``I believe in the existence of secrets, Mr. Rosencantz'') as her own passport to notoriety. Mr. Rosencantz, of the Sunshine Publishing Co., is willing to go along, but Carrie's inept efforts are less titillating than required. Pesetsky ( Midnight Sweets ; The Late Night Muse ) steers this droll comedy of Carrie, Rae and Carrie's sister Lila through a medley of narrative shifts--Carrie's letters, Carrie's narration and what may be Carrie's yellow journalistic prose, along with passages from Rae and transcriptions of taped interviews--but eventually seeks to straighten out the comic twists to yield a more standard account of marriage, divorce and child neglect. In the final paragraph comes her formulation, expressed in Rae's voice: ``I learned that behind every trick, every illusion was the explanation. And knowing that made me a realist at an early age.'' This conclusion seems too simple a payoff for the narrative's many voices and strategies. (July)