Enroute to folkdance camp, self-styled private detective Mordecai Maccabbee makes a last-minute decision and veers his MG off the Interstate, toward Satsang Village, a spiritual commune where his former girlfriend, Lois (now Bhakti), has relocated. She confides that Satsang Village's future is threatened by a lawsuit filed by an ex-resident - whose body has just washed up on a nearby beach. Village residents' motives for wanting the woman (who filed the suit) silenced, thus ending the legal action which would result in undesirable publicity, certain bankruptcy, and dissolution of the commune, are revealed, their secrets exposed. Maccabbee wanders the peaceful, exotic village, ponders its naive, colorful devotees of Swami Jhanananda, and suddenly - on a precipice above a raging river - comes face to face with a psychopathic killer. The Suave Swami is the first story in a series featuring this young private detective. Each mystery is set within a different religious environment and challenges those values as the characters deal with murder in their midst. Parallel, Maccabbee's personal life is revealed and his perennial pursuit of a perfect, lasting, romantic relationship is progressed.