Diana Tregarde Investigates, by Mercedes Lackey

Besides being a member of the Zooba book club, I'm also a member of the Science Fiction Book Club (mainly because I've never gotten around to canceling my membership). Unfortunately, I forgot to send in my stupid ass "don't send me you're main selections" cards the last two months and have been stuck with books I didn't really want. Fortunately, if the first one is any indication, they don't suck.

Diana Tregarde Investigates is an SFBC exclusive omnibus containing all three of Lackey's Diana Tregarde books. Diana is a great character. She smart, tough, and powerful (but not so powerful that she can defeat her enemies with no problem). The stories are exciting and adventurous. I would give it a five, but I can be a bit of a nitpicker, and this book hit on one of my pet peeves.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't have any thing against Wicca or Wiccans (and if any Wiccans read this, please don't come in here and flame me). The first book is set around the time of the Watergate scandal (i.e. in the 70s), and at the time Diana is in her twenties (I think). Wicca was founded in 1954. Yet somehow, Diana was raised a Wiccan by her grandmother (or possibly great grandmother, depending on the book). Wicca may claim to be the survival of an ancient, pre-Christian religion, but (if Wikipedia is any indication) there is zero evidence of it. Therefore it would be highly unlikely that someone's grandmother in the fifties of sixties would be a practicing Wiccan who could secretly raise her granddaughter in the faith.

Anyway, it's still a darn good book, and I give it four yo-yos.