Rating: 
Summary: Deep in the Hearts of Texas
Review: I took this book and it's sequel, 'Children of the Night,' down off my shelves while doing some research and decided it would be interesting to reread them. There is a third book, 'Jinx High.' in the Diana Tregarde series, but I have never read it. While these books are very representative of Mercedes Lackey's early, and not quite polished, writing style, the are interesting, and the heroine is a strong independent woman in a time where this was still a bit exceptional. Since these were originally billed as young adult reading material, their influence is more significant than one might initially guess.The plot turns around the Aztec theme of the return of a god, in this case Tezcatlipoca, the god of war, and a very unpleasant character. He has possessed a local resident and plans to keep killing until his power has returned. Mark Valdez, a Fort Worth detective is involved in a the murder investigation where one gruesome killing follows another. Mark is a sensitive who used to work with Diana when they were in college, and can feel that there is more to the killings than just a serial killer. He manages to convince his boss to bring in Diana as a consultant. Diana is a Wiccan practitioner who has taken to heart the role of warrior/protector. A powerful witch, she is dedicated to exposing the false and undoing the evil. An intelligent and beautiful woman, she makes her living writing romances (when there are no wrongs to be righted). In this case, there is plenty of wrong, victims are drowned, skinned and de-hearted with depressing regularity, and Diana and Mike are unable to trace the crimes to a probable perpetrator. Diana is completely stymied for most of the book, unable to even identify the tradition behind the murderous sacrifices. If Diana is stuck, we are not. Lackey introduces us to the evildoers quite early, and keeps us well apprised of the workings of Diana's enemies. Tezcatlipoca dreams of vengeance against those that destroyed the culture of his people, and fully intends to work the end the world as we know it. Far from being a hare-brained scheme he and his cohorts are well on the way to re-establishing the god's dominion, and Mike and Diana will need considerable help before they can mount an effective defense. One of the interesting side themes of this novel is that Diana and Mike are not destined to become lovers. Instead, each has their own emotional life and problems. This helps to keep the plot focused, and actually gives Lackey a chance to develop her leads as independent characters. Unfortunately, while the plot work and characters are well done, the dialogue is flawed. People just don't seem to talk to each other in a normal fashion. A little too much bluster and stereotypical communication for my taste. And a cardboard-like stiffness at times when an open and relaxed style would accomplish more. Despite this weakness, 'Burning Mirror' is a good read with some interesting twists and turns. I don't think anyone will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Good Suspense, But Not The Best of the Tregarde Novels
Review: Mercedes Lackey penned three novel featuring heroine Diana Tregarde. All three are very good, but this one is a little bit weak by comparison. The focus of Tregarde's investigations is a photographer and his (literally) ageless trio of models ... all of them creating a ruckus among the local pagan folk. A decent read with good suspense, but not quite up to Mercedes Lackey's usual standard of excellence.
Rating:
Summary: Good Suspense, But Not The Best of the Tregarde Novels
Review: Mercedes Lackey penned three novel featuring heroine Diana Tregarde. All three are very good, but this one is a little bit weak by comparison. The focus of Tregarde's investigations is a photographer and his (literally) ageless trio of models ... all of them creating a ruckus among the local pagan folk. A decent read with good suspense, but not quite up to Mercedes Lackey's usual standard of excellence.
Rating: 
Summary: Burning Water
Review: Mercedes Lackey really outdid herself here. This book is about detective Mark Valdez, in Texas, who comes across a dangerous criminal that the papers are calling the "Texas Ripper". He calls in Di Tregarde for help. She arrives and stays at his aunt's house. After many trials and dead ends, and not a few dead bodies, Di and Mark discover that the so-called "ripper" is an ancient Aztec god inhabiting the body of Mark's best friend, Robert Fernandez. They arrive at Rob's apartment just in time to save Robert's wife, Sherry, from a gruesome sacrifice to the god (Tezcatlipoca). Fortunately, Mark is unusually receptive to outside forces taking over his body, so when Di calls in Tezcatlipoca's ancient enemy, Quetzalcoatl, Quetzalcoatl has a place to go. Psychic shootout scene, Tezcatlipoca flees, Sherry breaks down, the police find Rob sacrificed, the killing ceases, practically everyone goes home happy. Oh, but don't I wish Misty had written more Di Tregardes! These are her best books! Unfortunately, she's not writing any more, and the first book in the trilogy is out of print, so we can only get our hands on the second two. Too bad!
Rating:
Summary: Burning Water
Review: Mercedes Lackey really outdid herself here. This book is about detective Mark Valdez, in Texas, who comes across a dangerous criminal that the papers are calling the "Texas Ripper". He calls in Di Tregarde for help. She arrives and stays at his aunt's house. After many trials and dead ends, and not a few dead bodies, Di and Mark discover that the so-called "ripper" is an ancient Aztec god inhabiting the body of Mark's best friend, Robert Fernandez. They arrive at Rob's apartment just in time to save Robert's wife, Sherry, from a gruesome sacrifice to the god (Tezcatlipoca). Fortunately, Mark is unusually receptive to outside forces taking over his body, so when Di calls in Tezcatlipoca's ancient enemy, Quetzalcoatl, Quetzalcoatl has a place to go. Psychic shootout scene, Tezcatlipoca flees, Sherry breaks down, the police find Rob sacrificed, the killing ceases, practically everyone goes home happy. Oh, but don't I wish Misty had written more Di Tregardes! These are her best books! Unfortunately, she's not writing any more, and the first book in the trilogy is out of print, so we can only get our hands on the second two. Too bad!
Rating:
Summary: Burning Water
Review: Mercedes Lackey really outdid herself here. This book is about detective Mark Valdez, in Texas, who comes across a dangerous criminal that the papers are calling the "Texas Ripper". He calls in Di Tregarde for help. She arrives and stays at his aunt's house. After many trials and dead ends, and not a few dead bodies, Di and Mark discover that the so-called "ripper" is an ancient Aztec god inhabiting the body of Mark's best friend, Robert Fernandez. They arrive at Rob's apartment just in time to save Robert's wife, Sherry, from a gruesome sacrifice to the god (Tezcatlipoca). Fortunately, Mark is unusually receptive to outside forces taking over his body, so when Di calls in Tezcatlipoca's ancient enemy, Quetzalcoatl, Quetzalcoatl has a place to go. Psychic shootout scene, Tezcatlipoca flees, Sherry breaks down, the police find Rob sacrificed, the killing ceases, practically everyone goes home happy. Oh, but don't I wish Misty had written more Di Tregardes! These are her best books! Unfortunately, she's not writing any more, and the first book in the trilogy is out of print, so we can only get our hands on the second two. Too bad!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best occult -fiction books to come along
Review: Mercedes Lacky artfully combines historical fact with riviting occult fiction in this fast-paced horror.
Using the foretold return of the ancient Aztec gods she weaves a tale full of magic, mystisim, and mayhem.
What starts out as a rather standard,if bizarre police investigation of reports of mutilated cattle on local ranches quickly evolves into a race to stop the completion of the sacrifical rituals of the Aztec calander, that become more and more grizzly with each cycle of the moon and culminate in the physical manifestation of the god Burning Water, the destructive deity the Aztecs believed would save them from the conquistadores and wipe the blight of the white man off the face of North America.
Rating:
Summary: Good but Predictable (and Somewhat Scary!)
Review: Overactive imagination, beware! While "Burning Water" _was_ predictable, it's easy to forget what's going to happen if you can lose yourself in the book. Be careful, though ... you start seeing things in the shadows after a while.
It's not as terrifying as a horror novel, I suppose, but there's something about the book that is even more chilling than carefully calculated horror, somehow ....
On the whole, the Tregarde books are good -- I especially like Lackey's take on witchcraft (it seems to be a good deal more open-minded than most authors) -- but I'd really like to see more of them. You know what they say about Lackey and trilogies, though, and she _has_ done three Tregardes ....
Rating: 
Summary: Highly disappointing.
Review: Plot premise: There's an evil force loose in Dallas, Texas. Detective Mark Valdez calls in the paranormal troops, in the form of his old friend Diana. Diana supplements her Wiccan work with a lucrative career in writing romance novels. The force terrorizing Dallas is an Aztec God, sacrificing to add to his power supply, basically. There were many areas where the plot could have been fleshed out, and wasn't; there were areas in which the amount of detail given was of no relevance. I finished the book because it came highly recommended; however, I was glad that it was borrowed and not purchased. New, it wouldn't have been worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Highly disappointing.
Review: Plot premise: There's an evil force loose in Dallas, Texas. Detective Mark Valdez calls in the paranormal troops, in the form of his old friend Diana. Diana supplements her Wiccan work with a lucrative career in writing romance novels. The force terrorizing Dallas is an Aztec God, sacrificing to add to his power supply, basically. There were many areas where the plot could have been fleshed out, and wasn't; there were areas in which the amount of detail given was of no relevance. I finished the book because it came highly recommended; however, I was glad that it was borrowed and not purchased. New, it wouldn't have been worth the money.
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