An Affair of Sorcerers (A Mongo Adventure) Book

Chesbro's Mongo books are sentimental favorites for me, but the series has some huge up and downs. The first three are particularly shaky; by comparison, the lesser later efforts just seem lazy or uninspired. Here we have:

The good: Wicca is described in a surprisingly accurate way. It's always great to see Mongo, of course, but Garth is still being written as a stock cop prop for the most part.

The bad: The plot is pretty much a mess. It makes sense - more or less - but characters come and go quite randomly and not all plot threads are explored equally. The one involving sensory deprivation is particularly wacky.

The ugly: Chesbro has an endearingly hippie sensibility for the most part, but he is far from immune to the prejudices of his day. This entry seems especially heavy on casual sexism and homophobia. The high/low point: Mention of a nun who saved one of her students from a coven that was a front for a "homosexual procurement ring." Seriously, George, WTF?