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Rating: 
Summary: A satisfying follow-up to "Tulsa Time."
Review: After reading Albright's first Viv Powers mystery, "Tulsa Time," I was committed to keeping an eye on this intriguing new series. "Daredevil's Apprentice" doesn't disappoint, thoughtfully melding mystery with Cherokee lore, interesting characters, and even humor.
Rating:
Summary: A satisfying follow-up to "Tulsa Time."
Review: After reading Albright's first Viv Powers mystery, "Tulsa Time," I was committed to keeping an eye on this intriguing new series. "Daredevil's Apprentice" doesn't disappoint, thoughtfully melding mystery with Cherokee lore, interesting characters, and even humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Letha has her readers hooked on a very high-powered plot
Review: Letha Albright has a wide range of experience as a journalist, wilderness guide, a sawmill worker, and lately as editor of School & Community, a magazine for Missouri teachers. She earned her master's degree in journalism at the University of Missouri and lives in Columbia, Missouri with her husband, two children, and a cat. This is the second Viv Powers mystery.Set in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, Daredevil's Apprentice finds Viv Powers bored stiff working at the "Green County Journal." When Lisabeth Ellis enters as the new managing editor, Viv starts seeing trouble brewing. Her musician boyfriend, Charley, stays in the background doing gigs with his band "Powers That Be." But when David Menckle assigns Viv to dig up a story about the disappearance of John Dreadfulwater, forebear of Viv's best friend, Lucie Dreadfulwater, the action opens with a bang: "Lucie stood in the doorway of the barn, her hands gripping the doorjamb. As a storyteller, drama was her job, but I had never seen her like this. Her face was a changing tapestry of emotions: surprise, fear, indecision, anger. 'What is it?' Some extra sense drew me to the dark interior of the barn. She grabbed my arm. 'Don't go in there.'" From the very first chapter, Letha has her readers hooked on a very high-powered plot that tangles up our attention from the first chapter. Not only is her writing absolutely exquisite, from her vivid character description to the action which builds to a smashing denouement. Viv is a typically scattered character with a strong heart and some good basic training in self defense from her wise father. She is young, impetuous, and thoroughly likable. Daredevil's Apprentice is a good, solid Oklahoma story with strong American Indian lore, old grudges, and death that implicates those who are closest to Viv. Viv's sister Maggie provides Shakespearian comic relief, but their relationship is a strong one of caring and playful banter. The legends of the Cherokees and the musical twist shape the story into magic. Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Soph Slump? Not Here.
Review: With the second "Viv Powers" mystery out and a third due in 2004, author Letha Albright has a bona fide SERIES on her hands. And what's the most important thing in a series? The lead character, of course. And heroine Viv Powers has character in spades. She's passionate, intelligent, wry... and very good at being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her day job is writing for a regional magazine, but she picks up a new night job -- sleuthing -- when a land dispute leaves two people dead. Who's to blame? The men who want to open a racetrack in Talequah? Any one of several townspeople, all of whom seem to have motive? Or even Utlunta, a Cherokee legend that might actually exist? Albright keeps the reader guessing until the very end. The book starts off a tad slow, but the second half runs at a full gallop until the conclusion. There also seems to be a love-triangle-in-the-making: Viv is going to have to choose between her current boyfriend (Charley, a musician) and an ex-lover (Hutch, a detective). Too many peripheral characters clutter the pace at times, but it's otherwise a twisting, turning gem of a mystery. The plotline dealing with Utlunta, a Cherokee witch with a deadly stone finger, makes for truly chilling moments. Pick up Albright's debut, "Tulsa Time," then read "Daredevil's Apprentice," then wait in line like the rest of us for more Viv Powers books. If you live in Tulsa or Talequa, Oklahoma, there's extra incentive to read these books, as Albright does an excellent job describing these locales.
Rating:
Summary: Soph Slump? Not Here.
Review: With the second "Viv Powers" mystery out and a third due in 2004, author Letha Albright has a bona fide SERIES on her hands. And what's the most important thing in a series? The lead character, of course. And heroine Viv Powers has character in spades. She's passionate, intelligent, wry... and very good at being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her day job is writing for a regional magazine, but she picks up a new night job -- sleuthing -- when a land dispute leaves two people dead. Who's to blame? The men who want to open a racetrack in Talequah? Any one of several townspeople, all of whom seem to have motive? Or even Utlunta, a Cherokee legend that might actually exist? Albright keeps the reader guessing until the very end. The book starts off a tad slow, but the second half runs at a full gallop until the conclusion. There also seems to be a love-triangle-in-the-making: Viv is going to have to choose between her current boyfriend (Charley, a musician) and an ex-lover (Hutch, a detective). Too many peripheral characters clutter the pace at times, but it's otherwise a twisting, turning gem of a mystery. The plotline dealing with Utlunta, a Cherokee witch with a deadly stone finger, makes for truly chilling moments. Pick up Albright's debut, "Tulsa Time," then read "Daredevil's Apprentice," then wait in line like the rest of us for more Viv Powers books. If you live in Tulsa or Talequa, Oklahoma, there's extra incentive to read these books, as Albright does an excellent job describing these locales.
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