Daredevil's Apprentice (Memento Mori Mystery.) [Paperback]

Letha Albright (Author)

Book Description

Series: Memento Mori Mystery. | Publication Date: May 2002

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move the body.

In the fast-moving, action-filled Daredevil's Apprentice, small-town reporter Viv Powers learns that horrible lesson when her best friend and fellow adventurer, Cherokee storyteller Lucie Dreadfulwater, calls for Viv's help after she kills a man. Viv renders assistance, and then is plagued by doubts: Was it self-defense or homicide? Would her best friend have involved her in a cold-blooded murder? She sets out to find the truth in spite of the danger she encounters from human predators and the rumors that echo in the hills around her--of a man-eating witch of Cherokee legend.

In the Ozarks of northeast Oklahoma, gamblers, musicians, journalists, land developers, and artists live together in the shadow of the tragic Cherokee past. Old and deadly secrets collide with present-day greed and vengeance to shatter small-town calm as Viv insists on prying into the deaths set in motion by her friend Lucie's violent act. Viv is as strong and steady as the hills where she makes her home, and as courageous as her daredevil friend. But can she face the truth about Lucie, and about the never-quite-forgotten past?

Viv Powers is a strong female protagonist who will appeal to readers of Nevada Barr, and everyone who enjoys a well-written, suspenseful mystery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Letha Albright's appealing sophomore effort, Daredevil's Apprentice, spunky Cherokee County reporter Viv Powers returns to unearth the secrets behind a murder committed by her best friend, Lucie Dreadfulwater. But when Lucie herself is killed, Viv's smalltown life turns upside down, as secrets and old scores get revealed and more bodies start to dot the windswept Oklahoma landscape.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Letha Albright has worked at newspapers, in a sawmill, and as a wilderness guide. In her free time she climbs rocks and hikes. Albright lived in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, the setting of her books, for eight years. She's a member of Deadly Divas, "four nice women who write about murder" and who often tour together.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Avocet Pr Inc; 1 edition (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970504942
• ISBN-13: 978-0970504944
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,652,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letha has her readers hooked on a very high-powered plot, July 6, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daredevil's Apprentice (Memento Mori Mystery.) (Paperback)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A satisfying follow-up to "Tulsa Time.", August 19, 2002

By 

April Burk (Archer, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daredevil's Apprentice (Memento Mori Mystery.) (Paperback)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars Soph Slump? Not Here., July 14, 2003

By 

Benjamin K. Potter "loyal reader/writer" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Daredevil's Apprentice (Memento Mori Mystery.) (Paperback)

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.