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Daredevil's Apprentice
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 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.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
3 people want to read
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March 23, 2011
Viv Powers is a staff reporter for the Green Country Journal in Cherokee County Oklahoma. Her best friend is a middle aged Cherokee Storyteller named Lucie Dreadfulwater. Lucie is quite the daredevil and succeeds in adventures that some younger folks only dream about. Lucy and Viv share several adventures as fodder for Viv’s magazine articles. In fact, some people began to think of Viv as Lucie’s apprentice in her daredevil exploits. Although you would never know it to look at her, Lucie is fairly well off, as she inherited a considerable amount of land and a comfortable amount of money. She is a descendant of the Cherokees who survived the “Trail of Tears”.
When Viv is assigned the task of writing about the mysterious disappearance of one of Lucie’s ancestors, she is surprised by Lucie’s negative reaction. It seems strange that a tabloid piece, designed to increase the magazine’s circulation, could have such an impact on Lucie when the subject of the article has been dead for many years. What happened next couldn’t have surprised Viv any more than a lightening bolt striking her out of a clear blue sky. But it did happen. One minute everything in Viv’s life was normal, and the next minute Lucie was asking for her help after she killed one of her neighbors. Viv begins to wonder just how well she really knows her friend. Was it really self-defense? Or had she become an accessory after the fact to murder?
Before she can recover from the shock, Lucie is found dead. The police report that it is the result of an apparent suicide. At first Viv buys into it, but then realizes that she just can’t accept the theory that Lucie committed suicide. She had too much going on in her life and there way no way she would have wanted to leave her two daughters. When it seems that the police may really believe the suicide theory, Viv decides that she needs to find some answers. When things continue to happen that don’t add up, Viv begins to investigate in earnest. With her sister, Maggie, as her sometimes sidekick, Viv digs in to discover who killed her friend.
Cherokee folklore, witches, organized crime, and family secrets make for a very suspenseful and engaging mystery. Ms. Albright weaves a story that one can easily believe to be true. Since you can imagine the main character as someone you know or, perhaps, even as yourself, you become intimately and intensely involved in the story. Since the author doesn’t give the character any “superhuman” powers or psychic abilities, she isn’t a policewoman, and she doesn’t even know karate, she must muddle through with only her good sense, powers of observation, and dogged determination to help her solve the mystery. This is the kind of investigator and mystery most of us can relate to since few of us have ever been confused with “super” anything! I think you will agree that this book is well worth you time.
When Viv is assigned the task of writing about the mysterious disappearance of one of Lucie’s ancestors, she is surprised by Lucie’s negative reaction. It seems strange that a tabloid piece, designed to increase the magazine’s circulation, could have such an impact on Lucie when the subject of the article has been dead for many years. What happened next couldn’t have surprised Viv any more than a lightening bolt striking her out of a clear blue sky. But it did happen. One minute everything in Viv’s life was normal, and the next minute Lucie was asking for her help after she killed one of her neighbors. Viv begins to wonder just how well she really knows her friend. Was it really self-defense? Or had she become an accessory after the fact to murder?
Before she can recover from the shock, Lucie is found dead. The police report that it is the result of an apparent suicide. At first Viv buys into it, but then realizes that she just can’t accept the theory that Lucie committed suicide. She had too much going on in her life and there way no way she would have wanted to leave her two daughters. When it seems that the police may really believe the suicide theory, Viv decides that she needs to find some answers. When things continue to happen that don’t add up, Viv begins to investigate in earnest. With her sister, Maggie, as her sometimes sidekick, Viv digs in to discover who killed her friend.
Cherokee folklore, witches, organized crime, and family secrets make for a very suspenseful and engaging mystery. Ms. Albright weaves a story that one can easily believe to be true. Since you can imagine the main character as someone you know or, perhaps, even as yourself, you become intimately and intensely involved in the story. Since the author doesn’t give the character any “superhuman” powers or psychic abilities, she isn’t a policewoman, and she doesn’t even know karate, she must muddle through with only her good sense, powers of observation, and dogged determination to help her solve the mystery. This is the kind of investigator and mystery most of us can relate to since few of us have ever been confused with “super” anything! I think you will agree that this book is well worth you time.
Displaying 1 of 1 review