BAD LUCK WOMAN
A Viv Powers Mystery

ISBN 0-9725078-5-X
$24.95       304 pages 

Talented mystery novelist Letha Albright, of Columbia, Mo., presents protagonist Viv Powers for the third time in "Bad Luck Woman."

As in "Tulsa Time" (2000) and "Daredevil's Apprentice" (2002), Albright sets her drama in small-town Oklahoma, with newspaperwoman Powers inserting herself into dangerous situations over and over. Other familiar characters appear, too, including Powers' significant other, rock musician Charley Pack.

This time, Powers becomes simultaneously involved in the murder investigation of a Tulsa woman who has inexplicably shown up in small-town Tahlequah and an inquiry into the possibly dangerous transportation of spent fuel from a nuclear-energy plant. The more Powers learns, the more likely it becomes that the two matters are linked.

Some mystery novelists rely on elegantly simple plots. Albright tends more toward the elegantly complicated. She is good at making sure the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle fit, though.


Steve Weinberg is a director of the National Book Critics Circle. He also
lives in Columbia.