Hard Truth, Nevada Barr, 2005, GP Putnam's Sons, Genre: Mystery. 324 pages. Finished 2/8/14.
Blood Lure, Nevada Barr, 2001, GP Putnam's Sons, Genre: Mystery. 320 pages. Finished 2/12/14.
Hunting Season, Nevada Barr, 2002, GP Putnam's Sons, Genre: Mystery. 322 pages. Finished 2/16/14.
Flashback, Nevada Barr, 2003, GP Putnam's Sons, Genre: Mystery. 387 pages. Finished 2/21/14.
Winter Study, Nevada Barr, 2008, GP Putnam's Sons, Genre: Mystery. 370 pages. Finished 2/25/14.
The Rope, Nevada Barr, 2011, Minotaur Books, Genre: Mystery. 357 pages. Finished 3/2/14.
LesOpinion: Nevada Barr's outdoorsy heroine, Anna Pigeon, is a ranger for the National Park Service. Like most popular sleuths in serial mystery novels, she finds herself in a new and frightening position with each new posting with the NPS. The books are well-written, fast-paced, and have the kind of main female character I fall for: she's smart, physically strong, unapologetically aging, and (best of all) unafraid to hit back.
Bonus points: I read these novels in random order and never felt lost, so adept was Barr at making each story stand on its own without relying on the previous novels.
Circumstances under which I recommend these books: You are not backpacking or otherwise in a wild and lonely place where the stories of backwoods assailants might creep you out. Read them safely at home. Then brush up on your self defense skills before you hit the back country.
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2 comments:
I too admire Anna Pigeon but I admire even more her tough-minded dedication to the preservation of our National Parks and the often endangered species who hang out in many of them. Each volume takes us to another park, another set of creatures, another set of human friends and enemies of those critters, and yet another endangered environment. Climate change takes on an increasingly important thematic role as the novels go from decade to decade. Barr is both an animal and an environmental activist and these novels are, in addition to being thrilling mysteries and adventures, her classroom.
I couldn't agree more, Anonymous. One of the ways you can tell an outdoor writer who knows her stuff is how she talks about plants, animals, and terrain. Barr shares her love of the outdoors and the precious and precarious ecosystems preserved in our national parks.
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