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Anna Pigeon #10
Hunting Season
Park Ranger Anna Pigeon returns to face her most duplicitous foe--human nature--in the latest entry in Nevada Barr's bestselling, award-winning series ...
The quiet beauty of autumn on Mississippi's Natchez Trace is swiftly shattered when Anna answers a call to Mt. Locust, once a working plantation and inn, now a tourist spot. But the man Anna finds in an old bedroom is no tourist in distress. He's nearly naked and very dead-his body bearing marks consistent with sex games gone awry. On a writing table nearby is an open Bible with ominous passages circled in red.
There are secrets that prominent men in this God-fearing country wish to keep under wraps-and Anna has stumbled into a nest of them.
The quiet beauty of autumn on Mississippi's Natchez Trace is swiftly shattered when Anna answers a call to Mt. Locust, once a working plantation and inn, now a tourist spot. But the man Anna finds in an old bedroom is no tourist in distress. He's nearly naked and very dead-his body bearing marks consistent with sex games gone awry. On a writing table nearby is an open Bible with ominous passages circled in red.
There are secrets that prominent men in this God-fearing country wish to keep under wraps-and Anna has stumbled into a nest of them.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
406 people are currently reading
1599 people want to read
About the author
Nevada Barr
66 books2,292 followersNevada Barr is a mystery fiction author, known for her "Anna Pigeon" series of mysteries, set in National Parks in the United States. Barr has won an Agatha Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat.
Barr was named after the state of her birth. She grew up in Johnstonville, California. She finished college at the University of California, Irvine. Originally, Barr started to pursue a career in theatre, but decided to be a park ranger. In 1984 she published her first novel, Bittersweet, a bleak lesbian historical novel set in the days of the Western frontier.
While working in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Barr created the Anna Pigeon series. Pigeon is a law enforcement officer with the United States National Park Service. Each book in the series takes place in a different National Park, where Pigeon solves a murder mystery, often related to natural resource issues. She is a satirical, witty woman whose icy exterior is broken down in each book by a hunky male to whom she is attracted (such as Rogelio).
Currently, Ms. Barr lives in New Orleans, LA.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/nevada...
Barr was named after the state of her birth. She grew up in Johnstonville, California. She finished college at the University of California, Irvine. Originally, Barr started to pursue a career in theatre, but decided to be a park ranger. In 1984 she published her first novel, Bittersweet, a bleak lesbian historical novel set in the days of the Western frontier.
While working in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Barr created the Anna Pigeon series. Pigeon is a law enforcement officer with the United States National Park Service. Each book in the series takes place in a different National Park, where Pigeon solves a murder mystery, often related to natural resource issues. She is a satirical, witty woman whose icy exterior is broken down in each book by a hunky male to whom she is attracted (such as Rogelio).
Currently, Ms. Barr lives in New Orleans, LA.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/nevada...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 412 reviews
March 31, 2022
Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon park ranger series has drawn me in and kept me reading through ten books with her detailed descriptions of life as a park ranger (often extremely unglamorous), interesting facts about local wildlife and history, and her crazy cast of characters. In HUNTING SEASON, Anna returns to the Natchez Trace where she is the District Ranger. A body has been discovered and the circumstances of death are such that it might create a scandal for the deceased and their family. This had a well-crafted mystery drawn along both the present and past timeline and brought back characters from past books. Also interesting to see Anna’s romance finally progressing!
November 29, 2021
This is my second Anna Pigeon, selected because it immediately precedes Flashback, which I read last month, and I was curious to know more about Anna's past.
I will probably read more in this series, since like Flashback, Hunting Season is well written and plotted. Not as distinctive and compelling as Flashback, but still above average for the genre. And it does reveal a lot more of Anna's background.
I've read that an earlier entry in the series, set at the same National Park, Natchez Trace, featured the theme of interracial tension in the Deep South. That is certainly present in this book, and early on I was concerned about whether the author might be mishandling the subject in a clunky kind of way. But by the end of the book she had it sorted out in a satisfactory way, especially when you consider that the book is nearly 20 years old.
Another key plot point involves activity in and around a deer-hunting tree stand. That brought to mind the struggles we had trying to get a neighbor to remove a tree stand he had erected (with the blessing of the prior owner) on the wooded portion of the lot our last house sat on. Once he heard that we had begun disassembling it ourselves he finally took action (in a panic, actually). We never were able to stop people from dragging their trophy white-tails out past our house, though. We have a much more pleasant relationship with the deer in the wooded area behind our current place. They've actually been the victors in this situation, since I've given up trying to keep them from eating my plantings...
I will probably read more in this series, since like Flashback, Hunting Season is well written and plotted. Not as distinctive and compelling as Flashback, but still above average for the genre. And it does reveal a lot more of Anna's background.
I've read that an earlier entry in the series, set at the same National Park, Natchez Trace, featured the theme of interracial tension in the Deep South. That is certainly present in this book, and early on I was concerned about whether the author might be mishandling the subject in a clunky kind of way. But by the end of the book she had it sorted out in a satisfactory way, especially when you consider that the book is nearly 20 years old.
Another key plot point involves activity in and around a deer-hunting tree stand. That brought to mind the struggles we had trying to get a neighbor to remove a tree stand he had erected (with the blessing of the prior owner) on the wooded portion of the lot our last house sat on. Once he heard that we had begun disassembling it ourselves he finally took action (in a panic, actually). We never were able to stop people from dragging their trophy white-tails out past our house, though. We have a much more pleasant relationship with the deer in the wooded area behind our current place. They've actually been the victors in this situation, since I've given up trying to keep them from eating my plantings...
July 7, 2014
Despite the existence of an elderly female character who defecates in a graveyard, I am only able to give this one star. It was headed for a blazing two stars until I found an unforgivable punctuation error: it's for its. This is the first time I have ever seen an error this egregious in a printed book. It was a low blow.
A large issue I had with this tenth Anna Pigeon novel is that it is nearly identical to the eighth book in the series. They both share a setting, the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. Many of the characters are the same. The setting and the characters were no more interesting the second time around.
Barr isn't the worst writer in our solar system but she does have her problems. One of them is the more-than-occasional nearly incomprehensible sentence, in which she's trying to be so clever, idiomatic, and thesaurussy she obscures all meaning. Another is she repeats sentence structure in back-to-back-to-back sentences. This is made up but typical: "Perched on the hood of her cruiser, Anna sipped iced tea. Listening to the faint strains of the car radio, she heard the Christian rock she was growing impatient with. Leaning down to scratch a mosquito-ravaged ankle, she mused that in a few more days she was going to turn fully Satanist."
Barr also has a tendency to levitate above the storyline and get preachy. This is 2002, so most readers probably already know that "Rape was about violence, hate and dominance. Sex had little to do with it." Also, in case you were unaware, "Tired of white men's hand-me-down names, many African-Americans in Mississippi had taken to naming their children or, if their own folks were conservative, themselves, with exotic-sounding syllables that pleased the ear and annoyed hell out of the sense of spelling." [sic]
One final issue is that the murdered fellow suffocates in his own fat. He is suspended in a harness and his body fat drowns him. Somehow. How? We're not told. Is this even medically possible? I don't believe it. Google is not helpful here; it thinks I want to know if you can "suffocate on your own farts." Well, obviously.
January 22, 2022
3.5 stars. It's been about 6 years since I last traveled with Park Ranger Anna Pigeon in one of our National Parks. This is the first time (if I remember correctly) that the author has set the story in a park we have visited before - The Natchez Trace Parkway, although in another section of this long trail. And by the end, I wondered if she was going to hang around even longer.
There is a dead body left at a historical building, poaching and desecration of a slave graveyard going on in her district. Are these crimes linked in anyway, or totally random? In trying to get to the bottom of this we are given a look at the dynamics between Anna and her staff, local law enforcement, long-held racial issues & her personal life. Certainly, enough to keep us interested in turning the page no matter how slow the build-up until the chill filled & perhaps heart-pounding last 25 pages. There are plenty of characters to be part of the suspects list for any or all of the crimes. I did figure out fairly early on about one of them and wondered why Anna didn't home in on that person; but overall did not put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I always want a mystery to surprise me in some way and this one still did.
There is a dead body left at a historical building, poaching and desecration of a slave graveyard going on in her district. Are these crimes linked in anyway, or totally random? In trying to get to the bottom of this we are given a look at the dynamics between Anna and her staff, local law enforcement, long-held racial issues & her personal life. Certainly, enough to keep us interested in turning the page no matter how slow the build-up until the chill filled & perhaps heart-pounding last 25 pages. There are plenty of characters to be part of the suspects list for any or all of the crimes. I did figure out fairly early on about one of them and wondered why Anna didn't home in on that person; but overall did not put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I always want a mystery to surprise me in some way and this one still did.
October 6, 2021
Oh Anna, I am just not sure Mississippi is really for you. Maybe things will be better in the next book there? I sure hope so. I really enjoyed this one very much. Part of my enjoyment is from not knowing exactly who done it, and part is from picking up on the various clues that are provided. These are just good mysteries and I really like them. Onward to Flashback now!
October 18, 2017
Anna Pigeon is losing IQ as she gets older because she was pretty slow on the uptake here even though the clues were right in front of her face. Also she's very naive and trusting for her age of people who have already shown themselves to be untrustworthy and betrayed her in the past to just follow them with blind and absolute trust because they say they are sorry but their actions show they are not. This book was also longer then it needed to be and there were multiple mysteries going on which got a bit out of control. In the end one got shafted and was magically resolved at the end by explanation and no action. Very unsatisfying.
Inconsistencies include her dog Taco changing breeds not once, not twice but three times within this book. Also a character from the previous book that she worked with is misnamed from that book to this one. Was Mrs. Barr not keeping notes?
Last Nevada Barr seems to be prejudiced against anyone with a little extra weight. She refers to most of the characters as fat and obese and describes the dead guy as a beached walrus many times. Lots of fat shaming around! Also this book was written about 2002/2003 and although I haven't spent time in the south I highly doubt that a majority of black people would vote for a white guy for sheriff because they'd "like for a white guy to be the boss and are afraid of the young black men" of their communities. Seriously?!
Inconsistencies include her dog Taco changing breeds not once, not twice but three times within this book. Also a character from the previous book that she worked with is misnamed from that book to this one. Was Mrs. Barr not keeping notes?
Last Nevada Barr seems to be prejudiced against anyone with a little extra weight. She refers to most of the characters as fat and obese and describes the dead guy as a beached walrus many times. Lots of fat shaming around! Also this book was written about 2002/2003 and although I haven't spent time in the south I highly doubt that a majority of black people would vote for a white guy for sheriff because they'd "like for a white guy to be the boss and are afraid of the young black men" of their communities. Seriously?!
December 4, 2020
Are you a horror movie fan? Nevada Barr's 10th Anna Pigeon novel, Hunting Season, 2002, includes poaching and grave robbing, both implied in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Barr creates more of a Southern Gothic feel in this story of her own rural Mississippi. Perhaps that was a stretch for her, but I felt that it could have been taken to the next level with even better results. Still, Hunting Season is a solid murder mystery, one of her better novels, in my opinion.
National Park law enforcement ranger Anna Pigeon is working the southern end of the Natchez Trace. The 440 mile-long Trace began as a trail used by native Americans. Later, traders used it to return to points north, especially Nashville, after boating down the Mississippi River to deliver goods to Natchez. Now it includes a parkway, a trail and visitor centers at a number of preserved historic sites.
Anna is called to respond to a bizarre finding - the underwear-clad body of a man on a bed in one of the historic buildings. There is evidence that his arms and legs had been bound by ligatures. A bible verse has been circled on the table next to the bed: "Sins against a holy God, sins against His holy laws..." And someone dug up a historic grave in the adjacent cemetery. Spooky.
National Park law enforcement ranger Anna Pigeon is working the southern end of the Natchez Trace. The 440 mile-long Trace began as a trail used by native Americans. Later, traders used it to return to points north, especially Nashville, after boating down the Mississippi River to deliver goods to Natchez. Now it includes a parkway, a trail and visitor centers at a number of preserved historic sites.
Anna is called to respond to a bizarre finding - the underwear-clad body of a man on a bed in one of the historic buildings. There is evidence that his arms and legs had been bound by ligatures. A bible verse has been circled on the table next to the bed: "Sins against a holy God, sins against His holy laws..." And someone dug up a historic grave in the adjacent cemetery. Spooky.
August 13, 2019
Another good entry in the series and I loved the ending and felt that justice was served. I was also kept guessing with the story and then as the reveal started everything made sense.
March 31, 2024
Love her writing, the ususal great character development, flashes of humorous musings, and a great mystery to solve.
August 10, 2013
RATING: 3.75
Anna Pigeon is a park ranger who has had many adventures at several of the national parks around the United States. In this, the tenth book in the series, she does something different by seemingly settling in at a location where she’s been before. In the past few months, she’s become the district ranger for the Natchez Trace area in Mississippi. Although career wise this is a promotion, personally it’s a trial as Anna is not skilled at managing people. She has 2 rangers on her team. Barth Dinkins is a married black man with whom she feels some kinship developing, although she knows that they will never be deeply attached because there are too many differences between them. Barth is more of an intellectual type ranger who is good at investigating background materials and who is heavily involved in documenting the ownership of several graves in a slave cemetery dating back more than a century. The second ranger, Randy Thigpen, is the thorn in Anna’s side. Randy felt that he should have been promoted to the district ranger job. He subtly and not so subtly undermines Anna at every turn. It’s all she can do to be civil to him, much less treat him as a valued member of the team.
A local man by the name of Doyce Barnette is found in a bed in a historical plantation home that has been restored for tours by the public. He is wearing only his underpants and has an abrasion that looks like he was wearing some kind of harness. The positioning of the body makes it appear that there may have been a sexual sadomasochistic element to the murder. As far as anyone can tell, Doyce was not a homosexual. The incident also tarnishes the image of Doyce’s brother, Raymond, who is the local undertaker and running for the job of local sheriff. Raymond stands to inherit a good bit of land because of Doyce’s death, so he’s still a strong suspect.
As Anna proceeds to investigate, she finds herself threatened and almost killed more than once. In one incident, she is investigating an illegal hunting stand and is set upon by 3 poachers who act like they are smelling raw meat. In another, her car is totally demolished by someone trying to murder her.
It’s difficult to put everything together. There are political and personal motivations, but no overriding piece of the puzzle jumps out to solve the mystery. Barr does an excellent job of building a complex puzzle, one which has the reader jumping to false conclusions several times during the course of the book.
In addition to the investigation, Anna is struggling with the fact that she is falling in love with the local sheriff and clergyman, Paul Davidson. She’s grown comfortable in her lonely existence since her husband died many years earlier, and it is difficult for her to progress in the relationship. In my opinion, this whole narrative thread was the weakest part of the book. First of all, after 10 books, picturing Anna as a woman mourning in her widow’s weeds just wasn’t plausible. She’s had other relationships in those 10 books, so this seemed a stretch. Secondly, a big deal is made of the fact that Paul is married and so he and Anna are not free to be involved with one another because of the community opinion (particularly since he is a clergyman). However, he has been separated from his wife almost 4 years—I would think that most people would feel that he is entitled to partake in a personal relationship after that amount of time.
Be that as it may, Barr excels in character development. Randy Thigpen was a loathsome individual, but she colored that with some sympathetic treatment that allowed the reader to grudgingly accept him, particularly when he tries to turn over a new leaf prior to his upcoming retirement. Raymond Barnette and his mother were evil characters, wonderful to hate. Generally, the law enforcement people were well drawn and likeable, particularly Barth who had more layers to him than were at first evident and the current sheriff, Clintus Jones. In addition, the setting is very well described; but on occasion, the prose is somewhat overblown.
The plot unfolds naturally and has several moments of high suspense. It isn’t evident to the reader what is going on or why until very near the end of the book. It will be interesting to see in what direction the series will go in the future. Will Anna remain in Mississippi? Will she and Paul form a lasting union? Avid fans will want to read this with an eye to the way that Anna is developing and how Barr is keeping the series fresh, even after 10 books.
Anna Pigeon is a park ranger who has had many adventures at several of the national parks around the United States. In this, the tenth book in the series, she does something different by seemingly settling in at a location where she’s been before. In the past few months, she’s become the district ranger for the Natchez Trace area in Mississippi. Although career wise this is a promotion, personally it’s a trial as Anna is not skilled at managing people. She has 2 rangers on her team. Barth Dinkins is a married black man with whom she feels some kinship developing, although she knows that they will never be deeply attached because there are too many differences between them. Barth is more of an intellectual type ranger who is good at investigating background materials and who is heavily involved in documenting the ownership of several graves in a slave cemetery dating back more than a century. The second ranger, Randy Thigpen, is the thorn in Anna’s side. Randy felt that he should have been promoted to the district ranger job. He subtly and not so subtly undermines Anna at every turn. It’s all she can do to be civil to him, much less treat him as a valued member of the team.
A local man by the name of Doyce Barnette is found in a bed in a historical plantation home that has been restored for tours by the public. He is wearing only his underpants and has an abrasion that looks like he was wearing some kind of harness. The positioning of the body makes it appear that there may have been a sexual sadomasochistic element to the murder. As far as anyone can tell, Doyce was not a homosexual. The incident also tarnishes the image of Doyce’s brother, Raymond, who is the local undertaker and running for the job of local sheriff. Raymond stands to inherit a good bit of land because of Doyce’s death, so he’s still a strong suspect.
As Anna proceeds to investigate, she finds herself threatened and almost killed more than once. In one incident, she is investigating an illegal hunting stand and is set upon by 3 poachers who act like they are smelling raw meat. In another, her car is totally demolished by someone trying to murder her.
It’s difficult to put everything together. There are political and personal motivations, but no overriding piece of the puzzle jumps out to solve the mystery. Barr does an excellent job of building a complex puzzle, one which has the reader jumping to false conclusions several times during the course of the book.
In addition to the investigation, Anna is struggling with the fact that she is falling in love with the local sheriff and clergyman, Paul Davidson. She’s grown comfortable in her lonely existence since her husband died many years earlier, and it is difficult for her to progress in the relationship. In my opinion, this whole narrative thread was the weakest part of the book. First of all, after 10 books, picturing Anna as a woman mourning in her widow’s weeds just wasn’t plausible. She’s had other relationships in those 10 books, so this seemed a stretch. Secondly, a big deal is made of the fact that Paul is married and so he and Anna are not free to be involved with one another because of the community opinion (particularly since he is a clergyman). However, he has been separated from his wife almost 4 years—I would think that most people would feel that he is entitled to partake in a personal relationship after that amount of time.
Be that as it may, Barr excels in character development. Randy Thigpen was a loathsome individual, but she colored that with some sympathetic treatment that allowed the reader to grudgingly accept him, particularly when he tries to turn over a new leaf prior to his upcoming retirement. Raymond Barnette and his mother were evil characters, wonderful to hate. Generally, the law enforcement people were well drawn and likeable, particularly Barth who had more layers to him than were at first evident and the current sheriff, Clintus Jones. In addition, the setting is very well described; but on occasion, the prose is somewhat overblown.
The plot unfolds naturally and has several moments of high suspense. It isn’t evident to the reader what is going on or why until very near the end of the book. It will be interesting to see in what direction the series will go in the future. Will Anna remain in Mississippi? Will she and Paul form a lasting union? Avid fans will want to read this with an eye to the way that Anna is developing and how Barr is keeping the series fresh, even after 10 books.
May 8, 2024
I liked a lot of this, but it's arguably the least National Park centered Anna Pigeon novel, which was disappointing.
August 21, 2017
Ten pages about dog finding a grave in the yard, Anna and others inspecting it and after finding it empty talking about what it could have been in it. I left the book after that because I was already bored and hoping it would be something new about the murder. Too little information about actual case (half of the book and and we have nothing there), too many of Anna's reflexive thoughts about people she works with, her personal life and park's beauty. Anna's personal life - so boring. Too many charachters to remember them all. Writing is ok. Maybe some day I'll finish it.
February 8, 2018
Hunting Season book #10 in the series Anna Pigeon is a great outdoors read. A mystery that puts poachers, cover ups, and a murder against a well seasoned Forrest Ranger that will stop at nothing to find the answered. And if that wasn't enough she has to sort out her feelings for a very sexy/handsome Sheriff/ Pastor that's she's falling in love with, and find out who is giving bad reports to the head office about her. Grab a copy and enjoy
March 31, 2019
Anna Pigeon is back in her home park, the Natchez Trace. Anna is the ranger in charge and tensions in the small office are high. The men she was promoted over are not happy. However, all of that becomes secondary when she receives a panicked call from one of her staff. There’s a dead body in the historical house at the park. I’ll say, I didn’t see that twist coming at the end. No spoilers here, but you need to read this one.
Awesome read!
Awesome read!
April 14, 2018
This is my second Anna Pigeon book to read and will soon start the next in the series. I love the details about the Natchez Trace and the surrounding area.
August 30, 2023
It's been awhile, but I actually finished a book!
I regret setting this one aside, but I wasn't able to focus which wasn't the fault of the book at all. It was interesting - as I figured things out, I thought that I couldn't possibly be right and there were red herrings everywhere. It turns out, I'd figured things out - just not all of the things. I confess as a Canadian there are things about Mississippi and the Trace that I will never understand, so there's that.
Anna is, as always an engaging, flawed and interesting character. I want her to succeed, but I'm also frustrated by her at times. The secondary characters may not be fully fleshed out, but they do develop across the books, but it seems to be as needed. They come into focus when they will play a larger part in the plot (Barth, in this case), and getting to know them better adds interest to the stories.
I've had this series on my series-to-finish list for awhile (ok, at least catch up on as I believe there are more in the series). I've found a certain enjoyment in the genre of park ranger crime (this includes Joe Pickett and the Dyed in the Green Series. It's a little surprising) and I'm on the lookout for other similar series.
I regret setting this one aside, but I wasn't able to focus which wasn't the fault of the book at all. It was interesting - as I figured things out, I thought that I couldn't possibly be right and there were red herrings everywhere. It turns out, I'd figured things out - just not all of the things. I confess as a Canadian there are things about Mississippi and the Trace that I will never understand, so there's that.
Anna is, as always an engaging, flawed and interesting character. I want her to succeed, but I'm also frustrated by her at times. The secondary characters may not be fully fleshed out, but they do develop across the books, but it seems to be as needed. They come into focus when they will play a larger part in the plot (Barth, in this case), and getting to know them better adds interest to the stories.
I've had this series on my series-to-finish list for awhile (ok, at least catch up on as I believe there are more in the series). I've found a certain enjoyment in the genre of park ranger crime (this includes Joe Pickett and the Dyed in the Green Series. It's a little surprising) and I'm on the lookout for other similar series.
August 8, 2019
Once again I am introduced to a National Park: Mississippi's Natchez Trace National Parkway. It’s an unusual format that covers a long roadway in an area I am totally unfamiliar with. Anna has to deal with rivalry within her department, jealously over her, as a woman, being put in charge, all the while trying to solve a murder with the local sheriff. Gradually, Anna gains the respect and cooperation of her officers. I like how Barr presents the long-standing racial tensions that are present in the south. I was surprised that some reviews don’t like Barr’s writing, because I like the tongue-in-cheek comments of Anna as well as the descriptive phrases that put me into the picture. However, I realize not every book is for everyone. I will continue to read this series, and look forward to the next book.
January 23, 2019
Un altro buon libro di questa serie, anche se ben presto ho intuito la soluzione del caso. Beh, c'è anche un mistero secondario e qui la mia ipotesi era sbagliata...
Se devo dire la verità, preferisco i libri ambientati sulle Montagne Rocciose o nei parchi del West, ma ho apprezzato, almeno fin ad adesso, anche quelli ambientati in altri parchi americani. Dopotutto, un bel viaggio in molti di essi è uno dei miei sogni, in parte realizzato in passato!
Se devo dire la verità, preferisco i libri ambientati sulle Montagne Rocciose o nei parchi del West, ma ho apprezzato, almeno fin ad adesso, anche quelli ambientati in altri parchi americani. Dopotutto, un bel viaggio in molti di essi è uno dei miei sogni, in parte realizzato in passato!
January 7, 2024
This is an excellent book. Someone is out to kill Anna Pigeon, and you work with her to figure out why. While there is less action in this story, it does place your mind to the task of solving the mystery. In addition she deals with the interaction of African-Americans and whites in Mississippi and the history involved. Also, the descriptions lead me to want to go to Natchez Trace. Perhaps, my favorite of the series.
August 29, 2021
I loved this book. This is my first Anna Pigeon read and I am hooked. Barr's writing is spot-on and sophisticated and she spins an excellent story while highlighting important social issues in the background. A big thank-you to my book club friends for picking this book and introducing me to the Anna Pigeon series. I now have a strong urge to explore our national parks.
June 23, 2025
This was Jon's first Anna Pigeon book cuz we listened to it on our road trip as an audiobook! He really liked it and so did I! I loved Blood Lure so much that this one gets 4 stars cuz it had a lot to live up to, but it was still a damn good Anna Pigeon novel, and now I'll always have the special memory of reading it on the road with Jon :)
September 21, 2023
I don’t know what happed to my original review of this one but I will say it’s my last Nevada Barr for awhile. I’m also ok with reading them out of order in the future. I was glad to get closure on the Randy situation.
November 4, 2024
This was not one of my favorites in the series. I'm hoping that Anna doesn't stay in this NP. I don't think this is a good place for her and she needs to move on!!
July 15, 2020
Long in parts but what an ending!! I did not see that coming!!
August 27, 2025
really liked this one I enjoyed how all the teeny tiny details and interactions were relevant, felt like a very tight story. good conclusion I’m happy for Anna and Paul
April 19, 2020
totally enjoyable. makes me want to checkout the Natchez Trace next vacation. thank you, Nevada Barr for bringing National Parks to life!
March 31, 2021
I enjoyed this Anna Pigeon mystery because I enjoy Anna Pigeon. The mystery was fine and I enjoyed figuring it out a step ahead of Anna, but, really, listening to Barbara Rosenblatt read these books is one of my guilty pleasures. I needed something interesting and not-quite-cozy, but cozy enough. I always learn something in a Nevada Barr book.
January 18, 2025
Neither Anna Pigeon nor Nevada Barr ever disappoint. The usual complicated mystery set in a National Park with plenty of pulse-elevating excitement.
July 11, 2016
It’s been a fair few years since I read a Nevada Barr novel - at one point I was greedily eating up her novels month by month and I still maintain that the character of Ranger Anna Pigeon and the setting of USA National Parks, are unique and compelling. It’s just that this one didn’t strike a chord as the others have. Perhaps it’s because this is the second book set in The Natchez Parkway NP, a park I have no familiarity with and where the focus is less on the natural scenery or the fauna, than the convoluted history and twentieth century inhabitants of this area of Mississippi.
There are some suitably creepy potential suspects for murderer and some quirky and obnoxious characters along the way, and when the mystery of who was responsible for the murder of Doyce Barnette is solved, it was surprising but not out of left field . There is also some interesting stuff on slavery focusing on burial and property ownership providing additional intrigue to the main investigation.
Nevada Barr always includes some edge of the seat, ‘will Anna get away’ scenes which get the pulse going in similar fashion to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, another favorite of mine. However, I couldn’t really get interested in the romance between Anna and Paul and I felt the novel as whole was a little formulaic; I know this can be a problem with series, but I think I thought after a long gap between reads it would appear less so.
Perhaps, I wasn’t in the mood for this book at this time and it won’t put me off Anna Pigeon forever but I would recommend instead, the claustrophobic and sinister ‘Blind Descent’, the wolf centered ‘Winter Study’ or ‘Firestorm’ with its focus on the dangers of fire fighting in the wilderness.
There are some suitably creepy potential suspects for murderer and some quirky and obnoxious characters along the way, and when the mystery of who was responsible for the murder of Doyce Barnette is solved, it was surprising but not out of left field . There is also some interesting stuff on slavery focusing on burial and property ownership providing additional intrigue to the main investigation.
Nevada Barr always includes some edge of the seat, ‘will Anna get away’ scenes which get the pulse going in similar fashion to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, another favorite of mine. However, I couldn’t really get interested in the romance between Anna and Paul and I felt the novel as whole was a little formulaic; I know this can be a problem with series, but I think I thought after a long gap between reads it would appear less so.
Perhaps, I wasn’t in the mood for this book at this time and it won’t put me off Anna Pigeon forever but I would recommend instead, the claustrophobic and sinister ‘Blind Descent’, the wolf centered ‘Winter Study’ or ‘Firestorm’ with its focus on the dangers of fire fighting in the wilderness.
June 8, 2024
Listening to these for the third time I learn something new each time. I've read other reviews and wanted to add my own.
Anna is a park ranger in the National Parks, to move up in the ranks, and pay, she's now in an administrative position on the Natchez Trace Parkway. One of her rangers who she supervises has been a thorn in her side since her very first day. In this tale that ranger has decided to turn over a new leaf and become involved in a suspicious death investigation.
Things that bug me: her dog. She 'inherited' Taco from a friend who died as a result of a climbing accident between the friend and Anna. We first meet this dog in one of the earlier books. He's a Golden Retriever, a breed I've owned and loved. In the last book set on the Trace he was a Lab, with dark fur. In this book it is also mentioned he is a Lab. annoying.
Reading these books in order sets details in my mind, especially since I'm reading them back to back. In the last book, Blood Lure, Anna is in Montana researching Grizzly Bears with a woman by the name of Joan Rand. Anna calls a woman from that park in this book, but her name is changed to Kate. annoying
Beyond that it's a good tale of good and evil in a National Park. Even though I've read it several times, the ending was a surprise. Even with the annoying details I'm still giving it 5 stars because I love the character of Anna and the setting of a National Park. On to the next!
Anna is a park ranger in the National Parks, to move up in the ranks, and pay, she's now in an administrative position on the Natchez Trace Parkway. One of her rangers who she supervises has been a thorn in her side since her very first day. In this tale that ranger has decided to turn over a new leaf and become involved in a suspicious death investigation.
Things that bug me: her dog. She 'inherited' Taco from a friend who died as a result of a climbing accident between the friend and Anna. We first meet this dog in one of the earlier books. He's a Golden Retriever, a breed I've owned and loved. In the last book set on the Trace he was a Lab, with dark fur. In this book it is also mentioned he is a Lab. annoying.
Reading these books in order sets details in my mind, especially since I'm reading them back to back. In the last book, Blood Lure, Anna is in Montana researching Grizzly Bears with a woman by the name of Joan Rand. Anna calls a woman from that park in this book, but her name is changed to Kate. annoying
Beyond that it's a good tale of good and evil in a National Park. Even though I've read it several times, the ending was a surprise. Even with the annoying details I'm still giving it 5 stars because I love the character of Anna and the setting of a National Park. On to the next!
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