Blood Lure

I love Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon mysteries. Anna Pigeon is a great character. She's cynical, distrustful of humanity, politically incorrect, tough, smart, and loves the natural world. "Blind Descent" is still my favorite of her books, but this one comes in a close second. Probably ties it, in fact. Barr does a wonderful job of describing the beauty of West Glacier, and after reading this almost has me liking bears again. And a satisfying murder mystery on top of it all. Everything revealed itself at the same time it did so for Anna; Barr's great at writing mysteries that don't telegraph their punches. Looking forward to reading her next mystery.

I am a very big fan of Anna Pigeon, and I found this book to be better than the average for the series. Since I find the series as a whole to be far far better than most, this is great praise from me.I always dread the mystery story review that gives away too much of the plot, so unfortunately I must speak in generalities. All I will say is that in this story the National Park is Glacier and that grizzly bears are involved. Since you learn this on page 1, this is not much of a plot-spoiler. Like the other books, this one benefits greatly from the author's extraordinary facility in describing the physical and the psychological aspects of the natural world from which Anna derives her strength. I also admire the author's unusual ability to let her character mature and change - Anna seems to be truly living her life in front of our eyes. From the self-pitying, alcoholic but stunningly competent ranger in the first book she has matured into a reflective, sober, observant, irreverant and stunningly competent (even more than usual) ranger in this book. Contrast Kinsey Milhone (I also like that series, by the way), who seems to be the same in every book. Another plus for this book is the characterizations of the supporting players - not many of them, but very well detailed. I very much enjoyed the description of everything to do with bears - seemingly based on solid research, and totally fascinating. Unlike the reviewers who speak of trick endings, I found the plotting of this book to be meticulously fair (and absolutely riveting), to the point where I actually managed to figure out the mystery before it was revealed, and I found it very satisfying. OK, maybe the final resolution (I wish I could describe it but you'd never forgive me) is a little strained, but it truly could not be otherwise.

Just re-read this almost twenty years after the first read; I had just read ‘The Last Ranger’ by Heller and was disapointed by that effort and recalled Barr’s Pigeon series and how much I had enjoyed it.Barr’s authenticity is top notch so far as the fundementals of conducting a criminal investigation, particularly as it relates to NPS procedures. However, she bends this just enough to make it work in a mystery story. So its a great balance of realism and fun to read.What a great character Anna Pigeon is, how I missed her! Barr has inbued her with such depth, great backstory, personality, quirks, she is so fun to follow and watch her work and interact with others. This novel has a great cast of supporting characters as well. What I really appeciate is how real Anna is. She is passionate about the parks, the wildlife, the land, and compassionate (for the most part) but she remains practical and pragmatic. Too often in writing especially today characters are expected to be perfect and can not have any “problematic” traits or behaviors unless they are a villian. Its just not realistic. I am curious how Anna would behave in a book written today and plan to catch up on the series Hunting Season was the last one I read but I didn’t care firvthe Natchez set books so I dropped back to Blood Lure to re-read) and see if in the later books which I have yet to read, if she changed beyond what would be expected, ie, if she stays true to herself.Barr also shines when it comes to the setting and story. I love that so many park settings are used in the many novels I’ve read to date, some I have visited, some not. Even those I have visited I came away learning great tidbits that enhance my knowledge of that park. In this case I enjoyed learning a lot about the grizzlies that is specific to the bears in that population (NCDE) like their size (compared to Alaskan Grizzlies), eating habits in Glacier NP, and the details of how bear studies are conducted.The only reason for the loss of a star is I felt the ending was too easily wrapped up and unlikely. I think she pushed too hard for a perfect ending and it seemed too easily achieved and too quickly given the circumstance.Look forward to catching up with Anna’s newer stories and may re-read more older works as well.

In this book Anna is in Glazier National Park on a temporary project. She's joining bear researchers on their rounds, gleaning knowledge that might help with managing wildlife back in her home park in Mississippi. The bear research is quite fascinating.While she's there collecting bear DNA, a female camper is hideously murdered. The mutilation of the woman's face suggests a bear attack, but Anna suspects human agency.Anna is permitted to help with the investigation, which involves lots of interviewing and internet research. The plot is enlivened by terrifying encounters with grizzly bears and an even more dangerous human.Anna's abilities to take on strenuous hikes and to fight for her life seem undiminished by her age. She's in the mid-forties now, and getting grayer with every book.The reader needs strong nerves to camp with Anna in bear country, but the beauty of the wildflowers, the purity of the air – and the charming ending to the story more than compensate for the terror you're likely to experience.Another satisfying entry in a totally addictive series.

Park ranger Anna Pigeon has been sent to Glacier National Park to be a part of the Bear DNA Project. The adventure begins when the researcher's camp is destroyed in the middle of the night by a bear. Elsewhere in the park a woman is found dead. Anna fires up her little gray cells to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. Following the clues in this mystery is like watching a drama behind a filmy curtain. You think you know what is going on, but you can't be sure until the curtain is finally removed. As always, Barr's talent for describing landscapes brings the reader right into the story's setting. Even if you've never been in a wilderness, you are bound to feel a connection here. A few errors in punctuation and sentence structure, mentioned by another reviewer, are troublesome at times. But these errors are easily forgiven because the story is just so very entertaining.