Search - Track of the Cat (Anna Pigeon, Bk 1)

First in the Anna Pigeon Series. Years ago I was told that this was a great series, but I just didn't believe the person who told me. Guess I should have. Anna is a National Park Ranger and when two of her fellow rangers have mysterious deaths Anna investigates, almost gets herself killed. Anna will question many things in her life, but she makes for a great character.

Although this is the first Anna Pigeon mystery, I didn't track down a copy and read it until after reading most of the others. I was thinking this first book might be about Anna's early days as a ranger, but instead Anna is much as she is in the later books, well established in her job. It might have been numbers 4 or 6 in the series, if I hadn't known better -- which is not a bad thing. I like Anna. She's smart and intelligent, not looking for trouble, but not shying away from it either. Nevada Barr sets each book in a different national park. This one takes place in west Texas where Anna is working at Guadaloupe Mountains National Park. On a hike through the park, she finds a body of another ranger, the person seemingly killed by a mountain lion. Anna's not so sure.

This is a great murder mystery story. The first from author Nevada Barr, she writes an intriguing mystery in a new setting. The national park setting gives the book an extra element that I really enjoyed.

One in a series of books based in National Parks with park ranger, Anna Pigeon, being a Kinsey Milhone of the Park Service.

Interesting characters and relationships. The world view from a ranger's perspective was fun. Enjoyable read.

Mysteries set in the National Parks. If you enjoy the parks you will probably like these books

Anna in the southwest.

From Publishers Weekly: "The texture, scents and sounds of the West Texas wilderness permeate this forceful debut, in which the murder of a National Park Service ranger illuminates the conflicts between those who want to place our country's open spaces and wildlife under government protection and those who want to profit from them. Anna Pigeon has fled New York City after the accidental death of her husband, and she now works as a law enforcement ranger at Guadaloupe Mountains National Park. There she finds the remains of fellow ranger Sheila Drury, who apparently was clawed to death by a mountain lion. Although an autopsy confirms this judgment, Anna becomes convinced that the claw marks have been faked. Her superiors discourage her from probing further, but another supposedly accidental death goads her into investigating Sheila's activities before her death--her campaign to open up the park to the public and her relationships with a young divorcee and with a powerful rancher opposed to Park Service policies. Anna is sure that clues reside in the thousands of snapshots the dead woman took--photos that show signs of having been rifled through. A park ranger herself, Barr develops a complex, credible and capable heroine who believes in truth and justice while remaining conscious of the ambiguities of human existence." Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

great book!

#1 National Park series, loved it.

an Anna Pigeon Mystery

The memory of violence and loss drove Anna Pigeon from the city to seek peace in the Southwestern wilderness.

Anna finds a fellow ranger dead.It appears at first glance that a cougar did the killing, but Anna is convinced it is murder.

This Nevada Barr murder mystery is a debut for Anna Pigeon and if you like your murder mysteries set in a national park in teh Southwestern wilderness, this will read smooth and end too soon!

Anna Pigeon at her best. She's taken a position in the Southwest to get away from the murder and mayhem of the city.

But then one of the Texas park rangers is killed, to appearances, by a mountain lion.

Anna suspects murder...

When I discovered Nevada Barr's books, I read most of them in a few weeks. This one takes place in the Texas back-country. Good mystery.