Review: Flashback

Anna, Anna, Anna..... what are we going to do with you? FLASHBACK, book twelve of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series open with another superior scene. She’s diving and it’s warm! Vibrant fish and clear water beckon her and suck us right in. Temporarily assigned to Dry Tortagus National Park in the Florida Keys our favorite park ranger is enjoying her day off. Now for the Anna, Anna, Anna part. She took this assignment because? That’s right Paul has proposed and the lady is running again. Tisk,tisk !

And on this small island Anna is of course about to find big adventure. The last chief ranger went insane, his girlfriend is missing and a boat is about to blow up destroying both human life and coral reef.

In a departure from the previous novels in this series Barr uses Anna to narrate the present day mystery but also engages us with a second historical mystery. It seems that Anna’s great aunt Raffia spent time on Dry Tortagus and Anna’s sister Molly has sent down family letters Raffia wrote to her sister Peg from the island. In fact Aunt Raffia was on the island when Lincoln conspirator Dr. Mudd arrived. Was the man perhaps innocent? Will the letters hold the key? The letters do hold the key to a terrible family tale and as we read on with Anna we become more admiring of Raffia’s courage and more desolate to know what the inevitable end to this story must be.

Present day Barr has once again captured the beauty of a national park not all may be aware of. She’s come up with another great mystery and engaging supporting players. Best of all, once again she makes Anna face all of her fears. There are some truly terrifying scenes in this book. My favorite involves a very narrow window but there are plenty of others to choose from. So sit back and enjoy...... once again Mississippi’s favorite writer has delivered.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ruth Jordan - RAM

Book Review: Flashback