Book Review: Hunting Season

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Hunting Season     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Nevada Barr
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural   Woman Main Character   Classic   Government Agency
Series: Anna Pigeon # 10
Putnam, Feb 2002, $24.95, 336 pp.

Anna Pigeon, the District Park Ranger for the Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi, is not having an easy time of it. She's in a secret relationship with a married man Paul Davidson, the sheriff of Claiborne. One of her workers is jealous of her because she got the job he thought he was entitled to while another employee refuses any overtures of friendship because of the race issue.

When a murder occurs in her jurisdiction, she immerses herself in the investigation, hoping it will help her forget her deeper problems. A dead man is found in bed in Mt. Locust, a former plantation now located on the Natchez Trace. This investigation is Anna's most dangerous one to date as she is attacked by vicious poachers and her car is totaled by a traveler who thinks she is in it at the time. By the time this case is solved, Anna is eager to get back to solving her personal and professional problems.

Nevada Barr is one of the few mystery writers today who turns out a constantly well written and complex who-done-it that manages to pull the reader into the story. In HUNTING SEASON, the audience is treated to a softer Anna, one who is in love and knows she can get hurt but is willing to take the risk. Her curiosity takes her into her most deadly adventure yet leaving readers mesmerized by the risks she takes in pursuit of the truth.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner