Park Ranger danger

The novels of Nevada Barr

By MARY GREENE

Meet Anna Pigeon, National Park Service ranger—widowed, forty-something, independent, foolhardy, even reckless at times, brave, obsessive, smart and endearingly vulnerable.

She is the protagonist of "Liberty Falling" (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999)—the latest in a series of mystery novels by ex-park service ranger and writer Nevada Barr. Barr has written seven Anna Pigeon novels in as many years; each one taking place in a different national park around the U.S.

Part of what makes the Anna Pigeon series so enjoyable is the plucky nature of the heroine, who makes both mistakes in judgement and brilliant intuitive leaps. Pigeon was married to an actor from New York City, but this relationship was brutally cut short by her husband’s murder. She traded in the urban wilds for the natural ones, beginning in Texas and working her way north and east. Why Ranger Pigeon moves around so much on her job is not entirely clear, but it doesn’t matter; we are glad she does.

Barr creates each different terrain in loving detail and with attention to its special characteristics— heat, wind, treacherous heights or the claustrophobic underground caves. By letting us see what Pigeon sees as she traverses and champions these natural settings, Barr makes an impassioned plea for environmental awareness and conservation.

The mysteries are well-plotted, if far-fetched at times. The villain is always hidden well and hard to uncover. At times Pigeon takes on a kind of James Bond daring do, leaping into moving boats or dashing into condemned areas, but she is a complex figure who just as often chooses to lay back, or digresses in the wrong direction. We get to know her friendship with her long-distance sister, a therapist in New York who acts as confident and sounding board. We feel her middle-aged loneliness, and also the intense pleasure she takes in her solitude and independence. We struggle along with her as she fights a dependence on the bottle. We watch her take lovers but have yet to see her fall in love. We laugh at her goofiness, applaud her courage.

It is hard not to compare Anna Pigeon with Patricia Cornwell’s valiant heroine, the sensitive and sad Dr. Kay Scarpetta. While these fictional crime fighters are similar in many ways, they are also different. Both are introspective, but Pigeon is spry and physical, whereas Scarpetta seems more delicate, almost ill at times. Both are loners, without a lot of jolly family and family around. For both, those few that are close inspire fierce loyalty and protectiveness.

Both Pigeon and Scarpetta are selfish, strong females. Both get themselves into impossibly complicated situations, and both are intuitive and good at thinking on their feet. But while Scarpetta is happiest sitting before her fire sipping Chardonnay or cooking gourmet meals for her niece, Anna is happiest alone under the moon, or thousands of feet up the mountain, or anywhere else that is edgy and wild.

Lucky for us Barr is a good writer, eloquently wrapping us up in her atmospheric settings and lively plots. She has a good light touch with humor. We cheer for Pigeon, fear for Pigeon and, when the book is done, wonder where she will show up next.

Synopsis of Anna Pigeon novels in the order they appeared:

"Track of the Cat" (the first Anna Pigeon novel, published in 1993)

Newly widowed, Anna flees the city to the remote back country of West Texas. She investigates the death of a colleague, presumably at the jaws of a mountain lion. But the claw marks around the throat and paw marks around the body are too perfect, suggesting a killer of the two-legged variety.

"A Superior Death"

Takes place on the frigid North Shore of Lake Michigan, where Anna investigates a mysterious shipwreck and the death of a diver.

"Ill Wind"

Anna moves to Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park, housing the ancient Anasazi ruins. A mysterious illness is claiming the lives of tourists.

"Firestorm"

Anna tries her hand fighting blazes in Northern California’s Lassen Volcanic Park, but is dismayed to find herself trapped without food and water with a group of firefighters, one of whom is a murderer.

"Endangered Species"

Takes place on Georgia’s Cumberland Island National Seashore, where there is drug smuggling and an airplane crash among the loggerhead turtles and wild ponies.

"Blind Descent"

Anna must battle claustrophobia and the bottle as she takes part in the rescue of a colleague injured and trapped in New Mexico’s vast Carlsbad Caverns.

"Liberty Falling"

Anna must troop off to New York City where her beloved sister lies ill. She takes up residence with other rangers on Liberty Island and finds danger among the decrepit ruins of Ellis Island and the grand, but aging, Statue of Liberty.