WHY DID ANNA PIGEON BECOME A FOREST RANGER? - "THE ROPE" BY NEVADA BARR

“The Rope” is Nevada Barr’s 17^th Anna Pigeon mystery.  The author takes the reader back to 1995 when the protagonist began her career with the National Park Service.  Anna’s actor husband has died in a car accident, so she leaves her job as a New York stage manager and becomes a seasonal park ranger at Glen Canyon National Recreational Area on the shores of Lake Powell in Arizona. 

On her day off from her new job Anna goes on a hike and disappears.  Her co-workers think that the antisocial novice ranger has packed her bags and gone back to New York.  In reality Anna has been attacked and thrown into a jar, a dry natural well.  Even with a dislocated shoulder, Anna finds her way out of the jar and returns to the Glen Canyon Recreation Area.

However, her unknown assailant is still on the loose.  With the help of her roommate, Jenny Gorman, Anna tries to discover who attempted to kill her before her attacker succeeds at this task.  By the end of the novel both Anna and the reader find out who has been after the new park ranger and why.  Anna Pigeon also realizes that she has found a new profession in law enforcement for the National Park Service. 

Nevada Barr has much in common with her most famous character.  Barr’s husband was a New York stage actor, but thankfully he was never run down and killed by a taxi driver.  Barr herself had a 20 year career in the theater, tv, films, commercials and voice work before becoming a seasonal park ranger.  Barr’s knowledge of the National Park Service and her wonderfully detailed descriptions of the beauties of the American wilderness make her Anna Pigeon thrillers both realistic and absorbing.  Nevada Barr knows how to write a well plotted, suspenseful mystery and “The Rope” is no exception. 

Anna Pigeon is a fascinating protagonist and long-time readers of the series will love learning more about how she became a park ranger.  New readers will discover an exciting thriller rich with fascinating people and incredible scenery.  I hope Nevada Barr writes 17 more Anna Pigeon novels.

WYATT HUNT INVESTIGATES HIS OWN PAST - "THE HUNTER" BY JOHN LESCROART

San Francisco private investigator, Wyatt Hunt, receives an anonymous text message asking him “How did your mother die?”  Hunt has always known he was adopted, but until he gets this text question he has shown little interest in his birth parents.

Hunt discovers that his mother was murdered when he was a very young child and his father was accused of killing her.  After two mistrials, Hunt’s biological father disappeared.  Before he vanished, however, Hunt’s birth father left a letter for his son with a local priest.  When Wyatt hunts down the priest, Hunt is given the letter.  In it his father swears that he did not slay his wife.

Wyatt Hunt, along with the members of the Hunt Club (the name of his private investigation agency), begin to unearth the secrets of Hunt’s birth parents.  The private detective discovers that there is a connection between his mother and James Jones, the infamous cult leader who forced thousands of his followers to commit suicide in the late 1970s.

The more Hunt and his team explore his mother’s murder, the more it seems that someone high up in the San Francisco Police Department wants to silence him.  Wyatt also starts having flashbacks of himself as a young child seeing his mother’s dead body on the floor.  The longer the probe into his mother’s murder goes on, the more Hunt is affected physically, mentally and emotionally.  This becomes even worse when one of Wyatt’s detectives is killed during the investigation. 

John Lescroart does not pretend that his characters have anything to do with his own life.  He just knows how to write a well plotted and exciting mystery.  “The Hunter” is definitely one of his best novels.  Wyatt Hunt is a fascinating character and discovering more about his background and history makes for an even richer thriller.  Whether the protagonist is Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky or Wyatt Hunt, the reader can count on a great whodunit whenever they open a John Lescroart book.