What do you think?
Rate this book
Anna Pigeon #9
Blood Lure
In this mystery in Nevada Barr’s New York Times bestselling series, District Park Ranger Anna Pigeon is betrayed by nature itself, as a most unnatural evil stalks its prey in the pristine West…
Straddling the border between Montana and Canada lies the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—Anna’s home away from home when she is sent on a cross-training assignment to study grizzly bears. Along with bear researcher Joan Rand and a volatile, unpredictable teenage boy, Anna hikes the back country, seeking signs of bear. But the tables are turned on their second night out, when one of the beasts comes looking for them. Daybreak finds the boy missing, a camper mutilated, and Anna caught in a grip of fear, painfully aware that her lifelong bond with nature has inexplicably snapped...
Straddling the border between Montana and Canada lies the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—Anna’s home away from home when she is sent on a cross-training assignment to study grizzly bears. Along with bear researcher Joan Rand and a volatile, unpredictable teenage boy, Anna hikes the back country, seeking signs of bear. But the tables are turned on their second night out, when one of the beasts comes looking for them. Daybreak finds the boy missing, a camper mutilated, and Anna caught in a grip of fear, painfully aware that her lifelong bond with nature has inexplicably snapped...
333 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Nevada Barr
59 books2,149 followersNevada Barr is a mystery fiction author, known for her "Anna Pigeon" series of mysteries, set in National Parks in the United States. Barr has won an Agatha Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat.
Barr was named after the state of her birth. She grew up in Johnstonville, California. She finished college at the University of California, Irvine. Originally, Barr started to pursue a career in theatre, but decided to be a park ranger. In 1984 she published her first novel, Bittersweet, a bleak lesbian historical novel set in the days of the Western frontier.
While working in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Barr created the Anna Pigeon series. Pigeon is a law enforcement officer with the United States National Park Service. Each book in the series takes place in a different National Park, where Pigeon solves a murder mystery, often related to natural resource issues. She is a satirical, witty woman whose icy exterior is broken down in each book by a hunky male to whom she is attracted (such as Rogelio).
Currently, Ms. Barr lives in New Orleans, LA.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/nevada...
Barr was named after the state of her birth. She grew up in Johnstonville, California. She finished college at the University of California, Irvine. Originally, Barr started to pursue a career in theatre, but decided to be a park ranger. In 1984 she published her first novel, Bittersweet, a bleak lesbian historical novel set in the days of the Western frontier.
While working in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Barr created the Anna Pigeon series. Pigeon is a law enforcement officer with the United States National Park Service. Each book in the series takes place in a different National Park, where Pigeon solves a murder mystery, often related to natural resource issues. She is a satirical, witty woman whose icy exterior is broken down in each book by a hunky male to whom she is attracted (such as Rogelio).
Currently, Ms. Barr lives in New Orleans, LA.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/nevada...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 495 reviews
February 7, 2022
In the ninth book of the Anna Pigeon mystery series, Anna is sent to Glacier National Park to learn about DNA studies for park animal management. There were some really interesting passages about how this is done, and how scientists and rangers get data from bears and other animals.
Unfortunately, being up in Montana and in close proximity with bears, Anna and others on her team experience a frightening bear attack, and one member of the team goes missing. While they’re searching for him, they discover a body. As they’re piecing together information about what happened, it’s determined there may be a connection between the missing team member and the victim who was discovered. But what really happened and who is responsible?
I’ve read eight previous books in this series and every time I’m convinced I know “whodunit” I always turn out to be wrong. This one was a real surprise with a fun twist! I like that the mystery took us on some interesting twists and turns and that as always, there is a level of detail in describing daily park ranger life and the intricacies of bear baiting where I learn something new with every book.
Unfortunately, being up in Montana and in close proximity with bears, Anna and others on her team experience a frightening bear attack, and one member of the team goes missing. While they’re searching for him, they discover a body. As they’re piecing together information about what happened, it’s determined there may be a connection between the missing team member and the victim who was discovered. But what really happened and who is responsible?
I’ve read eight previous books in this series and every time I’m convinced I know “whodunit” I always turn out to be wrong. This one was a real surprise with a fun twist! I like that the mystery took us on some interesting twists and turns and that as always, there is a level of detail in describing daily park ranger life and the intricacies of bear baiting where I learn something new with every book.
July 25, 2023
This is the 4th Anna Pigeon mystery I've read . . . over a period of almost 30 years. I always wanted to like the books more than I actually did. The main character is a National Park Ranger, specializing in law enforcement, and they are each set in a specific national park. But they tend to be very violent and bloody stories; Anna herself is often a tragic character.
However! This one I really liked. Setting is Glacier National Park where Anna is on loan to a grizzly bear research project. She's coming from her permanent posting on the Natchez Trail so she particularly appreciates the mountain air and crispness. I had jotted down the quote where she compares the way the sun and air feels between the 2 different places but can't seem to find it.
Lots of good information about Glacier in the book, a strong sense of place and although there is a murder, somehow things resolve very well. There were some unlikely scenes. Yes, Glacier Park Superintendent was short staffed because of sending personnel to California wildfires but still, would a lone ranger be sent to the high backcountry during the height of berry season in an area known to be frequently by grizzlies and with a murderer also somewhere in the immediate vicinity on a difficult overnight hike seeking clues and evidence?? It adds drama but doesn't sound likely.
Enjoyed it though, rounding up to a 4. Favorite quote: "Rarely did Anna find it a burden to walk instead of ride. The mere act of putting one foot in front of the other, moving forward completely on one's own will and strength, gave life a sense of purpose and control."
However! This one I really liked. Setting is Glacier National Park where Anna is on loan to a grizzly bear research project. She's coming from her permanent posting on the Natchez Trail so she particularly appreciates the mountain air and crispness. I had jotted down the quote where she compares the way the sun and air feels between the 2 different places but can't seem to find it.
Lots of good information about Glacier in the book, a strong sense of place and although there is a murder, somehow things resolve very well. There were some unlikely scenes. Yes, Glacier Park Superintendent was short staffed because of sending personnel to California wildfires but still, would a lone ranger be sent to the high backcountry during the height of berry season in an area known to be frequently by grizzlies and with a murderer also somewhere in the immediate vicinity on a difficult overnight hike seeking clues and evidence?? It adds drama but doesn't sound likely.
Enjoyed it though, rounding up to a 4. Favorite quote: "Rarely did Anna find it a burden to walk instead of ride. The mere act of putting one foot in front of the other, moving forward completely on one's own will and strength, gave life a sense of purpose and control."
May 11, 2012
Anna Pigeon, our intrepid park ranger is on a trek through Waterton/Glacier National Park engaged in setting some bear traps to collect hair and scat samples from assorted bears. Technically, she’s off duty and so out-of-uniform when they meet a young man hiking who reeks of malfeasance and in other circumstances, Anna would have had him up against a car demanding his driver’s license and other ID.
That night, in a scene that raised my skepticism (having read too many mysteries, I suppose) she and her tent mate are attacked by a huge bear who doesn’t act in the way most bears would (according to the bear expert along on the trip.) Rory, the other volunteer in his own tent hightailed it out of there and is discovered some miles away in rather sad shape, but only after Anna and Joanna report his disappearance does a search reveal the body of a murdered woman who happens to be Rory’s stepmother. Without giving away the plot, I will say only that numerous connections and suspects provide the elements to a puzzle that keeps the rangers, struggling with other responsibilities which include bear scat analysis, bedeviled. Unlike some lesser mysteries the answer does not fall from the sky, but is compiled through careful analysis of evidence.
Several reviewers have complained about what they considered to be excessive detail with regard to bear DNA, the bear lure, etc., but for me it’s those kinds of details that I find tantalizing but that’s perhaps since I so enjoy collecting information from what I read as well as entertainment.
My suspicion of anthropomorphism that worried me in the beginning was not borne out in the end. Satisfactory.
That night, in a scene that raised my skepticism (having read too many mysteries, I suppose) she and her tent mate are attacked by a huge bear who doesn’t act in the way most bears would (according to the bear expert along on the trip.) Rory, the other volunteer in his own tent hightailed it out of there and is discovered some miles away in rather sad shape, but only after Anna and Joanna report his disappearance does a search reveal the body of a murdered woman who happens to be Rory’s stepmother. Without giving away the plot, I will say only that numerous connections and suspects provide the elements to a puzzle that keeps the rangers, struggling with other responsibilities which include bear scat analysis, bedeviled. Unlike some lesser mysteries the answer does not fall from the sky, but is compiled through careful analysis of evidence.
Several reviewers have complained about what they considered to be excessive detail with regard to bear DNA, the bear lure, etc., but for me it’s those kinds of details that I find tantalizing but that’s perhaps since I so enjoy collecting information from what I read as well as entertainment.
My suspicion of anthropomorphism that worried me in the beginning was not borne out in the end. Satisfactory.
June 27, 2009
Park ranger/Law enforcer/sleuth Anna Pigeon is invited to Glacier National Park in Montana to help gather grizzly bear DNA for a research project. But when the researcher's camp is trashed and a hiker is found dead, it seems that perhaps nature, known to be cruel, is cold and calculating as well...or is it the work of a two-legged perpetrator instead?
Barr describes Glacier's monumental scenery with the knowledge of someone who has both been there and appreciated it fully. However, she does not seem as adept in her mystery story development. Obvious clues fly out at the reader (red-herrings are obvious, important clues seem emblazoned with neon lights), but unfortunately it takes Anna quite a bit longer to catch on. The denouement is waaaaay over the top, and was visible several miles away.
Barr describes Glacier's monumental scenery with the knowledge of someone who has both been there and appreciated it fully. However, she does not seem as adept in her mystery story development. Obvious clues fly out at the reader (red-herrings are obvious, important clues seem emblazoned with neon lights), but unfortunately it takes Anna quite a bit longer to catch on. The denouement is waaaaay over the top, and was visible several miles away.
September 23, 2021
Well I love bears and Anna so I really enjoyed this one. It was really well written. I loved the foreshadowing that let me know just a bit more than Anna did. Nevada Barr writes great mysteries.
June 24, 2017
A friend suggested that I might find the Nevada Barr books interesting, as they are mysteries set in various national parks. Blood Lure is set in Glacial National Park, which we are planning to visit, so it seemed like a good one to start with. I was not disappointed. The story has many twists and turns, and it seems like there are a host of people who could be the villain. Even with only about 20 pages remaining, I was guessing at the villain, and I kept changing my mind. So Blood Lure was a very suspenseful book. It is not great literature, and some of the characters are only shallowly developed, but the story is exciting and the book is hard to put down. I will definitely read more books by Nevada Barr, and recommend this book to others.
January 20, 2019
After starting and abandoning several recently published books, I decided to fall back on some of my favorite authors. I so much enjoy Nevada Barr’s books featuring Anna Pidgeon. And I like being introduced to the various National Parks as Anna works there. This time it is Glacier National Park, and I’ve been there many years ago but just a casual drive through—not the back country that Anna encounters. Anna is at Glacier participating in collecting DNA samples of grizzly bears. Though I probably won’t remember it for long, but was interested in learning about the habits and diet of grizzly bears. There are some tense moments in the book, and unusual turns that keeps the reader tied to the story. And, as always, Barbara Rosenblat brings Anna to
February 8, 2015
I've been reading the Anna Pigeon series of books by this author. I had read the first two, and went to my local library to find more. I didn't find the next one in their collection, so I picked one somewhat at random, and found this, which turns out to be #9 in the series.
I found this to be a rather annoying read. The entire middle of the book was, in my opinion, too wordy, with the protagonist, Anna, spending loads of time thinking and hypothesizing, which would seem to be what one would expect, except that I found it overdone to the point of being annoying. It got to the point where I stopped reading to go watch some trashy TV programs -- that probably says it all. I did this a couple of times, but returned to continue reading. In other words, rather than being sucked in, the book had rather the opposite effect. Finally, the denouement came -- rather too rapidly, I thought. I'd been getting some ideas about what was happening, but didn't foresee everything.
I know that many authors who have become popular have a tendency to become more verbose as they continue to write. I suspect that this is partially that there is pressure on them to get the next book out, and little pressure for someone to do proper copy editing on the book -- in particular, to point out when the author should be cutting things out. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about: "If I Had More Time, I Would Have Written a Shorter Letter" (http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/...). I'm thinking this might be the case with Nevada Barr. I'll probably go back and read #3, Ill Wind, to see if it's more 'efficient', and less annoying.
I found this to be a rather annoying read. The entire middle of the book was, in my opinion, too wordy, with the protagonist, Anna, spending loads of time thinking and hypothesizing, which would seem to be what one would expect, except that I found it overdone to the point of being annoying. It got to the point where I stopped reading to go watch some trashy TV programs -- that probably says it all. I did this a couple of times, but returned to continue reading. In other words, rather than being sucked in, the book had rather the opposite effect. Finally, the denouement came -- rather too rapidly, I thought. I'd been getting some ideas about what was happening, but didn't foresee everything.
I know that many authors who have become popular have a tendency to become more verbose as they continue to write. I suspect that this is partially that there is pressure on them to get the next book out, and little pressure for someone to do proper copy editing on the book -- in particular, to point out when the author should be cutting things out. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about: "If I Had More Time, I Would Have Written a Shorter Letter" (http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/...). I'm thinking this might be the case with Nevada Barr. I'll probably go back and read #3, Ill Wind, to see if it's more 'efficient', and less annoying.
November 8, 2020
Do you enjoy the added pleasure of learning something when you read fiction? Entertainment is what novels are written for. But we can and do learn from everything we read. We see how love works, and doesn't. We see how people react to hardships and tragedies. We see how individuals with odd personalities affect those around them. When these lessons are found in abundance, and move us deeply, we have great literature. Something much more than a story, and more than entertainment. But fiction can also fill us with facts. I learn more about the National Parks each time I read Nevada Barr. While her Anna Pigeon stories are detective mysteries, Barr peppers in plenty of well-researched information on the human history, geology, flora and fauna of the featured park.
Blood Lure, 2001, is the 9th Anna Pigeon novel. It takes place in Glacier National Park in Montana. Anna is "on loan" to the park to assist grizzly scientist Joan Rand, who is leading a backcountry project that lures grizzlies with food smells and collects bits of hair left behind to track individual bears and gather census numbers and information on population trends and travel routes. Working with them is 17 year-old Rory Van Dyke, who applied to join the seasonal study.
One night in their remote camp, a bear is heard outside the tents. Something triggers an attack, and Anna and Joan's tent is slashed open, but the bear leaves without injuring them. Rory runs off before they emerge. Before Anna and Joan reach civilization, they are radioed by the superintendent that during the search for Rory, a woman's mutilated body has been found. Backpacking campers at a nearby remote camp all become potential suspects, because the condition of the corpse does not indicate a bear attack. And where is Rory?
Overall, Blood Lure is a solid whodunit among the Anna Pigeon books. When grizzlies are around, suspense is pretty readily created and maintained. Credibility was strained, however, when Anna, a seasoned crime investigator, agreed to go off in the dark alone and unarmed with one of the active murder suspects!
Blood Lure, 2001, is the 9th Anna Pigeon novel. It takes place in Glacier National Park in Montana. Anna is "on loan" to the park to assist grizzly scientist Joan Rand, who is leading a backcountry project that lures grizzlies with food smells and collects bits of hair left behind to track individual bears and gather census numbers and information on population trends and travel routes. Working with them is 17 year-old Rory Van Dyke, who applied to join the seasonal study.
One night in their remote camp, a bear is heard outside the tents. Something triggers an attack, and Anna and Joan's tent is slashed open, but the bear leaves without injuring them. Rory runs off before they emerge. Before Anna and Joan reach civilization, they are radioed by the superintendent that during the search for Rory, a woman's mutilated body has been found. Backpacking campers at a nearby remote camp all become potential suspects, because the condition of the corpse does not indicate a bear attack. And where is Rory?
Overall, Blood Lure is a solid whodunit among the Anna Pigeon books. When grizzlies are around, suspense is pretty readily created and maintained. Credibility was strained, however, when Anna, a seasoned crime investigator, agreed to go off in the dark alone and unarmed with one of the active murder suspects!
February 22, 2018
4 stelle e mezza
Le storie della park ranger Anna sono sempre interessanti e con momenti mozzafiato: anche questa non fa eccezione. Come in precedenza mi spiace non conoscere bene l'inglese perché non riesco ad apprezzare in pieno la descrizione dei vari ambienti naturali e degli animali che vi vivono.
Le storie della park ranger Anna sono sempre interessanti e con momenti mozzafiato: anche questa non fa eccezione. Come in precedenza mi spiace non conoscere bene l'inglese perché non riesco ad apprezzare in pieno la descrizione dei vari ambienti naturali e degli animali che vi vivono.
October 19, 2019
I loved the 9th installment in this series! Unique story line, suspensful, and even educational (if you want to learn a bit about bears) :) Anna Pigeon is such a wonderful, strong, take-no-cr*p lead character! Not much of her personal life in this book so maybe the next one? But, this book sure had me reading without stopping to find out "who done it" and why!
October 26, 2019
The day I got home from our trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park, I opened Nevada Barr's ninth book in her National Park mystery series. In a way, it helped me preserve the wonder of being in wild spaces away from the madness of civilization.
Blood Lure takes place in Glacier National Park in Montana, my favorite park of them all. Of course the madness of civilization does manage to invade the parks along with the humans who visit them. Another madness defies Anna Pigeon, the park ranger whose detective skills feature in these books. Grizzly bears!
Anna was sent to Glacier for training in the study of bears. She trains with Joan Rand, an experienced bear researcher and a much more trusting soul than Anna.
While they are in the back country performing research activities, a grizzly attacks their campsite. The teenage boy working as an assistant to Joan goes missing and a camper who turns out to be the boy's stepmother is found dead of a broken neck with the flesh of her face cut away.
Anna is called upon by the Chief Ranger to help with the investigation. As usual, she is the most competent and must solve what appears to be a family psychological puzzle as well as find the guilty bear.
I think this is my favorite so far, but I may have said that about her last book. Anna is almost supernatural in her daring and life threatening investigation. Or does the strange young man she encounters have special powers? Or is it the bear?
Great bloodcurdling read!
Blood Lure takes place in Glacier National Park in Montana, my favorite park of them all. Of course the madness of civilization does manage to invade the parks along with the humans who visit them. Another madness defies Anna Pigeon, the park ranger whose detective skills feature in these books. Grizzly bears!
Anna was sent to Glacier for training in the study of bears. She trains with Joan Rand, an experienced bear researcher and a much more trusting soul than Anna.
While they are in the back country performing research activities, a grizzly attacks their campsite. The teenage boy working as an assistant to Joan goes missing and a camper who turns out to be the boy's stepmother is found dead of a broken neck with the flesh of her face cut away.
Anna is called upon by the Chief Ranger to help with the investigation. As usual, she is the most competent and must solve what appears to be a family psychological puzzle as well as find the guilty bear.
I think this is my favorite so far, but I may have said that about her last book. Anna is almost supernatural in her daring and life threatening investigation. Or does the strange young man she encounters have special powers? Or is it the bear?
Great bloodcurdling read!
September 24, 2019
There's nothing more exciting that learning about a new national park, even if it is vicariously through the writing of Nevada Barr. I had heard of Glacier National Park straddling the border between Montana and Canada — its about the only national park that my husband has never visited and one of many that I have not. And as a setting for a new mystery, one bound up into the area and the study of grizzly bears, its a good one.
Anna Pidgeon is there to learn more about the grizzlies but there is a whole lot more when the camp, where she is with bear researcher Joan Rand and her assistant, is apparently attacked by a bear and destroyed. Somehow they survive but later a body is discovered, that of the assistant's step mother. and the body is mutilated.
Despite the beauty of the setting and the calming effect of nature, death is in the air and Pidgeon is in the perfect place to do some investigation into the victim and the reasons someone would do it. Its a heady mix and makes for riveting reading.
Anna Pidgeon is there to learn more about the grizzlies but there is a whole lot more when the camp, where she is with bear researcher Joan Rand and her assistant, is apparently attacked by a bear and destroyed. Somehow they survive but later a body is discovered, that of the assistant's step mother. and the body is mutilated.
Despite the beauty of the setting and the calming effect of nature, death is in the air and Pidgeon is in the perfect place to do some investigation into the victim and the reasons someone would do it. Its a heady mix and makes for riveting reading.
October 7, 2017
A nice but bland entry to the Anna Pigeon series. The mystery was way to easy to figure out in this book and there were other side stories that drew away from the over all story that distracting and didn't need to be there. A good chunk of this book was spent educating the reader about grizzly bears.
Anna is in another park to help with a government study when after a brush with a bear she and the expert get separated from their young assistant. From there they find a body of a woman who turns out to be their assistant's stepmother. From there the story breaks into 3 mini-mysteries. Who killed the assistant's stepmother, what is the assistant hiding (because he refuses to help with the investigation and isn't sad his stepmother is dead) and who is the mysterious boy they find up in the mountains.
Anna is in another park to help with a government study when after a brush with a bear she and the expert get separated from their young assistant. From there they find a body of a woman who turns out to be their assistant's stepmother. From there the story breaks into 3 mini-mysteries. Who killed the assistant's stepmother, what is the assistant hiding (because he refuses to help with the investigation and isn't sad his stepmother is dead) and who is the mysterious boy they find up in the mountains.
March 21, 2017
I really enjoyed this novel by Nevada Barr. The location is Glacier National Park back country, of which I have some experience. This Park is important to me as a Native Montanan. Anna applies her thorough, crime-solving mind to the murder of a female camper in the back country of the Park. There are many frightening scenes and examples of how a person's fear-fueled imagination add to the chaos generated by miscreants—both human and bear.
Read this book. You will learn new facts about Grizzly bears as Anna teams with a G-bear researcher to collect bear hair and feces. You'll get a clear idea of how this is accomplished. As always, Anna Pigeon's incredible stamina and stubbornness is a central factor in solving the mystery.
Read this book. You will learn new facts about Grizzly bears as Anna teams with a G-bear researcher to collect bear hair and feces. You'll get a clear idea of how this is accomplished. As always, Anna Pigeon's incredible stamina and stubbornness is a central factor in solving the mystery.
August 21, 2020
I really wanted to like Nevada Barr. It took a long time to get into the book. And, even then it was still only because I was committed to finish. I hate starting a book and not finishing it. I learned much about bear behavior and learned a few new words and read some very creative descriptions. I know there are some big Nevada Barr fans out there. My high school English teacher is a huge fan. And, I can see smidgeons of examples as to why that may be. But, there not enough examples to want to read another.
I've read E. L. Doctorow with the same result. Simply not my cup of tea. I'm glad I read one Nevada Barr books and won't read another. I think it completely appropriate for someone to give it a shot. They may like the flavor.
I've read E. L. Doctorow with the same result. Simply not my cup of tea. I'm glad I read one Nevada Barr books and won't read another. I think it completely appropriate for someone to give it a shot. They may like the flavor.
April 29, 2022
As I'm re-reading the series from the beginning, I was a little concerned because I didn't like the books as I had years ago. So I was quite pleased to be able to give this five stars! It was absolutely wonderful!
November 25, 2017
This starts out a bit slow, but even so once it gets going it makes up for it, especially the ending. One of the best of this series.
July 17, 2022
I loved the setting and I love Anna Pigeon but the ending was so improbable that it defies credulity.
June 13, 2017
"[...] fog white as drugstore cotton began pouring down, feather-light liquid in stasis, from over the jagged mountain face to the east. Slow and silent in sinister majesty it cloaked the crags, slipped between them and flowed toward the meadows."
National Park system is one of the best things we have in this country; my wife and I have now visited 30 out of the 59 national parks in the U.S., several of them more than once, and we cherish the memories of our trips. So when I started reading Nevada Barr's Blood Lure (2001) and realized that the plot is located in Glacier National Park I got really excited. Indeed, the first part of the novel is, to me, absolutely spellbinding. Ms. Barr writes about places I vividly remember from two stays in the park: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Lake McDonald, Cathedral Peak, and others. Even Kootenai Pass makes its appearance, and I still remember the Kootenai country from Blue Heaven and from our Montana trip. The setup of the plot is absolutely first class and I was unable to put the book away until after 2 a.m.
Anita Pigeon, a ranger in the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, is "on loan" to Glacier National Park - the U.S. part of it located in Montana as the park has also its Canadian part - where she works on a project concerning grizzly bear DNA. Ms. Pigeon, accompanied by Joan, the researcher, and Rory, a young park volunteer, embark on a five-day hike to collect bear hairs from hair traps, set up new traps and furnish them with fresh lure, a smelly blood-and-fish-guts mixture. On the second night they have a dramatic encounter with a bear; the scene is really well written. Rory disappears and, having been alerted by the park's chief ranger, Anita and Joan find a body of a victim of a brutal attack, half of whose face is gone, "cheekbone and teeth [...] exposed, bone and enamel crusted brown with dried blood."
To me the first half of the novel was a totally compulsive read: not only was I captivated with the mystery of the ravaged dead body but the park's forbidding yet magnificent landscapes that I remember from the two visits, the nature, plants and animals, came alive on the pages. Then the author acknowledges that this is a crime novel after all, and begins creating and dropping a number of unusual clues. The criminal plot rapidly grows at the expense of the national-park component of the story. We have several suspects and Ms. Pigeon's investigation even involves such distant places as Florida and Seattle. All this is pretty mundane and ordinary and the second part of the novel has not really interested me that much. The denouement has a rather low degree of plausibility but I imagine it must have been extremely hard to reconcile and successfully explain all the numerous and often contradictory clues.
Hence, even though at the beginning I was certain this would be an above-four-star novel, my hopes have been shattered by the unremarkable second half. Still, Blood Lure is a good read, and the non-mystery bits are quite interesting, like the one about bears and their food sources that very rarely include humans but often the cutworm moths. One can even find a pretty insightful sociological observation (remember, this is 2001):
Three and a half stars.
National Park system is one of the best things we have in this country; my wife and I have now visited 30 out of the 59 national parks in the U.S., several of them more than once, and we cherish the memories of our trips. So when I started reading Nevada Barr's Blood Lure (2001) and realized that the plot is located in Glacier National Park I got really excited. Indeed, the first part of the novel is, to me, absolutely spellbinding. Ms. Barr writes about places I vividly remember from two stays in the park: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Lake McDonald, Cathedral Peak, and others. Even Kootenai Pass makes its appearance, and I still remember the Kootenai country from Blue Heaven and from our Montana trip. The setup of the plot is absolutely first class and I was unable to put the book away until after 2 a.m.
Anita Pigeon, a ranger in the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, is "on loan" to Glacier National Park - the U.S. part of it located in Montana as the park has also its Canadian part - where she works on a project concerning grizzly bear DNA. Ms. Pigeon, accompanied by Joan, the researcher, and Rory, a young park volunteer, embark on a five-day hike to collect bear hairs from hair traps, set up new traps and furnish them with fresh lure, a smelly blood-and-fish-guts mixture. On the second night they have a dramatic encounter with a bear; the scene is really well written. Rory disappears and, having been alerted by the park's chief ranger, Anita and Joan find a body of a victim of a brutal attack, half of whose face is gone, "cheekbone and teeth [...] exposed, bone and enamel crusted brown with dried blood."
To me the first half of the novel was a totally compulsive read: not only was I captivated with the mystery of the ravaged dead body but the park's forbidding yet magnificent landscapes that I remember from the two visits, the nature, plants and animals, came alive on the pages. Then the author acknowledges that this is a crime novel after all, and begins creating and dropping a number of unusual clues. The criminal plot rapidly grows at the expense of the national-park component of the story. We have several suspects and Ms. Pigeon's investigation even involves such distant places as Florida and Seattle. All this is pretty mundane and ordinary and the second part of the novel has not really interested me that much. The denouement has a rather low degree of plausibility but I imagine it must have been extremely hard to reconcile and successfully explain all the numerous and often contradictory clues.
Hence, even though at the beginning I was certain this would be an above-four-star novel, my hopes have been shattered by the unremarkable second half. Still, Blood Lure is a good read, and the non-mystery bits are quite interesting, like the one about bears and their food sources that very rarely include humans but often the cutworm moths. One can even find a pretty insightful sociological observation (remember, this is 2001):
"Americans were happily forfeiting their freedom of choice for imagined increases in security. [...] People as individuals were giving up their decision-making power because they did not want the responsibility."I have now learned that each installment of the "Anita Pigeon series" of novels takes place in a different national park. Wow! I have just found a new must-read author.
Three and a half stars.
April 22, 2019
This one was fun because I've been to Glacier before but not in the back country. I enjoyed the bear DNA project aspect. I was surprised at the resolution and what was the cause of everything. As enjoyable as I find these books and I love getting to see the working side of the national parks they always seem to be a slow read for me.
November 12, 2018
Another interesting book in the series.
June 27, 2020
A good set up to the mystery but a ridiculous ending. Impossible, ridiculous and very disappointing.
June 19, 2021
Way too dark for my taste.
November 8, 2020
My least favorite of the Anna Pigeon books. I still learned a lot about bears and, as always, enjoyed Anna.
November 28, 2019
Another great adventure! On to the next!
February 13, 2018
This is the book that made me fear the woods. No joke. Beautiful, terrifying, and wonderful.
September 4, 2022
These are basically detective stories staring a park ranger working in various jobs in various US National Parks. They simply combine a lot of my favorite things great story, great characters (most of which are different in every book), in an interesting environment which are well told. I really enjoy them. This installment was pretty a typical example of the series. Just a really enjoyable book.
I’ve really been enjoying this series but I haven’t read a book from it in quite a while. I switched to doing most of my “reading” by listening to audio books while I walk the new doggo everyday (currently 90 minutes a day) and do other things around the house etc.
That is a long way of saying that this is the first book in the series that I have listened to rather than read.
While this was a 3.75-4.0 series by my reckoning while reading the digital or paper books . . . I think the series is even better as audio books. The paper books always seemed a little slow paced for my taste however the audio book felt much faster paced. Generally audio books feel slower to me so this was a big surprise.
I am glad to be reassign/listening to this series again and glad to have found that I like it better as audio books than paper/digital!
I’ve really been enjoying this series but I haven’t read a book from it in quite a while. I switched to doing most of my “reading” by listening to audio books while I walk the new doggo everyday (currently 90 minutes a day) and do other things around the house etc.
That is a long way of saying that this is the first book in the series that I have listened to rather than read.
While this was a 3.75-4.0 series by my reckoning while reading the digital or paper books . . . I think the series is even better as audio books. The paper books always seemed a little slow paced for my taste however the audio book felt much faster paced. Generally audio books feel slower to me so this was a big surprise.
I am glad to be reassign/listening to this series again and glad to have found that I like it better as audio books than paper/digital!
May 19, 2023
The main character in this series is at once prickly and fascinating. There’s something about her that I find seriously off-putting, but I keep coming back to the series. This is one of the best written books in the series I’ve encountered so far.
If Anna is somewhat standoffish around people, she isn’t like that at all where nature is concerned. It is that refuge place—a place where she can hide and ignore humanity. But she comes to Montana to assist with bear research, and suddenly things in nature seem dissonant, sour, broken, unnatural. It is as if nature turns against her. A bear tears down her tent one night and strafes her shoulder, and soon after that, she must confront a mutilated, dead, naked female. Someone cut off the woman’s face.
There’s tremendous suspense here. I felt more drawn into this book than any of those I’ve read in the series so far. The whole nature against fragile human thing creeped me out. The author brings the theme to light vividly here.
The book also realistically looks at that rare form of spousal abuse where the husband is the one who’s getting beat to garbage on a regular basis. That’s just one of the many elements in here that make this memorable.
If Anna is somewhat standoffish around people, she isn’t like that at all where nature is concerned. It is that refuge place—a place where she can hide and ignore humanity. But she comes to Montana to assist with bear research, and suddenly things in nature seem dissonant, sour, broken, unnatural. It is as if nature turns against her. A bear tears down her tent one night and strafes her shoulder, and soon after that, she must confront a mutilated, dead, naked female. Someone cut off the woman’s face.
There’s tremendous suspense here. I felt more drawn into this book than any of those I’ve read in the series so far. The whole nature against fragile human thing creeped me out. The author brings the theme to light vividly here.
The book also realistically looks at that rare form of spousal abuse where the husband is the one who’s getting beat to garbage on a regular basis. That’s just one of the many elements in here that make this memorable.
September 21, 2007
I must say, I'm not a big fan of mysteries in general, but I do enjoy a good Anna Pigeon thriller. This is probably the fifth of the series that I've read, and these books are good fun. My heart was even racing a little at the end. Anna Pigeon is the heroine of Nevada Barr's mystery series. A feisty ranger with the National Park Service, she continually finds herself in the middle of mysterious and/or murderous situations , always in different national parks. This time it's at Waterton/Glacier National Peace Park in Montana. There's a lot about bear research and bears in general, which I found pretty educational. Barr is a good storyteller, and she keeps up a good pace. I was never bored, but I did find parts a little fantastical. We are even prepared for this: "Things were not necessarily untrue simply because they were unbelievable". Overall, this was not my favorite of the series; I think the best is A Superior Death, which takes place at Isle Royale in upper Michigan. But I love the character of Anna, and the solid storytelling.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 495 reviews