10)įorecast: Backed by a 20-city author tour, this one will shoot up the bestseller lists. Those who already admire the doughty National Park ranger will rejoice in this double-layered story with its remarkable setting, passionately rendered new readers have a treat in store. Firestorm (1996) Lassen Volcanic National Park 5. Ill Wind (1995) Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado 4. A Superior Death (1994) Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, Michigan 3. The pitch-perfect 19th-century phrasing in the letters makes it easy to forgive the occasional over-the-top prose in the modern scenes. Track of the Cat (1993) Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas 2.

The two stories are told in alternating chapters, and only Barr's skill keeps this familiar device fresh. In a coincidence best left unscrutinized, Anna's great-great-great-aunt was the wife of the fort's commanding officer, and her letters, relating a story of intrigue and murder, have surfaced. Samuel Mudd interweaves with current crimes. But this one has an added twist: a mystery concerning alleged Lincoln assassination conspirator Dr. Indeed, the contrast between the natural beauty of the landscapes and the human evils within them is a recurring theme. Anna's fans expect no less all her postings somehow turn dangerous. As she goes about her duties, Anna quickly becomes ensnared in one life-threatening situation after another. Anna takes up her new post on Garden Key, home to Fort Jefferson, a notorious Union prison during the Civil War, after fleeing a marriage proposal from just-divorced Sheriff Paul Davidson. When it comes to a vibrant sense of place, Barr has few equals, as deliciously demonstrated in her 11th Anna Pigeon novel (after 2002's Hunting Season), set in little-known Dry Tortugas National Park, 70 miles off Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. around the country, solving mysteries in the wilderness and historic locales.

Flashback by nevada barr