In 1994, all of the award lists that year were so loaded with newcomers in the "best new writer" category that we wondered what had happened. The 1993 new books had come from folks like Jan Burke, Laurie R. King, Sharan Newman and yes, Nevada Barr. And it's been wonderful to watch all this talent continue.
In many mysteries, setting in part of the character of the story. In Nevada Barr's work, the setting can almost take over from the characters. And when the lead character is Anna Pigeon, you are dealing with a strong, very intelligent character.
BLOOD LURE is the ninth in this series. The "setting-character" here is the fascinating Waterton/Glacier National Peace Park, set in part in the U.S. and in part in Canada and home to much wildlife. Anna is here to learn about bears, although she's still based at the Natchez Trace.
I'm not an outdoor person; maybe I read Nevada Barr as a vicarious trip to the park. But whenever I finish one of Barr's books, I'm amazed at how much I've learned, without ever feeling that I've been "taught". The park personnel in this book, along with a teenaged volunteer, are doing painstaking work studying bears. Early on, Anna along with her expert, Joan Rand and the teenager Rory meet a strange young man far from any known trails, and then, while camped out at night and are attacked in their tent by a bear - a totally bizarre occurrence. Rory disappears, and things very complicated. A body is found, a woman and Anna's law enforcement background comes into play.
Anyone familiar with Barr's work will know that there are lot of problems solving crimes in wilderness areas - animals contaminate crime scenes, suspects can disappear, tracking people over miles of trail and brush is exhausting. The suspects in BLOOD LURE include family members and strangers who appear to have unexplained ties to the victim.
Anna Pigeon is not the warmest, fuzziest sleuth you'll ever know; she is admittedly more at home with animals than she is with people, without always knowing when to stop. She tends to tease and to pull away from people, staying tough and private. She is, however, still likable and caring - she wants solutions, she wants to do a good job, and to make things right. One of Barr's major strengths is her ability to educate and inform as she tells a compelling story which hooks you from the first page.
There will be complaints about the resolution of this story and rightly so.
One friend called it "bad Disney" but I call it "bear ex machina".
It didn't work, but the rest of the story was engaging so it's almost forgivable.
I wish the ending worked better, but the book was definitely still worth reading.
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Reviewed by Andi Shechter
April 2001
Visit Andi's web site http://www.drizzle.com/~roscoe/