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Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Park ranger Anna Pigeon returns, in a mystery that unfolds in and around Lake Superior, in whose chilling depths sunken treasure comes with a deadly price. In her latest mystery, Nevada Barr sends Ranger Pigeon to a new post amid the cold, deserted, and isolated beauty of Isle Royale National Park, a remote island off the coast of Michigan known for fantastic deep-water dives of wrecked sailing vessels. Leaving behind memories of the Texas high desert and the environmental scam she helped uncover, Anna is adjusting to the cool damp of Lake Superior and the spirits and lore of the northern Midwest. But when a routine application for a diving permit reveals a grisly underwater murder, Anna finds herself 260 feet below the forbidding surface of the lake, searching for the connection between a drowned man and an age-old cargo ship. Written with a naturalist's feel for the wilderness and a keen understanding of characters who thrive in extreme conditions, A Superior Death is a passionate, atmospheric page-turner.… (more)
User reviews
After reading A Superior Death, I must declare that I am indeed "hooked" on the world according to Anna Pidgeon! Her character holds all of the strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities and awkwardness of a real person, and is incredibly easy to relate to. The other characters in the book are, well.. wacky - most of them have no moral center, but are compelling and interesting nonetheless. I was very happy to see Christina and Allison from the first book in the series. Chris and Ally provide a sense of "home" for Anna that she desperately needs in her life.
Aside from it's strong and quirky characters, A Superior Death is also a very easy and quick read with a wonderful plot. The murder/mystery was puzzling right up to the end, making it impossible to put down. The details Nevada Barr provides about the Park and it's wildlife, give the reader true insight into what it means to work for the Park Service. The author's sense of place is astonishingly realistic, putting the reader into the freezing water with Anna. As a bonafide "land-lubber" myself, it was a bit creepy feeling the dark, frigid water crushing down on Anna as she had to dive the Kamloops to help recover Denny's body.
I enjoyed A Superior Death more than the first book in the series (Track of the Cat.) As always, I enjoyed Nevada Barr's vivid description of the Park and was entertained by her off-the-wall characters. I can't wait to get the next couple of books from the library (or from my Mom,) so that I can see what Anna gets into next!
Soon Anna is checking into this death and other occurrences plus doing her ranger duties. The finish is worthy of an action movie.
I always enjoy books from this series, if only to learn more about natural places in the USA. Isle Royale sounds like a fascinating place if you have a boat to get around. Since I don't it is unlikely I will ever be there so I appreciate Nevada Barr shedding a little light on it.
The sixth man turns out to be expert local diver Denny Castle, murdered shortly after his recent wedding and found in the ship, dressed, bizarrely, in the uniform of a 19th century ship's captain.
Who could have wanted him dead? Maybe the twin brother and sister who were his partners on a dive boat and look to now inherit the business. Or maybe his new wife, who never reported him missing and takes the news of her husband's death rather oddly. Or how about Anna's fellow ranger Scotty Butcus, whose own wife has appeared to have gone missing as well. And what of the rumors that she and the dead man, Denny, were involved.
Oh, there are any number of odd and quirky characters on the island who might be guilty of something, including one very strange murder.
I have read a number of books in the Anna Pigeon series and picking up one is always like returning to spend some time with an old friend. It's comfortable and you know that you are going to have a good time. Anna is a great character, funny and smart and far from perfect, sustained by regular chats with her NYC therapist sister, Molly and a glass or two ...or three or four of wine, something which at this point in the series appears to be a bit of an issue for Anna. But we will forgive her....she is only human. And we like her.
Anna's take on the tourists visiting the parks, her fellow rangers and the running of the parks themselves is always fun and one suspects spot on, since the author was herself a park ranger. I love visiting a different National Park in each book...OK, I think some parks may make more than one appearance ...and seeing them through Anna and Nevada Barr's eyes. Maybe someday I will get a chance to visit them in person, but in the meantime, visiting them with Anna and her friends, with a healthy dose of death and danger, is always a fun time and an entertaining read.
Ms. Barr, if by chance you might read this (ok, it may be unlikely, but I can try) I have only one suggestion for you, maybe for your next book.
In fact, just three words...Acadia National Park!
These mysteries are light reading but give you the illusion of visiting a
A quick read but rewarding in it’s description of this wilderness park along with it’s native flora and fauna. I will certainly be following Anna Pigeon to her next posting.
What I am really appreciating about Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series is how vibrant and interesting her characters are and how much is going on in each book, yet somehow it all still seems totally plausible. There was only one spot in this book where I thought, "come on." I was frequently chuckling about the character quirks and what not and thoroughly engrossed in the story. It wasn't just the solution to the mystery that kept propelling me to read more and more though. I wanted to spend more time with the characters and hear more of the goings on at ISRO.
No doubt about it, I will be reading the next Anna Pigeon book before too long!
There are plenty of suspects, despite the remote location – an alcoholic has-been with marital problems was jealous of the him; the victim’s own wife didn’t report him missing; his boat and business were left to two twin siblings who are not relatives; a sleazy park employee who had to leave his previous post quickly has been seen sneaking around; and a hippie couple who are being blackmailed may have had enough.
Barr writes a decent suspense novel. The action moves fast and I was caught up in the mystery. There are enough clues to let the reader guess the perpetrator, but I was certain only a few pages before Anna herself had figured it out. I like that Anna is intelligent, strong and resourceful. In general, she takes matters into her own hands and acts with due caution. However … the book had several serious editing flaws. We’re told Anna is a vegetarian – several times – then she’s eating a tuna fish sandwich. The name of one of the twins is suddenly changed to that of Anna’s sister for 4 or 5 mentions on a single page before being correctly referenced for the balance of the book. A key piece of evidence is “stolen” by one of the suspects, and later the authorities are examining it.
What really made me lower the rating, however, is an issue with a senior administrator making a joke about having a child “escorted” by a known pedophile. That is just NOT funny, and such a comment would – I hope – get said manager fired. But no one even raises an eyebrow in the novel. Anna actually smiles! I know this was first published in 1994, but really, WHAT was Barr (and her editor and agent and publisher) thinking?!
When a diving team returns from a dive there, they show Anna a video of six corpses floating in the ship. Anna knows there are only five, so she and a ranger team, accompanied by an FBI agent, dive down to bring up the body of a local man. It turns out there are plenty of suspects, including his diving partners, an alcoholic park ranger who is jealous, and he disappeared on his wedding night but his wife never reported him missing. It's a complex story filled with colorful characters. The history of the island is a character in itself.
This was a clever and suspenseful mystery with an interesting plot. The characters were very well written and there were plenty to choose from so the eventual killer is not apparent from the beginning. Anna is a great main character, flawed and struggling, and I look forward to reading more about her in the future.