Rating: 
Summary: Barr's first repeat locale disappoints -- dull at times
Review: According to my notes, this is the ninth novel in the [Park Ranger, now district manager] Anna Pigeon series, of which we admit to being big fans. It is however the first to reprise both the Natchez Trace location (all the others were set in a different National Park each time) and many of the characters from her prior offering, "Deep South". Indeed, Barr in real life is a ranger in the Natchez Trace, so one might wonder if she bowed to convenience in serving up another story from her every day stomping grounds. Interestingly, the plot is a little "lazy" as well, with most of the whole middle of the book little but mental ramblings on Anna's part that got a little boring to us after a while. Most of the real action is in the first and last tenths of the book, so it's a little yawny in between. Plus the outcome was not really all that shocking if you followed the circumstances a little more carefully than did our leading lady for two-thirds of the book.Barr is known for fine writing and her awesome descriptions of the very unusual locales in which she sets her stories. Her heroine is very real to life, an early forty-ish, non-yuppie, who doesn't have snappy clothes, snappy cars, boyfriends galore, drink white wine (actually, Anna is a recovering alcoholic), or jog or swim many miles each day keeping the body well-honed. She's more like us -- plodding along doing the best we can, with some griping and whining along the way! Assuming "Hunting Season" isn't the end of the road, let's hope for a return to the form of the first eight in the series on Barr's next outing.
Rating: 
Summary: Anna returns to Natchez Trace
Review: After a short assignment in Glacier National Park to help study bears, Anna returns to her post at Mississippi's Natchez Trace. While attending a wedding, she is called away to tend to a dead body which has been found in an historical building in the Park. The body is identified and there is a lot of mystery surrounding the circumstances in which it was found. Anna questions the man's family and friends, but there doesn't seem to be much of a motive for the murder. During the investigation, Anna is put in danger's path several times and she receives the distinct impression that someone is out to get her. The mystery is interwoven with the usual wonderful descriptions of the Trace and a burgeoning love story between Anna and a local sheriff. There are some very suspenseful scenes in this book and it is a good sequel to "Deep South" which also took place on the Trace. I look forward to the next
book in the series, which reportedly takes place in the Keys off the Florida coast.
Rating:
Summary: 4+ Stars for Anna Pidgeon and Murder
Review: Anna is trying to sort out her feeling for the local sheriff but Murder seems to keep getting in the way of her doing this. First there is the body that is found in the Old Plantation/National Park Site bedroom. This is not a run of the mill tourist it is a well known man of a local family, and trussed up to look like he did more than just die. Then there is the deer stand that Anna and her Deputy are trying to catch in use. Well Anna catches more than she barging for with this one. After a few harrowing disasters and learning a lot about the history of the area I just couldn't stop listening and was disappointed that it ended.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging Mystery
Review: Anna Pigeon is a most engaging protagonist. We find her with her personal life in disarray in the brooding locale of Mississippi.
Amidst her personal problems she catches a complex murder investigation that leads to a twisted plot line. Nevada Barr has crafted another engaing mystery. I recommend her earlier works as well as MURDER DOESN'T FIGURE.
Rating: 
Summary: Anna is back on the Natchez Trace.
Review: Anna Pigeon is the District Ranger on the Natchez Trace Parkway, which includes the Mt. Locust plantation house. The interpretative aide assigned there finds a dead man on a bed in the grandmother's room clad only in his underwear and Anna has to wade through a load of local mysteries to get to the truth. This is easily the best of the series, the characters are more fully developed and the mystery better than ever. A great book!!
Rating:
Summary: another wonderful Nevada Barr book
Review: As usual this is another great book by Nevada Barr
Anna gets herself into trouble at least twice but comes out of it brused and bleeding as usual.
great story & things are starting to look up for her.
Nevada Barr in one of the best writers out there. Edge of the seat story lines.
I have every book she has ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Barely Barr
Review: Being one of Nevada Barr's most loyal and besotted fans, it pains me to say that I really had to struggle to finish this book. It was that boring. Something has happened--and I'm not sure what. The only cogent thing I can think of to say is that this book reads as though from a great distance. Yes, Anna Pigeon is the heroine, although, as in "Blood Lure," she has become almost a parody of herself. Yes, Anna's fellow ranger Randy Thigpen is still a mysogonist. Yawn. Yes, Anna's sister Molly is still around, mentioned once or twice in passing, I assume in order to keep her in the reader's memory. Thus, Anna, who in every other book phones her sister at least once a day, barely gives her a passing thought. The sheriff with whom Anna had begun a romantic relationship in the last book is now a very serious boyfriend, but all we see of their relationship is Anna's usual (and by now exceedingly annoying) prickly self. Yes, she cares, but no, she's not going to let him know in case she gets hurt. Yada yada yada. The plot, which held my interest not at all, concerns a murdered hunter, brother of the local undertaker, who is found in circumstances that suggest a sex crime, thereby causing quite a stir. Anna noses around, breaks the rules, solves the crime, as usual tells nobody what she should, and as usual gets in a life-threatening situation. Yada yada redux. What has happened to Nevada Barr's fabulous storytelling skills? I hope this is just a slump--but I must say one thing. Nevada, get rid of your terrible editor. In my review of "Blood Lure" (a much better book than this one, by the way), I mentioned that Anna's inherited dog, Taco, had mysteriously morphed from a golden retriever into a black lab. Well, surprise, surprise....Taco is now a golden retriever again--for half the book. And then...can you say Harry Potter? Taco becomes a black lab again. Along with the many typos (courtesy of a spell-check that doesn't know the difference between words, and an "editor" too lazy to doublecheck), this is simply not acceptable. Does Barr not read her own galleys before her books go to press? Am I harping on a tiny detail? Maybe--but that detail grated on my nerves so badly I had to put the book away for a while. I figured: Well, if Barr doesn't care about her own book, why should I? There's more, but I don't want to be a spoiler. Suffice to say that the known personalities of certain people in Anna's life have taken a sudden and unexplained turn that makes no sense at all. I can't give a Nevada Barr book less than three stars, because I have read everything she has written, and this is the first time she has disappointed me like this. I hope it's the last!
Rating:
Summary: Don't miss this page turner......
Review: didn't think that Nevada Barr could top her novel "Deep South" however, Hunting Season did just that. Can't put it down, if you miss this, you have missed one of the best thought provoking novels ever written. Her descriptions and analogies just PUT YOU IN THE SCENE. Can't get enough of this author, I have read all her books and recommend Hunting Season as one of the best! Ill Wind and the rest of her novels all come in second!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Back to the Natchez Trace
Review: For the first time, Ms. Barr revisits ('Deep South') a site she has covered before. This time it is autumn in Mississippi, and the mood as well as the weather is darker and more unpredictable. Anna Pigeon has been promoted to District Manager, and though she likes the salary raise, is not quite sure of herself in her managerial tasks. Throughout the book, she is exquisitely patient with the mostly subordinate Randy Thigpen, and deeply compassionate toward her other ranger, Barth Dinkus, who has grown up in segregated Mississippi and is a troubled, frequently unhappy man. Anna is confronted with a dead man in his under shorts laid out on Grandma Polly's bed in the historical home that has been renovated on Park Service property. First appearances indicate he might have been involved in some sado-masochistic game that went wrong. Investigating the murder in cooperation with the Adams County Sheriff, Anna finds little cooperation from the murdered man's friends and family. Even the dead man seems to stymie the investigation. He is sadly the completely forgettable man. The most common comment about him is 'there weren't any harm in him' when trying to describe him. There are many threads to this mystery, maybe a few too many, and it does get mired down in the middle. There is a scene where Anna is seemingly pursued by a group of good ole boy hunters in the dark that is chilling in its grotesque imagery. When Anna's car gets methodically destroyed, Barr is brilliant in making sure we are sickeningly aware that the mysterious destroyer is using the car for a substitute for Anna herself. The finale is slam bang absolutely marvelous action. I liked Anna's quirky musings better than ever. She doesn't do romance too well, but this makes her more endearing. 'Hunting Season' is very good Barr. The imagery and locale descriptions are excellent as always and most of all, she puts a laser beam of knowledge in her character developments. Worth the price in hardback.
Rating:
Summary: Not exactly Riveting But A Good Mystery
Review: Hunting Season is a trip back to the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. I enjoyed Barr's Deep South and it was nice to return to this interesting section of the country. Anna Pigeon is again forced to deal with the established "ol' boy's network" while she tries to solve the murder of Doyce Barnette, the brother of the local mortician. Some of the characters in Deep South are revisited...Randy Thigpen, Barth Dinkins and Anna's love interest, Sheriff Paul Davidson. It is a little frustrating to see Anna waffle around in her prickly self when it comes to Paul...afraid of being too needy. I want to grab Anna's hand and make her reach out and grab Paul before he can get away. That is just one example of how real to life Barr has managed to make these characters. There are some of Barr's trademark descriptions of the surrounding landscape; maybe not as much as in her previous books, but what is included is quality. She uses descriptions of smells (pine, moldy leaves, etc.) more than any author I can think of, and it sounds a little odd, I know, but that, more than anything else, brings me instantly into each scene. I enjoy NB's sense of humor and it is sprinkled sparingly throughout this story, but I long for more. It's difficult to avoid comparing one book to another in a series such as this. I admit I have done so on occasion. But I think this book stands on it's own and can and will be enjoyed by readers who are new to this author. However, for those readers who haven't read Nevada Barr's previous books, you are in for a real treat.
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