Rating: 
Summary: Why do I keep reading this series?
Review: I do not find the lead character likeable. Ranger Pigeon has little sense of humor and typical left wing prejudices. One reviewer accurately charaterized this as her "NPR soapbox". Nevertheless I keep reading this series-I suppose due to Barr's story telling ability and my childhood love of our National Parks.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst in the Anna Pidgeon series
Review: I have all Nevada Barr's books. I discovered Anna Pidgeon while on a hiking trip in the Sierra (bought it in Bishop) and have waited eagerly for each new book. I love Barr's exquisite descriptions --those who have not read firestorm are in for a treat. The sad truth is: Hunting Season is awful. After forcing myself to chapter 3, I doubt I'll be able to continue reading it. From the beginning I have been wondering if Nevada herself wrote the book. It is extremely flat and coarse in plot, descriptions, metaphors, etc. Consider the very poor simile of comparing the way an old lady utters of the word "poker" to that of a Nun saying "Sodomy." We are flying really low, no fine writing here. Many descriptions make no sense--consider Anna and Clintus entrance into the grand mansion home of Doyce--Barr goes off to describe the big mess in supposedly a big room just beyond the portico entrance. Hello? Those big mansions have a foyer, and indeed Barr describes the landing on other floors. There are so many examples of what is wrong and I am only on p.55 but I am too bored to go back to track them down. Yawn. Hope this is only a glitch, but I'll check the next book carefully before I buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Trace Evidence
Review: I have mixed feelings about Nevada Barr's Hunting Season. On the one hand, I wanted to see Ranger Anna Pigeon end up somewhere new rather than the Natchez Trace Parkway. I like to revisit National Parks that I have personally visited or learn about a park I've never been to through each new Anna Pigeon novel. The fact that Hunting Season might be considered Deep South Part Two made it seem a less enticing read at first. On the other hand, it was nice to see the more detailed character development that a return visit to a location allowed AND it is realistic to have Anna stay in one place for longer than she normally seems to. Ultimately, the novel was very exciting and it kept me up to the wee hours of the morning several nights in a row. Local politics, poached deers, unmarked graves, shifting loyalties, folk art, and lots and lots of driving up and down the Natchez Trace Parkway all play a roll in this dark, damp mystery. This isn't the best Anna Pigeon novel nor is it a perfect 5 stars, but it was far enough past 4 stars to give it the full 5.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed!
Review: I have read most of Nevada Barr's previous books even though I am not usually a mystery reader. Her previous appeal for me was learning about the National Parks as the mystery solving occurred in them. After reading this book I don't have a feel at all for the Natchez Trace. While reading the book, I didn't really care about the characters. Mainly the book seemed to be about poor Anna. I echo the other reviewers in saying read Nevada Barr's other books and skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not one of the best in the series
Review: I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed in this entry in the Anna Pigeon series. The premise was good, but the mystery seemed to take a back seat to Anna's thoughts in this book. She seemed to be whining/complaining/ feeling sorry for herself on almost every page. There were some action scenes, but they just seemed to be put there just to have some action. The subplots were covered more than the main murder story. As always, the writing was excellent and the descriptive passages very realistic. This is a book for diehard Pigeon fans; if you've never read any in the series, don't start with this one. There are others better in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Anna upside down
Review: I love the continued self evaluation that Anna reveals in this story which is set in a brooding and dangerous setting. True the "mystery" is obvious if you are not always looking for alternative explanations to every ocurrence that allows you to fool yourself about the motives of those closest to you both personally and professionally as Anna does. But thats what I love about these books. In this case, the apparent hypocrisy of some of those closest to Anna parallels the same feeling one gets about most of the Southern folk who reside along the Natchez Trace. Anna's personal obsessions blind her to the danger around her and how she avoids death in at least 4 exciting confrontations points to her eventual realization at how blind you can be when you are in Love.
Rating:
Summary: One of, if not the best of Barr's series!
Review: I really enjoy Barr's mystery series. Not only is Anna Pigeon a bit more 'identifiable-with' for us normal folk, but the information she gives so lovingly about the Parks and the history surrounding them makes the reader as if she/he is not wasting their time. Somehow we always learn something new, we didn't know before, and I like that in an author. Once again, this book takes places in the Deep South. The ability of Barr to use words to draw and color the areas in which the mysteries take place is one of the great things about her writing. She doesn't have to go into long explanations or use big words to get across the local flavor, the prejudices (of everyone!), even the time of year is so well drawn you can almost smell the time after the leaves have fallen and just before the winter sleep. Since this is a favorite time of year for me, that description alone was worth the read. Anna gets herself into a situation, one that is confusing for her where she has a strange murder that seems 'set-up- but also then immediately runs into some 'good-ole'-boys' who chase her in order to keep their hunting rights on Federal property (or so she thinks at first). Eventually, the story ties everything in...and I have been waiting for her nasty under-ranger (with a hilarious name) Thigpen to show his true colors. I knew from the moment she first described him a few books ago, that he was so prejudiced against women in what he considered a 'man's job' that one way or another, he would try to 'get' Anna for taking the position he coveted (and not the position he earned...too lazy for that). Once again, a very enjoyable read. The history of the slaves and stories about the freemen is something I very much want to know more about, especially as geneaology is an important topic to me. I cannot imagine trying to do geneaological research in an environment where families were torn apart, graveyards are not marked in recognizeable forms, historical documents would have to be searched through carefully to find slight bits of information, and many times slaves took the last names of their owners (tho heaven only knows why). This is the new and interesting information that really excites me when I read Barr's books. Maybe that same information will excite some people into doing more historical and geneaological research down in the Deep South, so families can be 'reunited'. Karen Sadler
Rating:
Summary: Barr's Old Cars
Review: I really enjoy Nevada Barr's mystery novels, but after reading "Hunting Season," I think it's time for the author to uproot her plucky ranger from the Natchez Trace. Anna seems to be vegetating there. Time for her to climb into her (33-year old+?) "Rambler American" (p. 146) and head for a National Park other than the Natchez Trace or, heaven forbid, bear-infested Glacier National Park. Maybe the loathsome Randy Thigpen can follow her off the Trace in "a late model truck, possibly mid- to late-seventies" (p. 189), accompanied by a fellow undesirable who works "the night shift at Packard" (p. 236). Is this book Ms. Barr's unpublished first novel revivified or what? If not, what's with all the antique cars? "Crown Vic"s have been around forever, but her other "Detroit irons" are relics of an earlier era. What gives? as they used to say.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Great Story
Review: I started this book with the intention of reading it quickly, simply because (I'm hooked on Anna, but...) the books in this series are now starting to blur -- that is, it's the same book all over again, but once I got going, I slowed down and enjoyed it much more than I expected to. The colorful descriptions, turns of phrase and human insights impressed me. For example, "Memories are not stored in linear fashion, ordered by some kind of cerebral Dewey decimal system. They're dumped in a vast mental junk drawer and have to be pawed through and sorted out." The story was typical, but the writing superb! Just a new twist in the story line to build up continuing interest, please...
Rating:
Summary: Even good authors write bad books
Review: I'm a big fan of Nevada Barr, and always look forward to her
latest book.
Hunting Season, however, is a disappointment. It was pretty easy to guess what had happened, but even if I'd guessed wrong,
I didn't care whodunit.
Perhaps part of what is missing is the enclosed atmosphere of a
park, found in most of her other novels. There seemed to be a lot of just driving up & down the highway in this one.
Barr is a terrific writer. Read Blind Descent or Firestorm & see for yourself.
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