Rating: 
Summary: good mystery, on the verge of great
Review: Hey, this is only the 2nd Barr book I have read. The other one is liberty falling, and though the entire world appears to find that to be her best work, i would give that one only three stars and i am giving this one five stars.It's not that she does anything so out of the ordinary for a mystery novel as to make you go, Wow! . . . but she does know her locale well enough to leave you feeling you know it just a little too, and that is a hard thing to manage in a simple little genre thriller. I give Barr high marks for depth of character, and of course it is easier with a serialized one like this. But it's never boring or tired. If you like murder mysteries, or if you like outdoorsy stories and aren't sure if Barr is right for you, this is a good Barr book to start off with, I think.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Barr
Review: I loved this book. I never saw the ending coming. It kept me on the edge. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This Yankee bows to the Southern Lady
Review: Who better to write about the south but someone who has been there and also worked the very same job in the very same location. Nevada returns to the Mississippi Deep South, having been a ranger on the same Natchez Trace she writes about. She sets the stage for both the reader and the story by proceeding slowly and explaining some of the things that make the area as well as the job special. Newly promoted District Ranger Anna Pigeon knows her job and knows her limitations. Nevada spends some quality writing time showing the reader around the area and explaining many of the things that make the south so special and also frustrating to newly arrived Yankees.
Anna Pigeon faces the challenges of not only her new job but the firm male prejudices of her two southern, somewhat lazy park rangers and many of the local folk. Anna is the new show in town and faces many challenges both good and bad.
The death of a teenage girl and the attack of an aligator on her that almost cost the life of her dog are just a couple of the things she faces in her first few days.
Is there anyone she can trust? Is there anybody she can count on for help? Will the "good ole boy" way of life make her give up and go home? The clock is ticking away as Anna faces southern pride, fear, and a Deep South that she doesn't understand.
This is a good book well writen by Nevada Barr that is sensitive to her subject matter and her readers. The only thing I felt it could use was either more suspense or more "on the edge" of your chair action.
Rating:
Summary: Gators and Bubbas - look out for Anna Pigeon, ranger PI!
Review: Anna Pigeon is on the move again - with cat Piedmont and dog Taco in tow. Her new assignment is in the Deep South of the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. Before she can even get to her new digs, she's given bad directions by a junior ranger and ends up in the Mississippi mud. Once she finds her way to ranger central, she finds herself up against bible-thumping campers, Confederate soldier re-enactors, and employees that embody the southern Bubba spirit. All the men seem to have a layer of fat and a condescending attitude towards the lady ranger. But there's no time to dwell on the obvious, because in her first day/night she encounters boys who have abandoned a drunk and blacked out teenage girl. Another drunken girl, Danni, in the woods turns out to be the victim of a heinous crime - she's got a sheet with eyeholes cut out over her head and a noose around her neck. Is it redneck villians? Disgruntled boyfriends? A black-on-white crime? Nothing is slow as molasses as Anna fights off a gator who bites off one dog's leg, as she meets the victim's psycho mother, as she is endangered by the Bubbas who don't want to work for a lady ranger, and when she finds out about the local homosexual lover's point. There's the handsome and sexy policeman...but there's also his wife on her doorstep. Throw in the story of Grant's soldiers who disappeared during the Civil War, and a horrific attack on Anna, and you've got another Nevada Barr page-turner that will keep you up all night!
Rating:
Summary: A must for any mystery fan and/or seeker of "The Real South"
Review: This book enthralled me and kept me coming back for more. Maybe it was the fact that it is set in the most "southern" part of the south. Being from the south myself I am both fascinated and angered by the attitudes and ideas that are still fostered in this part of the nation to this day. Seeing it all through the eyes of a newcomer provided desires ranging from the need to pitch the book across the room to a near sadness that there are people that still think and feel in such a bigoted and hateful way. The mystery is excellent! Twisting and turning so that, just when you think you have the murder pegged, a wrench is thrown in the works and you have to start figuring it out again. I would highly recommend this book. It is in a wonderful series. (It was the first Nevada Barr book I had read and prompted me to start the series.) It can be read in or out of sequence with the rest of the series, as it does not rely on foundations of past books. A must read for any mystery fan and/or seeker of "The Real South"
Rating:
Summary: Got my attention from page one.....
Review: and was not able to put this book down and anytime I did it called to me. Fantastic.......buy it or you will miss one of the best mysteries I have read.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent description of Mississippi
Review: The setting is the strong suit of this book. It was my
first by this author and the reason I read it was because I
live in Mississippi. She does some excellent descriptions
of the Trace and surrounding countryside. Some of the characters were a little unbelievable, though. My big
complaint is the pacing. This book really drags sometimes.
Very slow beginning, nothing really happened in the first 60 pages, except the heroine moving and getting settled in Mississippi. It's not a page turner and
very easily put down. Overall, it isn't a gripping plot and a little far-fetched in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Another good Anna Pigeon mystery
Review: This time Anna is assigned to the Natchez Trace national park as a ranger-in-charge. But it's the first time the park has had a female ranger-in-charge and Anna finds her two fellow-rangers scheming to make her job hell. And to make it worse a young girl is murdereed in the park and Anna must find the killer. One thing I've always found that sets Ms. Barr's mysteries apart from others is her writing. Her prose is lyrical. It simply flows. Her characterization is very good along with her dialogue. The plots may be a little unformed but all in all this whole series is good and consistent. I recommend any of the mysteries in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Anna Pigeon goes to Natchez Trace
Review: As usual Ms. Barr combines a vivid desciption of yet another National Park with an excellent mystery. There is no need for further description, her descriptions can't be improved upon.
Rating:
Summary: In many ways, one of the best of the series
Review: I've enjoyed every Nevada Barr mystery I've read, which is all of them except for "Blind Descent." "Deep South" is no exception. In fact, it's one of my favorite entries in the Anna Pigeon series, even though I've never been farther south than Virginia and am a native of California who's always lived there. I've enjoyed the other novels immensely with their predominant western venues, but one of the joys of reading about Anna Pigeon's adventures in law enforcement as a U.S. National Park Ranger is the vicarious experience of traveling and experiencing new places. Nevada Barr is excellent at making the reader feel as if he or she were actually there. In "Deep South," we readers get to have an experience of the southern portion of the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. Some interesting characters are introduced -- people who make Anna's professional life interesting, positively and negatively, as she has assumed a management position in a completely unfamiliar park venue and a part of the country that is utterly new to her. The plot is specific to the place and reveals much about local residents who live in towns and cities adjacent to the Trace. If I have a complaint at all, it's that Anna is subject once again to great injury and this time I found it upsetting. I had to put the book down and tell myself, "This is fiction. Anna Pigeon is not a real human being." I came to realize is that I wish she were a real human being. One of the best parts of this book is the introduction of a new character who looks to be a promising love interest for Anna, someone she actually deserves who deserves her, too. We shall see in forthcoming books what happens in this regard as Anna progresses through her 40s. Read "Deep South" and you'll feel the heat and humidity, experience aspects good and bad of Southern culture and politics, and learn the obvious truth that racism there, while firmly entrenched and prevalent, isn't universal. Nevada Barr writes this novel very convincingly as she ought to -- her most recent post as a ranger with the National Park Service was on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi and even though she's now working as a novelist, she still lives in that state.
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