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Deep South

Deep South

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good read
Review: I really enjoyed reading this well writtin story. Interesting to the very end.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Huge Disappointment....Why do people LIKE this series??
Review: I love mysteries, series mysteries, Female leads, nature, animals..yet once again I was reminded why I hate the Nevada Barr series as I slogged thru "Deep South"!

What a drag...stereotypes, cliches...and a thoroughly unlikeable character in Anna Pigeon. The line about her "bureaucratic clock" ticking was one of the few funny parts of the book ...but it essentially reminds us what a government worker Anna is...I had the feeling she is truly just putting in her time. Reading this book is about as boring as reading bureaucratic handbooks!

I strongly disliked the plot too...too many suspects, red herrings, and the final "motive" in the last chapter did not ring true...when the corpse is a young teenage girl, I would expect a more serious plot/motive...there was no real motive here...I also despised the gratuitous maiming of the dog...and the fact that the culprit in that maiming was named, yet apparently nothing was being done about his crime.

Anna's battle with the wine bottle was distasteful; very other little info is given about her other than her obsession with wine. We have no idea what sort of food, music, movies, she likes.....I agree with other reviewers that Anna has NO friends, no other woman character except for her phone conversations with her sister...she doesn't like much...and frankly I don't like HER or these books!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Back on Track in the Mississippi Mud
Review: "Deep South" is Nevada Barr at her best. The lush imagery, the pervasive humid heat, quirky characters wrap around this story like the ever-present kudzu. Anna Pigeon may say she feels most at home in the high deserts of the southwest, but she has a strong feel for the south. Her affectionate, good-humored descriptions of teenage girls in Mississippi are priceless. Try as she might, she's too much in the know to be a yankee!

The story has a good pace and never lags. Her characters are sharply drawn (as usual, a few too many). Anna's predicaments are well imagined and briskly carried out. You will be amazed at Anna's recuperative powers that surpass the toughest of the hard-core detectives. I hereby nominate "Deep South" for my Scariest-Scene-of-the-Year Award: the alligator in the carport. I was hyperventilating and muttering to myself.

I withheld the fifth star because the motivation was a little confusing. Maybe she had one twist and turn too many. If you haven't read Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series, "Deep South" is a good place to begin.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Ascent after "Liberty Falling"
Review: Nevada Barr's previous work, "Liberty Falling", was not my favorite in the Anna Pigeon series. In my review of that book, I wondered if Barr was going to prove unable to meet the high standard of her previous excellent work.

In "Deep South", Nevada Barr returns to the tip-top of my list of mystery writers with whose works I want to spend time! The story is well plotted, with many lines of suspense--all of which come together in a surprising and completely whole conclusion. Add to the structural elegance of the novel the wonderful snapshots of the deep south: the good old boys, race and sexism, and the cloying sense of gentility masking a deep-seated moral decay. Then, wrap plot and social comments together with a woman as central character--who is real and human and smart and strong. And finally, add some beautiful descriptive prose. There you have it! five stars for Nevada.

And by the way, that prose style deserves some of the reader's attention: as in her other novels, Barr has scenes that live on in our imaginations. Surviving a wild fire, crawling through a damp cave--these are images that stay with us after the book is finished. In "Deep South", the memorable scene for me is Anna's walk through the dank, dark Southern woods without a flashlight or the moon to guide her. Sitting by a February fire in Northern Michigan, I could feel the moss and warm, damp ferns--and I was afraid.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Deep South is Anna Pigeon at her most dangerous!
Review: Park Ranger Anna Pigeon in her new assignment in Mississippi stumbles upon a gruesome murder along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The handwritten sign on a tree demands she REPENT & amid alligators, Civil War reenactors & the Ole Boy Club she gets her first taste of Southern hospitality. In Deep South we find our intrepid Park Ranger far from her beloved Mesa Verde desert lands, surrounded by lush & humid forests, history & relics from the Civil War & a reluctant & patronizing park staff.

I am always thrilled when another Anna Pigeon adventure comes out of Nevada Barr's mysterious & deeply researched pen & in Deep South, Anna Pigeon begins to come out of mourning for her long-lost husband, & gets her appetite back for life which is the only thing between her & certain death. A richly textured, thoughtful & provocative mystery set in an enchanting part of our world! Do check out my site for my full review.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MURDER IN MISSISSIPPI!
Review: Nevada Barr mysteries are always enjoyable and this book is no exception. Anna takes a promotion and goes to the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. When she gets there she encounters work discrimination, harassment, alligators, predjudice, murder and love. Anna Pigeon is a great character and Nevada Barr brings her to life. This book is a great one to sit down and relax with.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wonderful Read
Review: I have read all of Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series, and have yet to be disappointed. Ms. Barr's novels are always fresh and fun. Anna Pigeon being a park ranger opens the world to this series. Some series get stale because the hero doesn't have the opportunity to change and grow because of the environment. Not so with Anna Pigeon, Ms. Barr does an excellent job of taking you places that the average person does not think about or understand. The author does a wonderful job of explaining these great places in America. This book is no exception. Ms. Barr has a great mystery in this book, with lots of "red herrings". Reveling the killer and why only in the last few pages. Caught me off guard. All the ends tied up making perfect sense to the reader and plot. Not withstanding a very good mystery, what makes Ms. Barr's stories so fun too is her descriptions of the environment and people. The author beautifully describes the nature of this part of America. I felt that I was there experiencing right along with Anna. The Anna Pigeon series is a very fun read. I always look forward to the next installment. Wondering where Nevada Barr is going to take me next. I know that it will be a fun experience. Read them all, I think you will enjoy yourself and wish that you had started earlier.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Vivid visuals, good mystery
Review: This is the first novel that I have read by Nevada Barr, but I plan to "go back" and read the rest in this series because I really enjoyed the Anna Pigeon character. Also, the book had vivid descriptions of the area and persons surrounding the Natchez Trace which added much to the tale.

Anna has just assumed a management forest service job on the Natchez Trace. She is the first woman in such a position in this area of the "Deep South," and is subject to significant animosity on several fronts, especially from her two long-timer subordinates. Unfortunately, within days a local girl is found murdered in her jurisdiction, under peculiar circumstances. Along with her charming counterpart in the Sherrif's office, Anna dives into the investigation, although she has little understanding of the relationships and dynamics among the locals.

This is not the most suspenseful page-turner that I have read, although the mystery remains well-concealed until the end. It is, however, a very pleasant read. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fair protrayal of the South
Review: Deep South is the second of Barr's books that I have read. I picked it up expecting another superficial portrayal of the South--little factual information, cookie cutter stereotyped characters. I was pleasantly surprised. Barr shows an indepth knowledge of the location and environment she has chosen as the setting for her latest novel. I was amused by the culture shock Anna suffered--which one would expect from someone arriving in southern Mississippi from Mesa Verde! Barr's local characters all sound like people I may have met in my daily life in Mississippi. Men skeptical of working women, girls preoccupied with sex and beauty pageants, young men for whom a football scholarship is a ticket to a better life--these are real people. My one complaint about Barr's characters is the lack of development other than the heroine. I have read two of her novels and noticed the same in Liberty Falling. Also, the lack of any significant female character other than Pigeon makes the story seem somewhat artifical.

Overall, an entertaining story in a setting that I found interesting.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Back to Nature
Review: This is one of Barr's best (but then they're all good). I'm delighted to see Anna back in the wilderness parks which are her specialty. New characters, a very complicated mystery, and a lot of background: if you're already a fan of Anna Pigeon, you'll love this, and if you haven't met her before, this is a good place to start. Barr captures the ambience of Mississippi perfectly, and I hope Anna stays at the Trace for a few more books. I, for one, look forward to seeing more of Rangers Stillwell, Dinkins and Thigpen, Sheriff Davidson, and of course Taco and Piedmont.


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