Anna Pigeon Rides Again

For anyone who isn't already a fan, let me point out that Hard Truth, published in 2005, is the 13th entry in Nevada Barr's series featuring Anna Pigeon, a crime-solving National Park Service Ranger. Anna moves from park to park as she travels up the hierarchy of job classifications within the NPS and, miracle of miracles, she ages along the way. One of my least favorite things about P.D. James' Adam Dalgleish series is that, even though Adam gets promoted, he doesn't age much. In the earliest books he wasn't exactly a youngster so, by now, he ought to be the oldest copper at the Met.

Hard Truth turned out to be lucky number 13 (hey, I'm a Nevadan now) for me. I'd lost track of this series as my reading preferences shifted to non-fiction and the occasional work of literary fiction. For years before, though, mysteries and science fiction were my preferred reading material if I had time; often all I could manage were magazine and newspaper articles and the occasional essay.

More than ever I admire the way Ms. Barr keeps Anna interesting without giving in to the temptation to soften her edges or attitudes. The basic plot is believable in a ripped-from-the-headlines sort of way and the narrative moves along with enough twists and turns to warm the mystery fan's heart. I appreciate the way the author handles multiple sensitive issues. Fans know to expect a wildlife, environmental or park management/resource allocation controversy or two to crop up but Hard Truth tackles a number of social issues and moves them into the park. As always readers get a glimpse inside the workings of a real park, in this case one of the most magnificent and heavily used (due to its proximity to Denver) parks in the system -- Rocky Mountain.

Since I lived in Denver for a year and the area became a family vacation destination later on, I have great memories of visiting the park making it very easy to envision the various places inside and outside the park where the action takes place. Barr always does a good job of describing the surroundings and fitting the mystery to the natural environment but since I've never been in the Carlsbad Caverns (Blind Descent) or the Dry Tortugas (Flashback), I had to work harder to come up with the scenic images. Of course, I read them back when the World Wide Web was barely a glimmer and I used a text-based interface then, not a browser that could handle images. Trying to see what the real place looked like involved a bit of effort; luckily my library had a complete collection of National Geographic magazines.

What I especially liked in this novel was the way Barr developed the supporting characters and made one of them, Heath Jarrod, a co-equal role in telling the story. This splitting of duties allowed Barr to build the suspense as Anna and Heath pursued their separate plot threads until it all came together with a literal crash at the end. Rarely has 324 pages flown by so quickly. By the story's end, Heath is Anna's surrogate for the anger and angst Anna would normally experience and express. I think the technique worked well and I hope the author continues to explore the creation of alter ego's.

I must confess to a good deal of confusion over the course of the first few pages. I assumed Heath was male because I'd never heard the name used for a female before (it could be a diminutive for Heather but it would have to be pronounced differently than the word for the biological/geographic entity is). Fans of 1960's tv will share my recollection that Heath was the name of the character played by Lee Majors in The Big Valley.

There are 2 more Anna Pigeon mysteries to for me to read and savor before the one that's scheduled for later in 2010 rolls off the presses; I picked up No. 14 at the library earlier this week. Here's hoping Nevada Barr makes an author tour out this way -- that's definitely one event I'd make room in my calendar to attend.