The Barnes & Noble Review
With tight prose that bleeds authenticity, Nevada Barr is known for her powerful Anna Pigeon novels, whose chapters breeze by at high speed and offer readers fascinating glimpses at the history, beauty, and administration of the national parks of the United States. Story threads draw together layers of conflict and social relevance, revealing the hidden sides of both protagonists and villains within a compelling plot.

In her tenth outing, park ranger Anna Pigeon must investigate a murder at a tourist spot on Mississippi's Natchez Trace National Parkway. The corpse bears marks possibly made in an S&M act, and one clue appears on a nightstand in the form of a Bible with certain verses circled in red. Making things harder for Anna is the involvement of the dead man's brother, Raymond Barnette, an undertaker who fears what would happen if the facts of the case got out to his neighbors. It turns out the Barnette family has been hiding other dark secrets for generations, so they're quite good at obscuring the truth. Anna finds herself a bit out of her element as racial tensions, a jealous deputy, and a group of poachers add to the complications-even as her romantic life begins to heat up.

Distinguished by a carefully driven style, Hunting Season moves with a rapid stride that propels readers into the tale. Barr knows her characters and their situations, and she understands how true investigative procedure can form the essence of a narrative. She manages to use the natural ambiance of the lush Deep South to underscore events and create suspense, and as elsewhere in her work, it's the ring of truth that makes thisnovel so very entertaining. Hunting Season is a book that deserves wide attention, as Nevada Barr again demonstrates that she is one of the most noteworthy voices in the field. (Tom Piccirilli)