While working in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Barr created the Anna Pigeon series. In 1984 she published her first novel, Bittersweet, a bleak lesbian historical novel set in the days of the Western frontier. Originally, Barr started to pursue a career in theatre, but decided to be a park ranger. She finished college at the University of California, Irvine. She grew up in Johnstonville, California. Barr has won an Agatha Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat.īarr was named after the state of her birth. Nevada Barr is a mystery fiction author, known for her 'Anna Pigeon' series of mysteries, set in National Parks in the United States. Instead of the soul-soothing experience they'd longed for, Anna and Paul find themselves sucked into a labyrinth of intrigue that leads from the Mexican desert to the steps of the Governor's Mansion in Austin, Texas. Caught in a strainer between two boulders and more dead than alive, is a pregnant woman, hair and arms tangled in the downed branches. The sheer beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert and the power of the river work their magic-until the raft is lost in the rapids and a young college student falls overboard, resulting in an even more grisly discovery.

Hoping the warmth and the adventure of a raft trip in Big Bend National Park will lift her spirits, Paul takes Anna to southwest Texas, where the sun is hot and the Rio Grande is running high.

The one bright spot in Anna's life is Paul, her husband of less than a year. Anna wonders if the leave might not be permanent, either by her own choice or that of the National Park Service. The killings on Isle Royale have left Anna drained and haunted, her memories of her time with the wolf study group forever marred by the carnage on the island.ĭiagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, she is on administrative leave, per her superintendent's urging.

Winter Study by Nevada Barr