Thursday, December 16, 2021

Endangered Species

Title: Endangered Species
Author: Nevada Barr
Published: May 1st 1998 by Avon
Format: Paperback, 400 pages
Genre: Mystery
Series: Anna Pigeon #5

First Sentence: Black and Blood-warm water slammed into Anna’s back, rushing over her shoulders and down the front of her shirt.

Synopsis: In the midst of a dangerously dry season, national park ranger Anna Pigeon has been posted to Cumberland Island off the Georgia coast for a monotonous, twenty-one day fire watch. But her boredom is short-lived, for this remote and marshy place is breeding ground for more than just the imperiled Loggerhead turtle; it also spawns eccentricity and secrets, greed, suspicion. . .and murder.A small plane crashes into the palmetto thickets nearby. Anna and her crew arrive in time to control the blaze, but too late to save pilot and his passenger, Cumberland's sole law enforcement ranger. When the cause of the "accident" is determined to be sabotage, Anna becomes entangled in an investigation that threatens to upset the very delicate balance of this fragile ecological preserve. For she is precariously close to exposing dark, clandestine crimes both old and new that someone has worked very diligently to conceal. . .and which make Anna Pigeon the most endangered creature on the island.

My Opinion: I know that I have gotten to this series late, but in the 13 years since it was published, I don’t think it has held the test of time, and therefore, not one of my favorites.

I do adore Anna Pigeon though she comes across as a universal Wonder Woman who happens to have the right skills at the right time, no matter which issue or which National Park she finds herself in. As a series, there are very few recurring characters. The reader will need to learn new people with each book, but thankfully, the tried-and-true friends and family pop up occasionally. Thank you, Molly.

There is no doubt I will continue, but like other series, there will always be a book that lands like a dud only to be followed by my next favorite, and that is what I hope will happen with Blind Descent.

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