1997 mystery, fifth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder
mysteries in US National Parks. After the events of the previous book,
Anna's sent to Cumberland Island Park for "pre-suppression" fire duty,
and a bit of a lighter posting. But she and another ranger spot a
plume of smoke, which turns out to be the fresh wreckage of the
island's drug-interdiction plane.
As in Superior Death there's a large cast, and they all have
their secrets: in the usual mystery style that I first met in the
works of Ellis Peters, once someone's secret sin has been revealed,
they can be eliminated as suspects in the murder. The book's
singularly lacking in sympathetic characters except for Anna herself,
however, and that's a shame as it sometimes makes things drag.
The gorgeous descriptions are here, though well mixed with mentions of
the dry and dusty air, and all the inconvenient small wildlife that
turns up in a hot environment: the spiders, mosquitoes, snakes,
chiggers, ticks…
A secondary plot involves Anna's beau Frederick Stanton and her sister
Molly; while it moves the overall situation forward it never really
feels connected to the main story.
Anna's solution of the mystery seems more fortuitous than by hard work
(and she has neither an official reason nor an emotional one to get
involved in the investigation), and there are perhaps too many red
herrings, but this is still an enjoyable series entry if not one of
the standout books. Followed by Blind Descent.
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