Burn: An Anna Pigeon Novel (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Nevada Barr (Author)

Book Description

Series: Anna Pigeon Mysteries | Publication Date: August 3, 2010

Nevada Barr brings her acclaimed New York Times bestselling Anna Pigeon series to Minotaur Books with one of her most compelling, complex novels yet!

 

Anna Pigeon, a Ranger with the National Park Service, is newly married but on administrative leave from her job as she recovers from the traumas of the past couple of months. While the physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones are still healing. With her new husband back at work, Anna decides to go and stay with an old friend from the Park Service, Geneva, who works as a singer at the New Orleans Jazz NHP. She isn’t in town long before she crosses paths with a tenant of Geneva’s, a creepy guy named Jordan. She discovers what seems to be an attempt to place a curse on her—a gruesomely killed pigeon marked with runic symbols; and begins to slowly find traces of very dark doings in the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans. Tied up in all of this is Jordan, who is not at all what he appears to be; a fugitive mother accused of killing her husband and daughters in a fire; and faint whispers of unpleasant goings-on in the heart of the slowly recovering city.

Now it will take all of Anna’s skills learned in the untamed outdoors to navigate the urban jungle in which she finds herself, to uncover the threads that connect these seemingly disparate people, and to rescue the most vulnerable of creatures from the most savage of animals.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Barr's outstanding 16th Anna Pigeon novel (after Borderline) takes the National Park Service ranger to the urban wilderness of post-Katrina New Orleans, where the Jazz National Heritage Park preserves the Big Easy's music. Anna comes to believe that a creepy neighbor, Jordan, one of the "gutter punks" who roam the city, is a pedophile. But Jordan turns out to have another side, and his link with Clare Sullivan, a Seattle actress whose family was murdered in a fire Clare is suspected of setting, is a linchpin of Barr's skillful plot. Anna vividly maneuvers the lurid city jungle, from a Bourbon Street strip joint, where the women have formed a family, to a brothel specializing in children. Anna also learns that appearances can deceive even the most insightful of rangers. Anna's complex personality continues to elevate the series, and the ranger's sojourn to New Orleans further energizes this always reliable series. 150,000 first printing.
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From Bookmarks Magazine

With its focus on pedophilia and human trafficking, Burn is Barr's darkest and creepiest mystery yet. Although some critics were disturbed by its subject matter, most were thrilled by Barr's crackling prose, pulsating action, and authentic characters. While praising the riveting and increasingly complex park ranger, they also hailed Claire as Barr's finest creation, as multifaceted and genuine as she is sympathetic. Barr even manages to work in some insightful reflections on marriage, identity, and aging. Although critics diverged in their opinions of Barr's rendering of the Big Easy--"an insider's tour" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) versus a "pedestrian tourist route" (New York Times Book Review)--all were fascinated watching Anna maneuver through a wilderness of a different sort.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 378 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1 edition (August 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031261456X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312614560
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nevada was born in the small western town of Yerington, Nevada and raised on a mountain airport in the Sierras. Both her parents were pilots and mechanics and her sister, Molly, continued the tradition by becoming a pilot for USAir.
Pushed out of the nest, Nevada fell into the theatre, receiving her BA in speech and drama and her MFA in Acting before making the pilgrimage to New York City, then Minneapolis, MN. For eighteen years she worked on stage, in commercials, industrial training films and did voice-overs for radio. During this time she became interested in the environmental movement and began working in the National Parks during the summers -- Isle Royale in Michigan, Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and then on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
Woven throughout these seemingly disparate careers was the written word. Nevada wrote and presented campfire stories, taught storytelling and was a travel writer and restaurant critic. Her first novel, Bitterweet was published in 1983. The Anna Pigeon series, featuring a female park ranger as the protagonist, started when she married her love of writing with her love of the wilderness, the summer she worked in west Texas. The first book, Track of the Cat, was brought to light in 1993 and won both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first mystery. The series was well received and A Superior Death, loosely based on Nevada's experiences as a boat patrol ranger on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, was published in 1994. In 1995 Ill Wind came out. It was set in Mesa Verde, Colorado where Nevada worked as a law enforcement ranger for two seasons.
The rest is, shall we say, HISTORY! Nevada's books and accomplishments have become numerous and the presses continue to roll, so in the interest of NOT having to update this page, books, awards, status on the New York Times Best Seller List -- and more -- will be enumerated with the relevant books else where on this website.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If Anna doesn't get back to her roots...I won't get back to Anna, August 15, 2010

By 

Patroo "patroo" (the High Desert) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burn: An Anna Pigeon Novel (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I love this series, but the latest two haven't been pleasing or enjoyable to read. Too much angst, and the trend toward violence has been increasing since High Country, or seems to, anyway. I'm very glad I didn't use one of my [...] credits to get this on audio,as I would not have enjoyed listening to this one on the road.

I'd like to see Anna return to a more interesting group of parks - it doesn't have to be a Western park, as I loved "Liberty Falling." I'm sure there's a long-term plan here, but the parts of the story that I always love - the mentions of Piedmont, Taco, and Paul were purely perfunctory here, just mentioned for the sake of being mentioned, but not a part of the story. Yes, I know Piedmont is usually sitting in someone else's distant lap, but I like the stories where the pets are actually present. Of course, realistically, these animals are getting pretty old, and so is Anna. How much longer is Anna going to keep winning these unlikely fights with younger people, particularly stronger men, and executing heroic rescues against all odds?


I like Barr's books because I like visiting with my "friends," and the purported plot isn't necessarily of major importance, but when the background has such a high ick factor and the plot is so bizarre, I don't get into it.

77 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not my cup of tea for sure, August 7, 2010

By 

A fan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Burn: An Anna Pigeon Novel (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of Nevada Barr for a long time. The book was very well written, hers always are. It was the subject matter that I was very upset by. Children sex-slaves and the evil ones who use them. Her last two books have been very dark,

I would not have read this book if I had known the subject, at least not now. I am a mother and a grandmother, I just can't get the images out of my mind.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Goodbye Anna Pigeon, August 25, 2010

By 

Mystery Buff - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burn: An Anna Pigeon Novel (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have been a serious Nevada Barr fan for over fifteen years. Well, lets make that a little less than fifteen years since I have not enjoyed her last few books nearly as much as her earlier ones. The release of each new Anna Pigeon novel was an eagerly awaited event. No longer. With "Burn" Nevada Barr has finally lost me, forever. Her books were favorites because of her writing skills, the anticipation of a visit to a new National Park, the wonderful descriptions of natural settings, the ongoing characters who had become like family, the good balance of plot and tension without gratuitous violence. Just enough evil, but not too much. "Burn" has none of these. If I want to read the hard boiled genre I will choose it. There are plenty of excessively dark and violent authors out there to choose from. I did not finish this book and I will read no more of Nevada Barr's books. I felt as if "Burn" should have come with a warning label; "Warning: read at your own risk. This is the new Nevada Barr, not the one you have loved for so long." Goodbye Anna Pigeon. I'll miss you, but will keep the fond memories of our long term friendship. I think I'll go back and read all of our old favorites. Savor the past and then go find a new favorite author.