Mysteries Galore.com

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

In this the sixteenth book with Anna Pigeon as the protagonist, Barr takes a break from the wilds of the National Parks as readers are used to and puts Anna on administrative leave in New Orleans. Before even settling in to her friend Geneva’s guest cottage, Anna becomes involved in an incident retrieving a wayward dog for a strange young man. Jordan, the young man was not at all appreciative of the gesture.

But before readers get too comfortable following this plot line, they are whisked off to Washington State and meet Clare on arguably the worst night of her life. She returns home from a quick errand to find her two girls missing. What follows is not for the faint of heart.

Eventually, the two threads twist together creating a heart wrenching, though grim tale that could only take place in a city like New Orleans. Where costumed people wandering around at all hours are considered perfectly normal and voodoo shops abound.

While this book is certainly well plotted out and a thrilling ride for readers from cover to cover, there are a couple of things that may put faithful readers off this book a bit. Anna’s personal life has been up and down throughout the series. She’s struggled with alcohol, flirted with a possible female relationship, had a rocky long term on and off relationship with one guy and then finally settled in with the minister/sheriff from Mississippi. And now she’s married and Barr doesn’t seem to know what to do with Anna’s husband. In the previous book they were on their honeymoon and in Burn Anna is on leave thus explaining his absence. But at some point, if the series is going to continue, Anna is going to have a long term assignment in a park and then what happens with the husband based in Mississippi?

The second thing that might well leave Barr’s regular readers a little unhappy is really tied to the first. Most of her followers read the Pigeon books because of the National Park settings. They might, as I did, overlook one urban adventure thrown in, but for the most part, they want Anna in a park managing errant wildlife and policing unruly tourists. This is what Barr is so very good at-to the point that the National Park Service uses her in some of their literature! Anna needs to get back in her uniform and the park system.