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Anna Pigeon's character evolves throughout the series, but is always involved in rough-and-tumble, serious situations. The settings make the series. These are definitely not cozies, and in fact, beginning with Burn they really morph into thrillers.
Recurring characters:
Anna Pigeon, ranger
Molly Pigeon, Anna's older sister, psychiatrist, confidant
Frederick Stanton- FBI agent, romantic figure
Heath Jarrod and her daughter Elizabeth
Paul Davidson
Although written later, The Rope is a prequel to the series. See #17, below.
#1 Track of the Cat (1993) set in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Anna discovers the body of Ranger Sheila who has died from being mauled by a mountain lion. But there are too many things about the condition of the body that just don't add up. She can't get anyone else at the ranger station to listen to her concerns.
She finds pictures indicating that the dead ranger had been having an affair with Christina, another woman on staff. Would Christina have killed to cover up this relationship? Much to her surprise, Anna befriends Chris and comes to believe she is not the murderer. She begins to go through the list of other suspects she's compiled.
Then an freak accident sends her to the hospital. Soon after she comes back on duty, a researcher is killed from bites by his own snakes. Too many accidents!
#2 A Superior Death (1994) set in Isle Royale National Park
Anna is stationed on Isle Royale in Lake Superior where the staff is small and maybe too intimate. There are about 4 different plots going on in this story. One of the underwater shipwrecks that has several bodies yet in evidence (because the water is so cold they don't decompose) suddenly has one more body than it should.
Two people have disappeared from the staff and family of the NPS on the island. The young teen daughter of the Lodge manager is suddenly rebellious and sneaking around. The twins Hawk and Holly are the prime suspects in one of the disappearances. And an odd couple who seem to live more in a fantasy world than real life offer canibalistic solutions.
This is one of my favorite of the series, perhaps because the area is familiar to me, but it's also got great plot layering.
#3 Ill Wind (1995) set in Mesa Verde National Park
Anna is assigned to law enforcement in the area of the Anasazi Cliff Dwellers' caves. It's a busy tourist season, and due to a housing shortage, she is sharing dorm space with some of the youngest of the staff. Between beer parties and the annoyance of southern belle Jennifer who seems so unfit to be a ranger, and Jamie the interpreter who insists she is Native, but Anna suspects otherwise, Anna is having a difficult summer. There have been an unusual number of medical emergancies, attributed to the high altitude. After one young girl dies from a severe asthma attack, Anna decides to check current records with previous years to compare the frequecy of medical evacuations.
Not only does she confirm a much higher rate in the current season, but she discovers a pattern to the emergencies. Jamie attributes it to the displeased spirits of the Anasazi who have been appearing during the nights.
Then one of Anna's favorite rangers goes missing.
#4 Firestorm (1996) set in Lassen Volcanic National Park
This is among the best of the Anna Pigeon books.
Anna is deployed with a fire crew. Her job is to serve as a medic, and she mostly stays at the base camp tending to regularly occurring burns and blisters. However, a report of a man with a broken leg who must be evacuated, sends her to the fire line. As they are attempting to carry out the injured man, a firestorm flares up the valley, forcing them over the ridge, and to take cover under their personal fire shelters.
After the burnover, they learn that not only has the injured man died, but one other person in their party is dead of a knife wound in his back. Snow and fog following the firestorm have put out the fire. Forced to stay in their bleak location in for two days as they await rescue, Anna tries to determine which of them is a killer.
This is a closed-suspect-pool mystery in a unique setting.
#5 Endangered Species (1997) set in Cumberland Island National Seashore
Anna is sent with a number of other people as a presupression fire crew to Cumblerland Island. Basically, this means they are just watching for fire in the hot and dry summer months. They are all bored silly.
The one highlight is helping in a small way with the egg-laying migration of the endangered loggerhead turtles. This event is overseen by a female researcher named Marty who is surprisingly unfriendly. After a few encounters, Anna and Dijon, a young black firefighter, are pretty certain she's a druggie.
Then a small airplane crashes. The pilot and the district ranger are killed, but the ranger was not supposed to be on the plane!
Anna and Frederick's romance comes to an end as Anna realizes she'll never move back to a city.
#6 Blind Descent (1998) set in Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Anna is called to Carlsbad Caverns to aid in the rescue of her friend Frieda who had been trapped by falling rock on an exploration of a new part of the caverns called Lechuguilla.
Trying to overcome her feelings of clautrophobia, Anna learns much about deep caving, and sees beautiful underground formations. The book does a good job of educating the reader about how responsible cavers work hard to preserve these wonders without sounding preachy.
They reach Freida, who secretly tells Anna that the rockfall that injured her was no accident. More things go wrong on the extraction from the cave.
This book does a great job of keeping viable suspects believable, and motives hidden until late in the story.
#7 Liberty Falling (1999) set in Statue of Liberty National Monument
Anna is staying with a ranger on Liberty Island while she visits her sister Molly who is in the hospital. All the years of smoking caught up with Molly and she is in critical condition.
A teenage girl jumps from the balcony on the Statue of Liberty's observation deck. Someone in the crown accuses the security man of pushing her, but Anna had gotten to know him, Hatch, and doubts this is true. Before she has a chance to discuss it with him, Hatch falls from the same balcony. Was he pushed or guilt-ridden because he had killed the girl?
The housemate of the person Anna is staying with seems overly antagonistic toward Anna, and three times, Anna has serious accidents. Or were they anonymous attacks?
Meanwhile, Molly is in and out of the ICU. Frederick Stanton, FBI, former boyfriend of Anna has fallen deeply in love with Molly. How will the sisters cope with the potential conflicts.
#8 Deep South (2000) set in Natchez Trace Parkway
#9 Blood Lure (2001) set in Glacier National Park
#10 Hunting Season (2002) set in Natchez Trace Parkway
The body of a fat, local man is found in a bed of an historic house, clad only in his underwear. There is no obvious cause of death, but there are marks on his body that suggest a sexual motive. Clues as to what happened are few. The brother of the deceased is the local funeral director who is also running for sheriff. He is not happy about the scandalous death, and his senile and angry mother adds her own brand of fireworks.
Anna continues to struggle with the disdainful attitude of fellow ranger, Randy Thigpen, who failed to back her up in Deep South. Randy does seem to be trying to overcome his feelings about female rangers, but he's not consistent.
Meanwhile, it's hunting season and the narrow Parkway property is off limits for public hunting, and rangers have to constantly be watchful that hunters aren't crossing the line and poacihng.
#11 Flashback (2003) set in Dry Tortugas National Park
#12 High Country (2004) set in Yosemite National Park
#13 Hard Truth (2005) set in Rocky Mountain National Park
#14 Winter Study (2008) set in Isle Royale National Park
#15 Borderline (2009) set in Big Bend National Park
#16 Burn (2010) set in New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
A house fire is watched by a young mother, and she believes her two daughters have died in the blaze. Then she learns that they are not dead, but she is under suspicion for setting the fire. She goes on a mission to find the girls while remaining on the run.
Anna is on leave after the traumatic events of Borderline which was supposed to be a respite in itself. She's in New Orleans and living in the cottage of a friend. A young punk named Jordan turns out to be one of her neighbors. The boy seems to be involved in voodoo and other strange practices.
#17 The Rope (2012) set in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Although written in 2012, this is actually a prequel chronicling Anna's first summer as a seasonal employee. She's still not over Zach's death, her head is full of stage metaphors from their life in the theater world. She's physically weak and totally out of touch with the natural world. But over the course of the summer, she becomes the Anna we know.
Anna does not endear herself to any of the other seasonal employees. She wears black, stays to herself and just doesn't fit in. When she goes missing, nobody pays much attention, supposing she just walked away.
Meanwhile, Anna is having a harrowing ordeal. While witnessing an assault on a young woman, she is knocked out and thrown into a "solution hole," which is pretty much a slot canyon that doesn't go anywhere. She awakes, naked and drugged.
There are enough cruel plot twists in this one to keep anyone awake at night.
#18 Destroyer Angel (2014) set in Superior National Forest
This book is unusual in that it is set in a National Forest, not a National Park. I couldn't put this one down. This story is the kind of scenario I would make up for myself as a child- the small female who stealthily glides through the woods outsmarting and taking down the big bad guys one by one.
Anna along with her friends Heath and daughter Elizabeth, and Leah who designed Heath's specialized wheelchair, with her daughter Katie, are camping in the northern woods of Minnesota. Heath's dog Wily is with them. Their plans are to relax and test out Leah's new camping equipment designs.
Four men show up at camp and kidnap everyone except Anna who was off taking a short paddle on the river. Heath manages to convince the men that the fifth woman had backed out of the trip at the last minute. Anna returns, hears strange voices and hides. She finds the dog who had been the first casualty of the cruel men. But Wily is not dead. Anna and Wily form a pack, becoming feral in their purpose to save the others by any means.
#19 Boar Island (2016) set in Acadia National Park
