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Running from a proposal of marriage from Sheriff Paul Davidson, Anna Pigeon takes a post as a temporary supervisory ranger on remote Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park, a small grouping of tiny islands in a natural harbor seventy miles off Key West. This island paradise has secrets it would keep; not just in the present, but in shadows from its gritty past, when it served as a prison for the Lincoln conspirators during and after the Civil War. Here, on this last lick of the United show more States, in a giant crumbling fortress, Anna has little company except for the occasional sunburned tourist or unruly shrimper. When her sister, Molly, sends her a packet of letters from a great-great-aunt who lived at the fort with her husband, a career soldier, Anna's fantasy life is filled with visions of this long-ago time. When a mysterious boat explosion-and the discovery of unidentifiable body parts-keeps her anchored to the present, Anna finds crimes of past and present closing in on her. A tangled web that was woven before she arrived begins to threaten her sanity and her life. Cut off from the mainland by miles of water, poor phone service, and sketchy radio contact, and aided by one law-enforcement ranger, Anna must find answers or weather a storm to rival the hurricanes for which the islands are famous. show lessTags
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Anna Pigeon is back. This time as a park ranger on one of the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park off the coast of Florida. She's there to fill in temporarily for another ranger who has fallen ill and run from a marriage proposal she doesn't know what to do about. While there she takes to reading old Civil War era letters written by a great-great-aunt that play an integral part in a mystery surrounding a missing woman. When a mysterious boat explosion yields unidentified body parts Anna is in the thick of the crime; as usual getting herself into sticky situations. If you remember from earlier Pigeon mysteries, she is extremely claustrophobic. To give you an idea, the scene where she is diving under an engine to recover parts of a dead show more man...
In typical fashion Barr describes this national park in such a way you want to book a flight to it immediately. She captures the culture, the atmosphere with vivid detail. show less
In typical fashion Barr describes this national park in such a way you want to book a flight to it immediately. She captures the culture, the atmosphere with vivid detail. show less
When Dry Tortugas National Park came up in conversation last week I remembered that we owned this book in audio format and decided to give it a try.
I can't really say enough good things about this book! I don't know how typical it is of the series. (As I understand it, the personal life of Anna Pigeon, the main character, is often highlighted in the books and that's not typically a plus for me.)
The series aside, on its own merits, this book is definitely 5 stars for me. National Park Service law enforcement officer Anna Pigeon is temporarily stationed at Dry Tortugas after the previous agent in charge had a breakdown upon being left by his girlfriend. Shortly after she arrives all manner of bizarre and illegal events start happening, show more and the high-action plot is off and running.
Parallel to this story is another, set in 1865 at Ft. Jefferson (which takes up most of the park), a Union military prison at the time. Anna is given a cache of letters written by one of her great-great-aunts who was the wife of the commanding officer. That story line involves, among others, Ft. Jefferson's most famous inmate, Samuel Mudd, the physician who set John Wilkes Booth's leg after Lincoln's assassination. This story line is equally thrilling.
So, we have a super location, a couple of compelling plot lines, and a number of strong female characters. What more could I want? Excellent writing, that's what, and Nevada Barr delivers. She moves smoothly between the third person recounting of Anna's contemporary story and the first person tale related in the 19th century letters.
The icing on the cake is that the narrator is one of my favorites, Barbara Rosenblat. She's SO good with feisty women characters. show less
I can't really say enough good things about this book! I don't know how typical it is of the series. (As I understand it, the personal life of Anna Pigeon, the main character, is often highlighted in the books and that's not typically a plus for me.)
The series aside, on its own merits, this book is definitely 5 stars for me. National Park Service law enforcement officer Anna Pigeon is temporarily stationed at Dry Tortugas after the previous agent in charge had a breakdown upon being left by his girlfriend. Shortly after she arrives all manner of bizarre and illegal events start happening, show more and the high-action plot is off and running.
Parallel to this story is another, set in 1865 at Ft. Jefferson (which takes up most of the park), a Union military prison at the time. Anna is given a cache of letters written by one of her great-great-aunts who was the wife of the commanding officer. That story line involves, among others, Ft. Jefferson's most famous inmate, Samuel Mudd, the physician who set John Wilkes Booth's leg after Lincoln's assassination. This story line is equally thrilling.
So, we have a super location, a couple of compelling plot lines, and a number of strong female characters. What more could I want? Excellent writing, that's what, and Nevada Barr delivers. She moves smoothly between the third person recounting of Anna's contemporary story and the first person tale related in the 19th century letters.
The icing on the cake is that the narrator is one of my favorites, Barbara Rosenblat. She's SO good with feisty women characters. show less
In FLASHBACK, the 11th book in the park ranger Anna Pigeon series, Anna has taken a temporary assignment at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off Key West, Florida. One of the things I absolutely love about this series is the way that each book takes you to a different national park, and the setting is described in such exquisite detail that it’s like really being there. This setting was especially fun to read about as Key West is so different to the parks Anna has worked in before. Someone goes missing, requiring a search at sea, some perilous scuba diving investigation, and the remains of an explosion are found. This book is written in dual timelines, with part of the action taking place in flashback through a series of letters show more Anna reads from the 19th century when Dr. Samuel Mudd (the physician who set John Wilkes Booth’s leg after the Lincoln assassination) was a prisoner there. Very interesting stuff in both timelines. show less
This was fairly creepy. Anna is assigned to this island to take over from the now hospitalized former head Ranger. She thinks it’s great at first, even though her sparkling water is always flat. She is enjoying the water and the fort and the air when a fellow ranger turns up missing. His wife flips out and they search. They find his boat eventually. It’s been blown up and they find his shoes and his duty belt on the ocean floor near the wreckage. Nearby is another wrecked boat, blown up by its own extra fuel tanks. But why the extra fuel? What were they running?
Meanwhile, Anna sees a ghost and has some other weird experiences. She thinks they are induced by the heat and the fact that she’s reading her great-great-great aunt’s show more diaries of the time she spent on that very island, during the Civil War. The dead ancestor was the wife of the fort commander. The fort had been turned into a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. The sister of the aunt falls for one of the soldiers who is brutally beaten for suggesting that John Wilkes Booth wasn’t such a bad guy.
But Anna’s visions aren’t the result of fevered reading in tropical nights. Someone is dosing her with LSD. That’s why her water is always flat. The same thing happened to the other ranger. The boat that exploded was scooping out places to land for Cuban refugee smuggling. She can’t figure out who it is, but it turns out to be a person she least expected because he saved her life when she was caught in a wreck during a dive.
Also, Anna accepts Paul’s proposal of marriage. Damn. Like other heroes and heroines who have gone before her, I bet she loses her edge and her appeal. show less
Meanwhile, Anna sees a ghost and has some other weird experiences. She thinks they are induced by the heat and the fact that she’s reading her great-great-great aunt’s show more diaries of the time she spent on that very island, during the Civil War. The dead ancestor was the wife of the fort commander. The fort had been turned into a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. The sister of the aunt falls for one of the soldiers who is brutally beaten for suggesting that John Wilkes Booth wasn’t such a bad guy.
But Anna’s visions aren’t the result of fevered reading in tropical nights. Someone is dosing her with LSD. That’s why her water is always flat. The same thing happened to the other ranger. The boat that exploded was scooping out places to land for Cuban refugee smuggling. She can’t figure out who it is, but it turns out to be a person she least expected because he saved her life when she was caught in a wreck during a dive.
Also, Anna accepts Paul’s proposal of marriage. Damn. Like other heroes and heroines who have gone before her, I bet she loses her edge and her appeal. show less
Anna Pigeon leaves her assignment on the Natchez Trace Parkway to temporarily fill the shoes as Chief Ranger at Dry Tortugas National Park off the coast of Key West. The ranger there is on medical leave as others question his sanity. Anna receives a packet of letters written by an ancestor who accompanied her husband to Fort Jefferson during the Civil War, the main feature of the national park. The present story involves a boat explosion, the injury of the other law enforcement ranger, dives to learn more about the boat and its potential business, and more. The past story dealing with the Lincoln Conspirators imprisoned in Fort Jefferson is told completely through the letters. Each story could stand on its own--and probably should have. show more I love historical fiction, but I read Nevada Barr's work for Anna's story and found myself tiring of the endless letters. They occupied far too much of the story, and I found myself asking whether her ancestor would have written such long letters. While I enjoyed both stories, they didn't really work that well together. This is more of a 3.25 star read than a 3.0, but it's not quite up to a 3.5 one so I'm rounding down. I listened to the audio book narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. show less
Anna Pigeon gets assigned to Dry Tortugas National Park, a very remote piece of sand and brick that's a two hour boat ride away from Key West, Florida. Considering it's one of my favorite places, I had high hopes for this park ranger mystery. However, like the heavy bricks and mortar of Fort Jefferson that are built on sandy foundations, the weight of the book's two combined mysteries ultimately sinks it. Anna is assigned to the fort after the previous head ranger left for psychological evaluations because he reported seeing ghosts. The fort is a long, long way from anywhere, and Anna passes the off-hours by reading letters from her long-lost aunt, who had been at the fort just after the Civil War. The novel is told in alternating show more chapters-- modern day with Anna's pursuit of strange goings-on at the fort, and the 1860s epistilary accounts from Anna's great, great (several times over) aunt about two men who were being held at Fort Jefferson for their role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The older story drags the newer mystery down, and while the history is interesting, it ultimately slows the larger novel. Barr weaves a good story, but the length of the flashbacks and the ending that wraps everything up (including the former park ranger on medical leave) just doesn't work as well as her other Anna Pigeon novels. Fans of the series won't be terribly disappointed, but I won't recommend this as a starting place lest readers not want to try others in the series. show less
I really enjoyed this book in which Anna Pigeon is acting Supervisory Ranger in Dry Tortugas National Park. The previous Supervisory Ranger is on sick leave having gone off the deep end after his girlfriend left him. Anna is enjoying being in a marine environment again (Dry Tortugas is in the Gulf of Mexico west of Key West, Florida) and spends much of her time off diving in the warm waters. She is also taking time to think about her boyfriend's proposal since he is left back in Mississippi.
If Anna was hoping for a quiet time that is about to be blown to pieces, literally. Her second in command comes upon a speed boat that is acting mysteriously. In their haste to take off the speed boat blows up and a piece of their boat makes a hole show more in the NPS boat the ranger is in. Although the ranger survives the two men on the boat died and Anna has to find out what they were up to.
One of her ancestors, an army wife, lived on Dry Tortugas during and after the Civil War. Anna's sister, Molly, sent Anna the letters she had written during her time at Fort Jefferson thinking they will help Anna pass the time. Instead they seem to drag Anna into the past to the point that Anna believes she sees her great-great-aunt's ghost.
What with the ghosts of the past and the mysterious happenings of the present, Anna has her hands full.
I really enjoyed this juxtaposition of stories. The historical details of life in a federal prison just after the Civil War when some of the inmates were the conspirators who worked with John Wilkes Booth when he assassinated President Lincoln were very interesting. And, as always, Anna's penchant for dangerous explorations creates a thrilling story. show less
If Anna was hoping for a quiet time that is about to be blown to pieces, literally. Her second in command comes upon a speed boat that is acting mysteriously. In their haste to take off the speed boat blows up and a piece of their boat makes a hole show more in the NPS boat the ranger is in. Although the ranger survives the two men on the boat died and Anna has to find out what they were up to.
One of her ancestors, an army wife, lived on Dry Tortugas during and after the Civil War. Anna's sister, Molly, sent Anna the letters she had written during her time at Fort Jefferson thinking they will help Anna pass the time. Instead they seem to drag Anna into the past to the point that Anna believes she sees her great-great-aunt's ghost.
What with the ghosts of the past and the mysterious happenings of the present, Anna has her hands full.
I really enjoyed this juxtaposition of stories. The historical details of life in a federal prison just after the Civil War when some of the inmates were the conspirators who worked with John Wilkes Booth when he assassinated President Lincoln were very interesting. And, as always, Anna's penchant for dangerous explorations creates a thrilling story. show less
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Nevada Barr was born on March 1, 1952. She is the author of a series of mysteries involving national parks. She draws on her own experience as a National Park Service ranger to thrill readers with the majesty of nature. Anna Pigeon, the heroine of such novels as A Superior Death and Endangered Species, is a rough-and-tough ranger who left the show more wilds of New York for the great outdoors, and is modeled after Barr. Barr began writing in 1978, garnering national attention with the publication in 1993 of Track of the Cat, which won both the Agatha and Anthony awards for Best First Mystery Novel. Her novels are known for breathtaking descriptions of nature, diverse settings, and a no-nonsense heroine. She also provides frequently unflattering portrayals of the National Park Service. Her works include 13 1/2, Winterstudy, Borderline, Burn, The Rope and Destroyer Angel. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Flashback
- Original publication date
- 2003-02 (hardcover) (hardcover)
- People/Characters
- Anna Pigeon; Bob Shaw; Teddy Shaw; William "Mack" Macintyre; Daniel Meyers; Lanny Wilcox (show all 17); Donna; Patrice; Raffia Coleman; Joseph Coleman; Tilly; Cobb Sinapp; Joel Lane; Samuel Mudd; Samuel Arnold; Molly Pigeon; Paul Davidson
- Important places
- Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, USA; USA; Florida, USA
- Dedication
- For Joan, who helped me with the plot twists of life and literature during the writing of this book
Due to the isolated locale and complex nature of Dry Tortugas National Park, this book could not have been written without the cooperation of the people who work at Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks. My thanks go out... (show all) to Superintendent Maureen Finnerty, Chief Ranger Bill Wright, Linda Irey and, most especially, Supervisory Ranger Paul Taylor, who took the time to show me all the nooks and crannies above and below sea level; Captain Cliff Green and First Mate Linda Vanaman, who shared their stories, expertise and wonderful attitudes toward all things fishy; Al Riemer, who let me hang around his shop and gossip; and Mike Ryan, who made history come alive through his knowledge and research.
HISTORICAL NOTE
In 1865, Dr. Samuel Mudd was tried and convicted for aiding and abetting John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Lincoln. He received a sentence of life imprisonment to be served at Fort ... (show all)Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida. Two years later, during a yellow fever outbreak at the prison, Dr. Mudd acted courageously, using his medical skill to treat the sick. Acknowledging his services, President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in 1869. Though there has been a great deal of discussion over Dr. Mudd's guilt or innocence, the device of the doppelgänger was a complete fiction created for this story.
A month after Dr. Mudd was pardoned, Samuel Arnold's case was reviewed. President Johnson found there was sufficient doubt about his participation in the conspiracy to pardon him as well. After his release, Mr. Arnold lived a quiet life of seclusion on his farm in Maryland. In 1906, at the age of 72, Samuel Arnold died of consumption at his home. His wife and children were at his bedside.
Throughout their lives, both men maintained their innocence of any crime connected with the death of Mr. Lincoln. - First words
- Until she ran out of oxygen, Anna was willing to believe she was taking part in a PBS special.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She needed to get used to the look and feel -- and the idea -- of it before she returned to Mississippi and had to make good on her promise of matrimony.
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