Blood Lure

As interesting and well paced as this was, the solution was obvious from the beginning. The experienced bear researcher Joan remarked how uncharacteristic the attack on their camp actually was. And the strange Bear Incident Management reports that had come in of a 1200-pound blonde Grizzly who could juggle and dance. And then all the signs of human digging in bear feeding grounds. And the abandoned truck with attached horse trailer that was gutted and smelled funny. And the fact that the woman was killed by a blow powerful enough to snap her neck but soft enough not to break bone or tear flesh. And the weird clacking sounds heard when the bear attacked. All of it pointed to someone bringing a bear into the park. A trained bear. It took show more Anna forever to figure it out.

And that’s what it was. But why was it there? Because the new owner was going to ship it to a park where it would be hunted and killed. The boy who loved the bear and felt almost as a brother to the bear decided to let him go in this protected park. The new owner and step-brother of the boy came after him. The bear hated the older brother and because the woman was wearing his coat when she came across the boy and the bear, he charged and accidentally killed her. He scratched her face and the boy had to take the rest of the flesh off to hide the fact that it was bear claws. Much larger than the Grizzly bears native to that part of the world. It would be a dead-giveaway and Balthazar would the destroyed.

In the end he’s not destroyed but given to a man who trains wild animals for movies. And the orphaned boy is taken on as an apprentice as well. The older brother goes to jail for kidnapping and attempted murder.

The writing was pretty good. Just enough scientific detail to help readers understand the plot and characters but not too much. Same with the environmentalist pitch, it wasn’t over done and preachy. Anna was an interesting character. She was a lot like me – not terribly appreciative of most of humanity and also childfree. One of the best lines in the book was something like. “Another reason not to have children list – it’s so disturbing when wild animals eat them.” Hilarious!! show less

Anna Pigeon finds herself in Glacier National Park, working on a special project that involves setting out blood lures for bears. The lures bring bears to the trees where they are hung, and give researchers a chance to count bears in the park.

But of course hanging and taking down lures is not all that Anna does. While asleep in her tent with her co-worker, Anna is woken by what appears to be a rampaging bear, who tramples the tent and destroys much of the campsite. This behavior is not at all typical of the grizzlies and has Anna wondering.

Worse, though, is the discovery of a woman's body, apparently murdered.

Anna is on the case. She is reassigned to do some investigating, which she is always happy to do. Her investigating takes her show more far and wild into this huge park that spans two countries, and finally into the most remote regions of grizzly country itself. Anna becomes the hunted as well as the hunter.

There are many suspects, many possible motives, both for the death of the woman and for someone wanting to silence Anna. Will you be able to put together the clues, though?

Among the elements of this series that I like are the intimate views of these amazing parks, the connection with animals (in a good way), and the joy Anna apparently gets from using her body so completely. Not many of us are in the kind of shape one would need to be to do this kind of investigation. show less

In the ninth book of the Anna Pigeon mystery series, Anna is sent to Glacier National Park to learn about DNA studies for park animal management. There were some really interesting passages about how this is done, and how scientists and rangers get data from bears and other animals.

Unfortunately, being up in Montana and in close proximity with bears, Anna and others on her team experience a frightening bear attack, and one member of the team goes missing. While they’re searching for him, they discover a body. As they’re piecing together information about what happened, it’s determined there may be a connection between the missing team member and the victim who was discovered. But what really happened and who is responsible? show more

I’ve read eight previous books in this series and every time I’m convinced I know “whodunit” I always turn out to be wrong. This one was a real surprise with a fun twist! I like that the mystery took us on some interesting twists and turns and that as always, there is a level of detail in describing daily park ranger life and the intricacies of bear baiting where I learn something new with every book. show less

Anna Pigeon, our intrepid park ranger is on a trek through Waterton/Glacier National Park engaged in setting some bear traps to collect hair and scat samples from assorted bears. Technically, she’s off duty and so out-of-uniform when they meet a young man hiking who reeks of malfeasance and in other circumstances, Anna would have had him up against a car demanding his driver’s license and other ID.

That night, in a scene that raised my skepticism (having read too many mysteries, I suppose) she and her tent mate are attacked by a huge bear who doesn’t act in the way most bears would (according to the bear expert along on the trip.) Rory, the other volunteer in his own tent hightailed it out of there and is discovered some miles show more away in rather sad shape, but only after Anna and Joanna report his disappearance does a search reveal the body of a murdered woman who happens to be Rory’s stepmother. Without giving away the plot, I will say only that numerous connections and suspects provide the elements to a puzzle that keeps the rangers, struggling with other responsibilities which include bear scat analysis, bedeviled. Unlike some lesser mysteries the answer does not fall from the sky, but is compiled through careful analysis of evidence.

Several reviewers have complained about what they considered to be excessive detail with regard to bear DNA, the bear lure, etc., but for me it’s those kinds of details that I find tantalizing but that’s perhaps since I so enjoy collecting information from what I read as well as entertainment.

My suspicion of anthropomorphism that worried me in the beginning was not borne out in the end. Satisfactory. show less

For lovers of a sense of place in their mysteries there is much to savor here. Barr loves the world about her. The descriptions, metaphors and musings are finely wrought and deeply respectful of that world. Which is not to say the plot wasn't terrific. It is fresh. I knew she was planting plenty of clues but she kept me guessing the whole way. A very enjoyable read. If you haven't tried the Anna Pigeon series you might want to give it a shot.

Blood Lure by Nevada Barr is the 9th Anna Pigeon mystery but all the books stand by themselves as each one is set in a different location.

In this installment Anna is stationed at Glacier National Park where she is helping with a grizzly bear DNA project. On their first night out their camp is attacked by a grizzly and their youngest member, Rory Van Slyke. The next morning Rory's stepmother is found dead on a trail. Was it a bear or was it murder?

Actually it was a little bit of both and it takes Anna many false starts to get to the heart of the matter. She wants to clear Rory whom she is sure wasn't involved even though it appears he had plenty of motive. Given how poorly Rory treats Anna, I'm surprised she was so driven to do the right show more thing.

For the astute reader, all the clues are there. They're early on in the book. If you pay attention you can solve the mystery well before Anna does. I got close, although I didn't have the why of Mrs. Van Slyke's death sorted out. show less

In this story, Anna is learning about a program the park rangers are helping with to track and tag grizzly bears in Glacier National Park. These descriptive prose in these is so powerful that even if you have never visited a particular park, you never have any trouble picturing the scenery, feeling yourself up on a ledge, or walking down the side of a mountain. While out checking on the bear monitors, the rangers are called upon to investigate a murder. At one point Anna thinks "she doesn't know whether she has too much information and too many suspects, or not enough of either." This one had a good plot, and interesting suspects. I'm looking forward to getting to know Anna even more in this series.