::AMAZON REVIEWS::

1st in series
1993 Agatha Award for Best First Novel, 1994 Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Finalist 1994 Macavity Award for Best First Novel. Great start for a great series. They get better and better and you learn a little about some of America's national parks.

Terrible ending to a terrible book
First book in the series but 4th one I've read. Why did I bother? For the setting. I love the southwest and this takes place on the Texas - New Mexico border. Other have pointed out flaws in plot, etc. I'll add my own problems with the book:
1) if Anna is still mooning over her late husband, what is she doing in bed with Rogelio? If she's looking for another committed relationship, why does she run away?
2) why couldn't Zack and Anna afford children? Plenty of people grow up and take real jobs (Zack was a not too-successful actor, unclear what Anna was) when children are expected. It's obvious Anna is intelligent and talented.
3) Cats, domestic and wild, are NOT carrion-eaters (alluded to in the beginning);
4) the young of a wild cat are cubs, not kittens;
5) wild cats do not respond to "kitty, kitty" (nor do domestic cats, unless they are trained/ rewarded for coming);
6) the totally amoral ending (spoiler alert) in most states would leave Anna charged with murder in the 2nd degree or negligent homicide (if a DA is feeling kindly). In any event, she couldn't work for the Feds anymore with a felony rap on her.
7) No one who openly supports a terrorist group like Earth First! (on the FBI domestic terrorism list) as Craig Stevens does can work for the Feds.
8) What grown woman of 39 wears 2 braids?
9) it's not 900 miles from the Texas- new Mexico border to Ajo, AZ, and you can't drive 900 miles in one night anyway, not unless you were driving about 100 miles an hour the entire way. Google maps shows that it's less than 300 miles from Ajo to Guadalupe Mts NP. Add at most 50 miles to her starting point in Mexico.
10) what's with women mystery writers and the seemingly requisite lesbians? Patricia Cornwall, Susan Wittig Albert, JA Jance, Nevada Barr: all of them throw lesbians in long-term relationships as if it is normal. Newsflash: I live in metro NYC and do not know any; I suspect it is not mainstream and it certainly is unnecessary to most of these mysteries. Male mystery writers don't throw in gay characters just to have gay characters.

My bottom line: don't waste your time; the series doesn't get better but Anna drinks more.

Anna Pigeon, Sleuth Extraordinaire!
This is a good mystery with great characters.

Anna Pigeon, sleuth extraordinaire, is a Park Service Ranger, ecofemme who has left New York after the death of her husband. She goes to the Texas desert to make a new life. There she investigates the murders of colleagues with an attitude and esprit of someone you can feel a kinship with right off the pages. She should watch her alcohol intake as she appears to have the makings of someone who can become an alcoholic.

The ending was a bit trite but I didn't care because the rest of the book was so good.

Hmm..what adjective to use?
It was not.....riveting......I was not....mesmorized...

I COULD put it down...

But it was good....I am not sure how to explain. The story line was good, at times the story held me but I would not say it was like a MUST read....

That said, a friend is passing me the rest of the books and I surely will read them..I mean they are not BAD....

Don't bother
I read the entire book. I didn't like the character at all. There are way to many issues presented in this work of fiction. Non-belief in God, the assumption that the mention of a lesbian lifestyle adds something to this story. Also, the flippant reference to abortion as an form of birth control, and that it is common with married couples. The ending sucked. Don't waste your time on this book.