Mystery lovers: can you suggest some mystery writers that most people haven heard of?
Nevada Barr is a former National Park Service ranger who has written about a dozen fairly prosaic “who-dunnit” mystery novels, all set in national parks. It’s fun to get insider knowledge about the parks, but the real hook is her progagonist, Anna Pigeon. I love this woman! Anna is a park ranger who always seems to stumble on a body, no matter which park she’s in. She is wise, witty, flawed, irreverent, somewhat cynical, struggling as a woman to do a “man’s” job, trying to decide whether to commit to her man, trying to resist going overboard with alcohol, trying to maintain a long distance relationship with her chain-smoking sister — just a delightful, realistically-painted character. We have so much in common I wish she were real so I could meet her. I know we’d be friends. Ms. Barr also wrote a non-fiction book called Seeking Enlightenment Hat by Hat. I first took it out of the library but loved it so much I bought my own copy. She talks about her quest for a religion or theology th
