Winter Study

An Anna Pigeon Mystery

By: Nevada Barr

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

It is January, and Park Ranger Anna Pigeon is sent to Isle Royale in Lake Superior to learn about managing and understanding wolves, as her home base of Rocky Mountain National Park might soon have its own pack of the magnificent, much-maligned animals. She's lodging in the island's bunkhouse with the famed wolf study team, along with two scientists from Homeland Security, who are assessing the study with an eye to opening the park in the winters - an act that would effectively bring an end to the 50-year project - so that the area can be manned to secure the scrap of border with Canada.

Soon after Anna's arrival, the wolf packs under observation begin to behave in peculiar ways. Giant wolf prints are found, and Anna spies the form of a great wolf from a surveillance plane. The discovery of wolf scat containing alien DNA leads the group to believe that perhaps a wolf/dog hybrid has been introduced to the island.

When a female member of the team is savaged, Anna is convinced she is being stalked, and what was once a beautiful, idyllic refuge becomes a place of unnatural occurrences and danger beyond the ordinary. Alone on an island without electricity or running water, with temperatures hovering around zero both day and night, Anna fights not only for the wolves but for her own survival as well.

Listen to more Anna Pigeon mysteries.©2008 Nevada Barr (P)2008 Recorded Books

fair to middling ...

Barbara Rosenblatt is superb as always. I will listen to anything she reads!! I love Anna and all the wonderful settings of the Anna Pigeon books. For me this book lacked any personnel connections for Anna and thus much of the humor and irony present in many of the earlier books in the series is missing. The book seemed dark, a bit too gruesome and vulgar and somewhat depressing. All those negatives aside, I still love Anna and the wonderful park settings of these books.

A little long

Good story but a little too much detail in some scenes.

Very intense!

This one of the best! I love how Anna is becoming a more complex character...this one will not disappoint!

Ending a little weak

I am an Anna Pigeon fan. I've enjoyed her National Park series. This one, however, could have used a little editing and, frankly, the ending devised avoid the FBI investigation just didn't sit well with me. I enjoyed the scenery, the snow and the character development.

Very, very dark

I have always enjoyed the Anna Pigeon series of mysteries. This one I was really looking forward to because I have spent time in the location of the book. It was 3-star good, but I have to say that from the first page, the feeling is dark, ice cold, and the writing is a bit ponderous. Almost as though the author was working out some chidhood trauma -- who knows?
Not as enjoyable as some others in this series, but still worth it if you like the books.

Enjoyable, but . . .

An enjoyable enough listen, but, like the last few Nevada Barr mysteries getting just a bit 'samey' plot wise. As per usual: a remote wilderness, endangered by bureaucrats, a murderer among an isolated group, Barr's heroine Anna Pigeon is horribly threatened but juuuust manages to overcome the baddie and survive. Sigh. Nice vivid wilderness descriptions though.

Not her best...

I'm a big fan of Nevada Barr but this one did not do it for me. It was my first Audible download and it almost soured me on audiobooks but since then I have come to realize it was an exception. I think part of the issue for me was the narrator, all her male character voices sounded alike and it got confusing.

I did not want to put this down

If you could sum up Winter Study in three words, what would they be?

cold, cold, cold.

Any additional comments?

This was a good story - very tense and suspensful but the ending of it was too descriptively violent.

Beats Little Red Riding Hood!!

Maybe, for Anna's sake, it's good there are only 4 more in this series. She really takes a licking...

Psychological Thriller

Would you listen to Winter Study again? Why?

Yes, there's a lot going on that I may miss the first time

What other book might you compare Winter Study to and why?

This one is unique

Which character – as performed by Barbara Rosenblat – was your favorite?

Even though Bob is the bad guy in the story, I think she did a great job with his enigmatic personality