(2004)(audio)Next in Anna Pidgeon series finds her at Yosemite National Park undercover as a waitress at the Park lodge. She is trying to learn the fate of 4 young people who frequent the park as workers or visitors who have disappeared.

I enjoy this series set in National Parks featuring a mature female Ranger. Kudos for getting the setting mostly accurate. I especially like this one set in Yosemite National Park for incorporating the true event of the plane crash into Lower Merced Lake. ( )

Synopsis: 'Anna is sent undercover into Yosemite National Park in California to discover what has happened to four missing 20 somethings; employees of the concessions and trail crew. We often see Anna hiking long distances through the wilderness, but our first glimpse here is of her waitressing in the Ahwahnee Hotel. “Would you like baked potato or pomme frites with that?” Not exactly typical Ranger speak. And nothing else is quite how it should be either.
The missing girl who’s place Anna has taken at the hotel, last wrote her down-on-his-luck brother about a “gold mine” that could help him. Climbers camping in the valley are talking about a “bonanza”. The Chef hates her and the Sous Chef is tempting her to betray her morals and her fiancé.
Being undercover, Anna can’t use the available law enforcement resources, but she begins to piece together parts of the puzzle. Unfortunately, less savory types have already put together those same pieces and are bound and determined to keep Anna out of the picture, even if it means killing her to do so.
Review: Interesting plot that made me want to go to Yosemite. I'm still waiting for some sort of story in which Paul plays a main role. Anna is getting a bit old for all of the beatings she takes. ( )

Yosemite. Anna Pigeon stars as an undercover ranger this time. She is working as a waitress in the park while trying to find out what happened to four young people who had disappeared on the same day.

Anna encounters interesting characters as roommates (she gets to live in a dorm) and coworkers, and she accidentally overhears a conversation among strangers that gives her a few clues. Anna often overhears critical conversations, in part because she's nosy.

A clue or two sends her in search of Lower Merced Pass Lake. The lake is a twelve mile hike in the mountains as seen on a map, a 2000-foot climb, a distance Anna knows could be much greater because of the twists and turns of the trail, but she figures it will take half of a long day to get to the lake.

She starts before light on a day off, driving to the trailhead and heading off, laden with equipment and a sleeping bag in case she doesn't get out in time. Anna is a seasoned long-range hiker, to her credit.

In every Anna Pigeon book up to this point, Anna has had times of great danger and great physical challenge. We can count on a nail-biting section, where the challenges facing her are outlined so realistically we are almost there with her. In this episode the nail biting goes on much longer than normal. Anna finds herself fighting not only the elements (it is winter) but also some determined killers. It's worth reading this book for this section alone.

Discovering what probably happened to the four young people turns out to be only a part of the story. For the twisty conclusion....read the book. ( )

Anna is sent undercover into Yosemite National Park in California to discover what has happened to four missing young people, including employees of the concessions and trail crew.

Because she is posing as a waitress, Anna can’t use available law enforcement resources. She begins to piece together parts of the puzzle, but none of the pieces make sense. There are lots of unsavory elements who are bound and determined to keep Anna out of the picture, even if it means killing her.

This was a bit of a different type of Anna Pigeon story. There were several things that didn’t make sense to me. On her day off, Anna takes a hike and finds critical evidence quite easily, as well as the reason for the disappearance of the missing people. It was a common trail, so I'm not sure why no one else found it over the weeks the search was active. However, there's a great action sequence that made me forget about how easily she discovered it.

This wasn't my favorite of the series, but Nevada Barr always gives a great picture of the beauty in the National Parks with well developed characters and intriguing plot lines. ( )