September Book Review

This month’s review is by Lois Heileman

Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr
Killer Physique by G.A. McKevett

Destroyer Angel is the latest of Barr’s Anna Pigeon novels. Anna, a park ranger, is on a vacation in the Iron Range of Minnesota with two women friends and their teenage daughters when the friends and girls are kidnapped by four thugs. Anna must rescue the women before they are flown out of the country. Complicating matters is the fact that one of the women is a paraplegic; the trip is a trial run for a wheelchair designed especially for rugged outdoor use.

If you missed camping this summer, this novel may make you feel better. Much of the nature is not pretty, and there is lots of violence. The comeuppance of the man who planned all this is particularly wicked. Barr’s descriptions are vivid and her characters well-drawn, but don’t read this if justifiable mayhem turns your innards.

Killer Physique is also the most recent in McKevett’s long-running series featuring Savannah Reid, a plus-size private eye who teams up with her new husband, an L.A. cop, to solve the murder of a gorgeous body-builder movie star. Savannah’s family and friends, also a continuing part of the series, are placed in peril as they help her pursue the who, why, and how of the crime. Much lighter in tone than Destroyer Angel, this features a most unusual murder method. It’s pleasant for a summer afternoon with enjoyable characters to meet along the way.

Each of the Anna Pigeon books features Anna in a different national park setting, and the earlier Savannah Reid novels emphasize her close relationships with kith and kin, including her developing romance with the man who is now her husband. I hope you will appreciate this introduction to two strong female deducers and have many happy hours reading the rest of each collection.

CALL # STATUS:
DESTROYER ANGEL FIC BARR
KILLER PHYSIQUE FIC MCKEVETT

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