(2008)(audio)Another very good Anna Pidgeon story finds her on Isle Royale on Lake Superior during the winter. She is helping with a wolf/moose study required as Homeland Security needs to make the island more secure. Gets caught up in the personal lives of other members of the study that leads to death of one of the women. Booklist Review:Readers who have followed intrepid forest ranger Anna Pigeon fighting forest fires, crawling through caves, investigating crimes at national monuments, and tracking bears in service of our National Park system will find her back almost where she began, at Isle Royale National Park. Unlike her earlier visit (A Superior Death, 2003), however, this one takes place during the dead of winter, when the park is usually closed to all but the wolves and moose and the researchers who have been studying them in their unique environment. This year, however, tension is high; Homeland Security may shut down the winter study project, which has been going on for 50 years. But Anna, in her usual role as Park Service interloper-emissary ("How would you like to snowshoe over rough terrain, collecting blood-fat ticks and moose piss?") suspects that there's more at stake here than the study, and when murder intrudes, she knows she's right. The environmental quotient in Barr's novels is always high; the facts about wolves are fascinating, as are descriptions of frigid landscape, alternately beautiful and horrifying. There's plenty of drama, too, as Anna finds herself alone and in danger more than once, but what many readers return to this series for is Anna herself, strong, funny, perceptive, and well aware that she is a small part of a dynamic, ever-changing natural world.

Anna Pigeon leaves Mississippi for a short-time assignment at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. She joins a research team that studies the winter wildlife population and a rather obnoxious Homeland Security representative. The researchers believe winter park closure remains a necessity for biodiversity while Homeland Security would like to see the park opened year-round to visitors.It isn't long until a death occurs. They spot some paw prints that don't match any known wildlife, but paired with a possible sighting of an irregular animal that, from a distance, appears to possibly be a wolf-moose cross-breed, the group knows they need to be cautious. One female graduate student goes missing and is later found dead. It appears she was attacked by wolves. This doesn't quite add up for Anna so she begins a secret investigation and finds a secret spot to stash her evidence. Another person eventually goes missing. It's a locked room puzzle in a survival-type atmosphere. The story's multiple layers add tension and interest. While this wasn't my favorite in the series, mainly due to a disturbing sexual predator scenario discovered in the course of the investigation by Anna, it was a solid installment. I listened to the audiobook read by Barbara Rosenblat who does a good job with the series. ( )

Wild bookbox; interestingly the only other book I read by this author was also set in Isle Royale National Park. Ranger Anna joins the "winter study" of the wolves, and the outcome will determine if the park is closed to visitors in the winter. But things get creepy quickly amongst the team, someone seems to be killing off the female researchers, the Homeland security guy is obnoxious, and the work is grueling...and dangerous. But who-dun-it? Keeps you guessing until the end. ( )

Winter Study was my first Anna Pigeon book, but it won't be my last. It was a suspenseful thriller that hooked me from the first page. When Anna, a US Park Ranger, joins a research team for a chilly—and when I say chilly, I mean freezing—week at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior in the dead of winter, she has no idea it will be the most challenging assignment of her career. The wolves are magnificent—and frightening—but are nothing compared to her two-legged companions. Soon strange things start happening; then, a researcher goes missing. As Anna tries to fit in and be helpful, she grapples for survival, first against the deadly cold, then against a deranged killer. The vivid descriptions of how complicated life can be in the icy wilderness were fascinating. Note to self—never, never go camping in the snow. ( )

Synopsis: 'Anna Pigeon is the district ranger for Neches Trace National Park but she is going to Isle Royale in winter to observe the wolf/moose study that has been ongoing for the last 50 years. Wolves are to be introduced to Rocky Mountain and the best way to study the interaction of predator and prey is to observe. Isle Royale is closed to visitors during the winter, which is the wolves' breeding season. The only people at the park are the scientists and their assistants.
Ridley Murray is the lead researcher. He is assisted by Robin Adair, biathlete, who is at home in winter and collects data. There are also two other members of their party. Anna arrives to find that two members of Homeland Security, Dr. Bob Menechin and his assistant, and doctoral candidate, Kathrine Huff, will also be in the group. Homeland Security wants to open the park to visitors in winter. They claim that since it is so close to Canada, terrorists can slip in to the US if the park is deserted. This would end the study and put more stress on the island itself. Anna has already seen many changes at Isle Royale since she was last there (A SUPERIOR DEATH, 1994) and wouldn't like to see any more.
There are three wolf packs on the island, each probably of 6 or 7 animals, and evidence that both wolf and moose are starving. All the wolves are descendants of a pair that came across an ice bridge from Canada many years earlier. The moose have eaten almost all the trees that they like and their population has fallen by over 1000 since Anna's last visit. Older moose bear strangely shaped antlers because they lack the nutrients to regrow them properly.
A dead wolf is found and footprints of a giant wolf or wolf/dog hybrid, which is actually more dangerous than a wolf. And then one of the members of the team dies. Is wolf or man the predator?
Review: I really liked the pilot and wished he'd had a bigger part in the book. The abuse of women is the sub-plot of this book. The story seemed rather draggy in places. ( )

Anna Pigeon returns to Isle Royale National Park, but this time in winter. She is charged with assisting with the well-known Winter Study, a long-running study of wolves and Moose. The study has been going on since the 1950s and has given the world a great deal of knowledge about wolves over the years.

With Anna is a small crew of dedicated scientists, a pilot, and one Homeland Security guy who has the power to shut down the study, in the "national interest". The group discovers some anomalies in the tracks and DNA they harvest - it appears that a wolf - or wolf-like animal - that is not part of the Isle Royale packs - has invaded the island. But from where?

The original mating pair crossed the ice many years ago, from Canada. All of the wolves on the island are descendants from that one pair (and they do suffer genetic abnormalities as a result, which is not a subject discussed here). But now the crew thinks some other animal has arrived. There are few ways to get to the island in the right time frame.

To pursue this investigation, some members of the group hike many miles over rough terrain in difficult winter conditions, stopping to camp in the outdoors one night and ending in a small cabin. Events, including a death, prevent their continuing as planned, and they return to the minimally-furnished ranger housing.

There is plenty of suspense here, and times when Anna faces personal threats. Not all of the crew are seasoned trekkers, and Anna is no longer young, but she is still determined to finish what she starts. How she finishes, in this case, takes a large toll.

As always, I did more research on the park and I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the surroundings as well as of the enormous challenges and minute-by-minute suspense.

I love wolves and am glad to read that wolves with different DNA have been introduced to the park following serious declines (the numbers were up at the time this book was written). Leave it to Nevada Barr to bring us into parts of the wild we will likely never see ourselves. I only wish that Anna had remained vegetarian, as this choice had aligned her with all animals, not only wild ones. ( )

Back in olden times, before my spouse gave me a kindle, most of my reading involved books she had read and judged worthy to pass along. At one time or another, virtually all of the Nevada Barr novels involving Ranger Anna Pigeon were passed along to me, including this one. For some reason, my spouse got it into her head that I should re-read this particular book. Something about extreme cold, I think. Being a dutiful spouse, I acceded to her request.

In this book, Anna Pigeon is posted to Isle Royal, a national park in the extreme north of Lake Superior, during the winter when the park is shut down to outside visitors. The park service and some academic scientists have been studying the wolf and moose populations on the island for some fifty or so years. The place is so isolated that no new animals can be introduced to the populations already extant. But for some reason, Homeland Security would like to shut down the wolf study and open the park year round. They seem to think that a few scientists are less likely to notice and repel invading terrorists from Canada than will a bunch of winter tourists. It sounds like complete nonsense to me, but then Homeland Security was the brainchild of G. W. Bush, one of the stupidest Presidents ever, so the plot point is vaguely plausible. Anyway, one of the people involved in the study is an alleged academic who is Homeland Security's plant to learn enough about the study to allow them to shut it down and open the park to whomever wishes to travel there.

It's cold as crap all the time. There appears to be an alleged sighting of some kind of super wolf in a couple of instances. There seems to be some DNA in scat samples that is incompatible with any of the wolves who have lived in the park for the past 50 years. There is a chicken-shit pervert among the crew who loves to molest and rape inert woman, either dead or drugged. Anna faces multiple near-death experiences, but lives to tell about it. And so forth. Lots of excitement. Too many bodies for me these days and a rather morally ambiguous ending. My recollection is that I've had rather a fondness for the Anna Pigeon novels, but this one left me wondering if Barr hadn't jumped the shark when she got to this book. Perhaps this is as good as my dimming memories of the others, and I'm just getting too old for carnage, perversion, and tales of dangerous beings/beasts which may actually exist.
( )

I love this series. Normally, the story takes place in a beautiful park that is well described by Barr. This time I felt that the backdrop was not as well described and there were many characters who had to be developed before we really got into the thick of the mystery. And the process of getting to that portion of the story was grisly. Still a good story, just not my favorite. ( )

This is one of the series I fall back on when I can't find anything from my to-read list on cd at the public library. The other is Carl Hiaasen. I was disappointed with this because I thought it would be more about the wolves and the ecology of the park. I wasn't pleased with the actual nature of the crime. I listened to this on cd, and ended up feeling like we spent too much time in Anna's head. It occurred to me that if I were reading this on paper, I might move through those passages a little more quickly, but with the audio version, there is no changing the pace. I can't believe this is just occurring to me now after having listened to sooooo many books. ( )

I like Nevada Barr as an author and enjoy the Anna Pigeon mysteries. Winter Study started a bit slow compared to some of her books and it took awhile for me to really get into it. I think there could have been more about the wolf study in the book but enjoyed the descriptions of Isle Royale in the middle of winter. ( )

The first of the Anna Pigeon books that I really did not care for. There were too many characters that I didn't like - and not enough info about those I did. At one point I may have wanted the Wog to eat them all. I think I need a break from Anna for a bit. Her poor ankle. Did someone break Nevada's? ( )

I like a good mystery, but this one was too creepy, heavy and too "Adult" for me. This is my second Nevada Barr book; if it had been the first, I probably wouldn't try any more. I also read A Superior Death, which wasn't quite as "Adult". ( )

The beginning was slow and the ending was abrupt. But Barr kept me reading with an atmosphere like no other. And the woman knows how to end a chapter.

Petrea Burchard
Camelot & Vine ( )

Nevada Barr always writes a winner! ( )

Winter Study by Nevada Barr is the fourteenth Anna Pigeon mystery and the first one I've listened to as read by Barbara Rosenblat. Anna has returned to Lake Superior (see also A Superior Death, this time in winter time, to help with the tracking of the wolves. The program is under scrutiny and it might be the last winter season to run the program.

Barr's descriptions of the brutality of winter on Lake Superior are chilling (excuse the pun). Here the weather forces the usual recalcitrant Anna to work with her cohorts, and worse, follow their lead. Unfortunately for her, the close knit family dynamic has been upset by the inclusion of both Anna and a pair of scientists from Homeland Security.

Almost immediately it's obvious that things on Isle Royale are out of kilter. The wolves are acting strange and winter starvation is taking its toll on the moose population. Anna begins to imagine the island being haunted by the windigo and evidence of larger than normal wolf prints give credence to her daydreams. Within these scenes, though, there are hints to what is actually going on. An observant reader will figure out the pieces. The danger created by the weather as well as close confinement, will compel the reader to continue, though.

Winter Study was one of the most difficult audios I've listened to for its graphic depiction of violence. There are some gory descriptions of the blood against the snow that are both poetic and stomach churning — especially when listened to.

But it's tactfully done and an essential part of the story. It needs to be there to understand the actions Anna and the others take at the end of their time on Isle Royale. ( )

Very interesting mystery. You knew who had to be the ultimate bad guy, he is such a creep, but the twists with the rest of the characters aren't so obvious. But, how much punishment can her body take? She is getting too physically old to keep taking this rough treatment. Hope the Service doesn't decide to retire her for her own good! ( )

In [book: Winter Study], National Park ranger Anna Pigeon returns to Isle Royale National Park, the scene of one of the earliest books in the series, [book:A Superior Death]. But this trip is very different, for it takes place in the dead of winter, when the park is closed to all except the team of researchers for a decades-long study of wolf-moose interaction. Now the continuing existence of the study is threatened because the Department of Homeland Security wants to open the park year-round, compromising its wilderness status, to "secure" the border between the U.S. and Canada. Anna is seconded to be part of a fact-finding team which includes researchers, parks people, and two tenderfeet from Washington, D.C. Almost immediately, odd things begin happening, and Anna's life will be in danger more than once before her investigation is done.

The description of the setting, as usual with Barr's books, is excellent. I think even a lifelong Southerner could get a sense of what a Northern winter in the woods is like from reading this book. However, I found the plot a little too convoluted even for my taste, and one character was almost too bad to be true. In addition, Anna (or the author) gives in a bit too often to the temptation to preach politics and the environment. Even though in my case she's preaching to the choir, it got tedious. However, if it doesn't get any worse, I'll certainly keep following Anna Pigeon around America's national parks. Wish she'd visit Acadia! ( )

This wasn't bad at first and kept my interest for several hours, but toward the end, the characters were just too one-dimensional. The wildlife part of it was interesting, but I prefer books where the characters act like people rather than stereotypes. ( )

The reader is pulled a wide range of emotions, from fear to loathing as Anna once again puts herself into jeopardy in a National Park Setting. This one involves a pornographer, a date rape drug, revenge, and wolves. ( )

Anna Pigeon is back in Isle Royale National Park where the action in one of her earlier adventures, A Superior Death, took place. This time, as the title suggests, it is Winter and the park is closed. But the long term study of wolves on the island is ongoing and Anna is taking part because her home park, Rocky Mountain, may soon be getting a wolf pack. Two more people who are not part of the study are also on the island. They are assessing the park for Homeland Security to see if the park could be opened in the winter. Dr. Bob Menecken and his graduate student Kathryn seem to have an odd relationship. However, everyone is avid about the wolves (for one reason or another) and when it appears that there is a new wolf on the island, bigger than one ever seen before, investigation goes into high gear.

Of course, soon there is a body but it appears Kathryn was killed by wolves so maybe there is no homicide for Anna to investigate. But there remains the question as to why she was out during a storm by herself and why Menecken seems so anxious to find her cell phone.

This wasn't the best Nevada Barr book I have read but I see from her web site that it was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina so perhaps that is the reason. ( )

I love this series, but this book was a bit of a disappointment. Too convoluted a plot, one-dimensional characters, long-winded, and Anna turning more and more into superwoman - hope the next one is better again. ( )

For a Pigeon, this book was a disappointment.

Rather than the usual self-confident, chip-on-the-shoulder derring-do heroine who gets herself into the...weirdest...situations, and always comes out smelling of roses - sometimes tattered and covered with mud, but smelling good - we have an old, decrepit, self-doubting woman who is thinking sitting home knitting might be preferable to the wilderness she has loved since her 20s.
Hopefully we will see Anna restored to her usual spunky self in the next installment. ( )

As usual ,Nevada Barr does an excellent job with her action scenes (when Anna's like is in danger) and in describing the freezing national park. However, the uncovering of the story behind the mysterious events on the island is not satisfying, and Anna's constant rumination about over event and every possibility is tiresome. ( )

I've read other Barr books in the past and enjoyed them. This one was not up to par! Bad language; bad plot and characters and lots of 'this doesn't make a damn bit of sense' parts. I eventually gave up on it; something I seldom do. ( )

Enjoyable Great Lakes region-based fiction title with atmospherics and a little science thrown in. ( )