Blood lure

Her failure had been in the most important element of the crime: saving the wonderful bear.

Back in Mississippi, she prayed to various gods known to have a soft spot for animals and felt a fool and a hypocrite for doing so. She was surly to her field rangers, avoided her boyfriend and was unmerciful to speeders.

On her fourth day back she received a Federal Express package from Joan. A

"Hallelujah! "A

The package had come to the ranger station in Port Gibson, where she was stationed. Unable to wait, she'd ripped it open in the outer office and read it standing in the middle of the floor. Randy Thigpen, one of her field rangers with whom having a lady Yankee boss did not sit well, was at his desk. "What'd you get?" he demanded.

"The bear's going to be okay." Randy knew the story and A

"Whoop-ti-doo," he said.

A

"What is it?" Thigpen asked.

"Shit," A

"I guess just everybody loves you," Thigpen growled.

Joan had sent her a scat sample. After all, what were friends for?

Nevada Barr

Nevadawas born in the small western town of Yerington, Nevada and raised on a mountain airport in the Sierras. Both her parents were pilots and mechanics and her sister, Molly, continued the tradition by becoming a pilot for USAir.

Pushed out of the nest, Nevada fell into the theatre, receiving her BA in speech and drama and her MFA in Acting before making the pilgrimage to New York City, then Mi

Woven throughout these seemingly disparate careers was the written word. Nevada wrote and presented campfire stories, taught storytelling and was a travel writer and restaurant critic. Her first novel, Bitterweet was published in 1983. The A