Nevada Barr (born March 1, 1952) is an American author of

mystery fiction Mystery is a genre fiction, fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains wiktionary:mysterious, mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually prov ...

. She is known for her Anna Pigeon series, which is primarily set in a series of

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

s and other protected areas of the United States.

Early life

Although Barr was born in

Yerington, Nevada Yerington is a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 3,121 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the current county seat of Lyon County, with the first county seat having been established at Dayton, Nevad ...

, she was named not after her state of birth but after a character in one of her father's favorite books. She grew up in Johnstonville, California, a place near

Susanville, California Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) (, ''bush creek country'')Simmons, W. S., Morales, R., Williams, V., & Camacho, S. (1997). Honey Lake Maidu Ethnogeography of Lassen County, California . Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropolog ...

in the far northern section of California, one of two daughters. Her parents ran a small airport in Susanville, where her mother was both a pilot and a mechanic. In her teenage years she learned to pilot a plane from her mother. Barr received her bachelor's degree in speech and drama, and master's degree in acting at

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

, in southern California. She finished her education at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

Artistic career

Barr trained in drama and was a professional actor on stage and in voice-overs for 18 years after receiving her master's degree at University of California at Irvine. She began writing in those years. She lived in New York City and Minneapolis and had a brief early marriage before moving to Clinton, Mississippi, to work as a Park Ranger and where she married her second husband. When Barr's first husband changed careers from being a theatre director and became interested in the environmental movement, she began working as a seasonal park ranger in the summer at several National Parks. Her first permanent park ranger job was on the

Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Trace Parkway is a limited-access national parkway in the Southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 44 ...

in Mississippi. Barr began writing in earnest in 1978, when she was 26. Her first book was historical, titled Bittersweet was published in 1984. Her first mystery novel ''

Track of the Cat Track of the Cat may refer to: * ''Track of the Cat'' (film), a 1954 American Western film * ''Track of the Cat'' (album), a 1975 album by Dionne Warwick * ''Track of the Cat'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Nevada Barr * ''The Track of the Cat'', a 1 ...

'' was published in 1993. This won two awards as a first novel. That first novel featured the character of Anna Pigeon, which character she conceived while working at her second seasonal job in

Guadalupe Mountains National Park Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a national park of the United States in the Guadalupe Mountains, east of El Paso, Texas. The mountain range includes Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at , and El Capitan used as a landmark by travel ...

in Texas. Pigeon is a law enforcement ranger with the

United States National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational ...

. The first mystery novel became first in a series. The books in the series take place in various national parks (and other protected areas) where Pigeon solves murders that are often related to natural resource issues. The Anna Pigeon character shares several similarities with Barr, such as working as a park ranger and having had a husband who worked in the theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Barr became a full-time writer when her books began to achieve commercial success. She began painting in 1996, added to her writing, and her work in the National Park Service. She moved to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

after her third marriage to Donald Paxton and now lives in Oregon.

Personal life

While in her acting career, Barr had a brief first marriage. They were both in theatre. Her husband developed an interest in the physical environment and took a position in the National Park Service. This sparked a similar interest in Barr. She followed him and secured a position as a seasonal ranger at Isle Royal National Park. She then worked as a seasonal ranger at Guadalupe Mountains and then Mesa Verde. When her marriage ended she returned home to her mother in California. In 1994 she got a permanent position as a Park Ranger on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. She was the first female law enforcement ranger to work on the Parkway. She met her second husband, a second generation Park Ranger also working on The Trace. By this time she'd successfully started her Anna Pigeon mystery series based on a female Park Ranger and set in National Parks. Her husband took an early retirement in 1996 and shortly after, Nevada resigned her position to write full time. With her husband assisting in research and acting as her personal assistant, she published a book a year until their divorce in 2006. Shortly after she remarried and moved to New Orleans and continued to write and paint. She now lives in Oregon with her husband.

Bibliography

Anna Pigeon series

*1993 ''

'' ()

*1994 ''A Superior Death'' ()

Isle Royale National Park Isle Royale National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States consisting of Isle Royale, along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in Michigan. ...

*1995 ''Ill Wind'' ()

Mesa Verde National Park Mesa Verde National Park is a national park of the United States and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, and the only World Heritage Site in Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloa ...

*1996 ''Firestorm'' ()

Lassen Volcanic National Park Lassen Volcanic National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in northeastern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest lava dome, plug dome volcano in the wo ...

*1997 ''Endangered Species'' ()

Cumberland Island National Seashore Cumberland Island National Seashore preserves most of Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia, the largest of Georgia's Golden Isles of Georgia, Golden Isles. The seashore features beaches and dunes, marshes, and freshwater lakes. The nati ...

*1998 ''Blind Descent'' ()

Carlsbad Caverns National Park Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a national park of the United States in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors can hike in on their own via the natural ...

*1999 ''Liberty Falling'' ()

Statue of Liberty National Monument The Statue of Liberty National Monument is a United States national monument comprising Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the states of New Jersey and New York. It includes the 1886 Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') b ...

*2000 ''Deep South'' ()

*2001 ''Blood Lure'' ()
Glacier National Park *2002 ''Hunting Season'' ()

*2003 ''Flashback'' ()

Dry Tortugas National Park Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park of the United States located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, in the United States. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the several Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most iso ...

*2004 ''High Country'' ()

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

*2005 ''Hard Truth'' ()

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is s ...

*2008 ''Winter Study'' ()

*2009 ''Borderline'' ()

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topograph ...

*2010 ''Burn'' ()

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park is a U.S. National Historical Park in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, near the French Quarter. It was created in 1994 to celebrate the origins and evolution of jazz. Most of the historical p ...

*2012 ''The Rope'' ()

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyo ...

*2014 ''Destroyer Angel'' ()

Superior National Forest The Superior National Forest, part of the United States National Forest system, is located in the Arrowhead Region of the U.S. state, state of Minnesota between the Canada–United States border and the North Shore (Lake Superior), north shore o ...

*2016 ''Boar Island'' ()

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor, Maine, Bar Harbor. The park includes about half of Mount Desert ...

Other books

Barr has published three other novels besides the Anna Pigeon series in addition to a non-fiction book: *1984 ''Bittersweet'' (), a lesbian historical novel set on the Western frontier *2003 ''Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat: A Skeptic's Guide to Religion'' (), a memoir *2009 ''13'' (), a psychological thriller *2019 ''What Rose Forgot'' (), a standalone thriller

Awards

Barr's

début novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''Track of the Cat'', won the 1994 Anthony Award and

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short ...

for "Best First Novel". Her next novel, ''Superior Death'', was nominated for the

Dilys Award The Dilys Award was presented every year from 1992 to 2014 by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. It was given to the mystery title of the year which the member booksellers have most enjoyed selling. The Independent Mystery Booksell ...

in 1995. ''Firestorm'' was nominated for the 1997 Anthony Award in the "Best Novel" category. ''Blind Descent'' was the next novel to receive attention from the mystery community, receiving a "Best Novel" nomination at the 1999 Anthony Awards, Dilys Awards and the

Macavity Awards The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a group of literary awards presented annually to mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. ...

in the same year. ''Deep South'', published in 2000, won the Barry Award for "Best Novel" and was again nominated for the

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Categori ...

in the same category. In 2011, the

National Parks Conservation Association The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is the only independent, nonpartisan membership organization devoted exclusively to advocacy on behalf of the National Parks System. Its mission is "to protect and enhance America's National Pa ...

honored Barr with the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks. The award recognizes an individual or organization that has effectively communicated the values of the National Park System to the American public.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Nevada 1952 births Living people Agatha Award winners American mystery writers American women novelists Writers from Nevada Novelists from Mississippi Writers from New Orleans People from Yerington, Nevada Anthony Award winners Barry Award winners University of California, Irvine alumni 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists People from Lassen County, California National Park Service personnel American women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from California Novelists from Louisiana