When four young employees of Yosemite National Park disappear, ranger Anna Pigeon goes undercover as a waitress at the Ahwahnee Lodge to investigate. Living in the staff dorm, she soon discovers there's a connection between at least one of the missing girls, a crashed plane containing a fortune in drugs, and the outsiders who've moved into the tent cabin last occupied by a skilled climber who's also among the disappeared. The first attempt on her life doesn't scare her away, but the second is nearly fatal, and Anna's harrowing escape keeps the tension ratcheted up until the denouement. As usual, Nevada Barr turns in a well-paced thriller featuring a compelling protagonist and a strong cast of minor characters, but it's her brilliantly etched landscapes that bring readers back to this popular series again and again. High Country is Anna's thirteenth outing, and it's one of her strongest. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
The serene snow country suddenly turns deadly for Anna Pigeon in Barr's riveting 12th novel to feature the intrepid National Park Service ranger (after 2003's Flashback). On assignment to locate four young park employees who went missing in a fierce storm, the 50ish Anna is working undercover as a waitress at Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel, where she must deal not only with an exacting supervisor and a surly head chef but also share a dorm with 20-something roommates. Evoking the stunning beauty of the park in winter, Barr contrasts the relative safety of Yosemite Valley with the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains into which Anna treks in search of the missing kids. Danger crackles like ice on the frozen lake where she finds a partially submerged plane loaded with drugs. Attacked by vicious poachers, Anna flees into the absolute, terrifying darkness for an ordeal that will keep readers eagerly turning the pages. So well done is this nail-biting sequence that the resolution can come only as something of a letdown. Barr has a true gift for outdoor writing, using the lush snow as natural cover for the violent life in the wild as well as among the park's human custodians. Anyone contemplating a nice winter hike will think twice after entering the wilderness with Anna, but her fans always come back for more. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–A fast-moving, action-packed, gory mystery-adventure. On loan to the staff in Yosemite National Park, Ranger Anna Pigeon goes undercover as a waitress to determine why four young staff members have disappeared without a trace. Readers will smile at her challenge to live in a dorm with messy, teenage, party-loving roommates. Her clues take her on an overnight hike where she comes face to face with foulmouthed villains, and it becomes a fight for survival of the fittest against both man and nature. As Anna reviews her clues and ponders her next moves, Barr effectively summarizes the story for readers. Descriptions of the park scenery add to the enjoyment of the mystery. Although more vicious than the others in the series, this is a must purchase for Anna's fans.–Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Four young park workers have gone missing from Yellowstone, and park ranger Anna Pigeon is called in to go undercover. As she ingratiates herself with staff and speaks to park visitors, she hears rumors about a "goldmine." Surely there's no gold in "them thar hills," but Anna's ranger instincts kick in. Soon she's backpacking into the wilderness, where she endures what is certainly the toughest 72 hours of her life, physically as well as emotionally. And when it's over, she is still not sure she has solved the mystery. Anna draws on all her survival skills and moral courage to stay alive here, and Barr's plot allows for some intriguing complications before things draw to a close. But what's best is Anna herself: a smart, physically fit, vulnerable heroine in her middle years, who is still surprisingly ordinary. She loves her fiance, adores her pets, and respects and loves the parks, where she can breathe the great air and relish the spectacular scenery--after the criminals are on their way to jail. This is one of the best entries in a long-running series that seems to increase its audience with every outing. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Kirkus Reviews
Barr's trademark pleasures [are] evocative natural descriptions, mounting suspense, and Anna Pigeon's never-say-die spirit.

New York Daily News, February 8, 2004
Read it, and your nails will be in serious trouble.

Book Description
It's fall in the Sierra Mountains, and Anna Pigeon is slinging hash in Yosemite National Park's historic Ahwahnee Hotel. Four young people, all seasonal park employees, have disappeared, and two weeks of work by crack search-and-rescue teams have failed to turn up a single clue; investigators are unsure as to whether the four went AWOL for reasons of their own-or died in the park. Needing an out-of-park ranger to work undercover, Anna is detailed to dining-room duty; but after a week of waiting tables, she knows the missing employees are only the first indications of a sickness threatening the park.

Her twenty-something roommates give up their party-girl ways and panic; her new restaurant colleagues regard her with suspicion and fear. But when Anna's life is threatened and her temporary supervisor turns a deaf ear, she follows the scent of evil, taking a solo hike up a snowy trial to the high country, seeking answers. What waits for her is a nightmare of death and greed-and perhaps her final adventure.

About the Author
Nevada Barr is the award-winning author of eleven previous Anna Pigeon mysteries, including the New York Times bestsellers Flashback and Hunting Season, as well as Seeking Enlightenment . . . Hat by Hat, a work of nonfiction. She was most recently a ranger on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"It's fall in the Sierra Mountains, and Anna Pigeon is slinging hash in Yosemite National Park's historic Ahwahnee Hotel. Four young people, all seasonal park employees, have disappeared, and two weeks of work by crack search-and-rescue teams have failed to turn up a single clue; investigators are unsure as to whether the four went AWOL for reasons of their own - or died in the park. Needing an out-of-park ranger to work undercover, Anna is detailed to dining room duty; but after a week of waiting tables, she knows the missing employees are only the first indication of a sickness threatening the park." Her twenty-something roommates give up their party-girl ways and panic; her new restaurant colleagues regard her with suspicion and fear. Yet when Anna's life if threatened and her temporary supervisor turns a deaf ear, she follows the scent of evil, taking a solo hike up a snowy trial to the high country, seeking answers. What awaits her is a nightmare of death and greed - and perhaps her final adventure.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

Squeamish readers should probably stick to Park Service brochures about Yosemite. But High Country is guaranteed to keep the pages turning, and the stomach too. — Richard Lipez

New York Daily News

Read it, and your nails will be in serious trouble.

Publishers Weekly

The serene snow country suddenly turns deadly for Anna Pigeon in Barr's riveting 12th novel to feature the intrepid National Park Service ranger (after 2003's Flashback). On assignment to locate four young park employees who went missing in a fierce storm, the 50ish Anna is working undercover as a waitress at Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel, where she must deal not only with an exacting supervisor and a surly head chef but also share a dorm with 20-something roommates. Evoking the stunning beauty of the park in winter, Barr contrasts the relative safety of Yosemite Valley with the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains into which Anna treks in search of the missing kids. Danger crackles like ice on the frozen lake where she finds a partially submerged plane loaded with drugs. Attacked by vicious poachers, Anna flees into the absolute, terrifying darkness for an ordeal that will keep readers eagerly turning the pages. So well done is this nail-biting sequence that the resolution can come only as something of a letdown. Barr has a true gift for outdoor writing, using the lush snow as natural cover for the violent life in the wild as well as among the park's human custodians. Anyone contemplating a nice winter hike will think twice after entering the wilderness with Anna, but her fans always come back for more. (Feb. 9) FYI: Winner of both Agatha and Anthony awards, Barr is also the author of an inspirational memoir, Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat (2003). Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This latest installment in Barr's popular Anna Pigeon series (after Flashback and Hunting Season) finds the ranger undercover as a waitress at the famous Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Four seasonal workers have been missing for two weeks, and not even a professional rescue team can scrounge up a clue. Are they AWOL, or is it foul play? Anna waits tables, plays mom to a couple of twentysomething roommates, takes flak from the dining room manager, and deals with bullies before striking out on her own to figure out what has happened. The gossip among hotel staff and visitors is that there's a gold mine in the Sierra Mountains. Barr's even pace and deft characterizations will please series fans while winning her new readers. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/03.]-Nanci Milone Hill, Lucius Beebe Memorial Lib., Wakefield, MA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal