1st book 'o the year.

 I finished my first resolution book of the year. The book is Hard Truth, by Nevada Barr.

If you like fluffy cozy mysteries with sweet little old ladies, humor, and sweetness...

This is not that kind of book.

Blurb from the back cover:

"Just days after marrying Sheriff Paul Davidson, Anna Pigeon moves to Colorado to assume her new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park. When two of three children who had gone missing from a religious retreat reappear, Anna's investigation brings her face-to-face with a paranoid sect- and unspeakable evil..."

If you've not read this series, Anna Pigeon works at various National Parks, and quite often the park itself becomes a character in the story.  She is, as mentioned, a park ranger, and so deals with crimes in the park.  She has a sister who is a psychiatrist, that lives in New York, and Anna also has a dog and cat at her home base.  

This was a pretty intense story, including a climber that had become a paraplegic, girls that had been violently abused, animal abuse, religious cults, psychopaths, and of course, murder. And Anna is caught up in the melee, as well. As is a few of her fellow rangers. 

I appreciate Nevada Barr's writing, she has a strong female lead, who is as apt to go out in the woods for her info, than to be on the phone or computer.  And she is very good at making connections between things she's seen, and heard.  

When I have read other books of hers, I don't always get the bad guy. Barr is quite good at having her character go through the steps and information she used to solve the crime.  

This book had me wrong a couple times, and it really took Anna's explanation to parse out the bad guy. (In this book, monster might fit better!)

I rate it a very good read, if you like heavy duty stuff, and very straight forward opinions on topics from religion to restoring animals to former range areas.