BEAR BAIT by Pamela Beason (Berkley)

This is an interesting, well-written environmental mystery featuring Summer "Sam" Weston. Like Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon, Sam is a single, mid-thirties, self assured woman with an environmental nterest and the ability to go anywhere and do anything. She is a wilderness writer who, in this second outing, is working at Olympia National Park, hired as a temp by the National Park Service to do a usage plan for a new addition to the park.

Everyone is not happy to have the federal government taking the land. Trouble follows with hunters, workers, and environmentalists causing problems. Sam not only finds a body in a burned area, but she also has near death experiences as she in investigates ways she shouldn't.

The story includes charactrs similar to those in a Barr novel, including relatives, confused teenagers, questionable co-workers, and an on-again, off-again romantic interest. The romance involves an FBI agent who just happens to be working in this area who provides both investigative assistance as well as some intimate enjoyment.

As the title implies, there is a bear that Sam is trying to protect which provides her an opportunity to show her love of nature and appreciation of the wilderness and its inhabitants.

This is a good story, interesting, exciting, romantic, and intelligent—-with an appreciation of the wild world and the strength of a real outdoor woman. If you enjoy the writing of Nevada Barr, as I do, you will enjoy this series. I look forward to Undercurrents, which is set in the Galapagos Islands.

--Rodney Vashaw

FTC Disclosure--This book was provided by the publisher.