Track of the Cat, by Nevada Barr

Track of the Cat, by Nevada Barr, is the first in a series of park ranger Anna Pigeon mysteries. In many ways, Barr is the Dick Francis of the American mystery novel. All of Francis' books had something to do with horses, and all of them had a hero who, the final chapter, was invariably beat up or had to fight for his life against overwhelming odds before coming out triumphant.

Such is the case with Anna Pigeon. No pampered city woman, detecting from her bed and breakfast, antique gallery, or catering firm. No, she's an outdoorswoman, who strides confidently in her milieu, with the strength of body and of will to defeat the powerful villains who commit murder in a National Park anywhere near her.

In Track of the Cat, we first get to know Anna. She prefers animals and the outdoors to people and civilization. She drinks too much, to dull the pain from the loss of her husband, who had died in a traffic accident years before. She also has a sister, whom we only ever hear on the phone, who is also a psychiatrist. But mostly there's Anna...and why she hasn't been given a TV series of her own sometime in the last 20 years boggles the mind!

In Track of the Cat, the park service is attempting to introduce the endangered mountain lion back into the park. However, the program is jeopardized when Anna finds the body of a fellow park ranger, ostensibly killed by a mountain lion. As hunters fan out to get the man-eater, Anna tries desperately to prove that the villain they're looking for is a two-legged one.

Sample paragraphs:

Anna fished teo of the soggy lemon slices from her water bottle, mashed them to a pulp, and rubbed the pulp into her wet handkerchief. Tying it over her mouth and nose, she fervently hoped it would cut the stench of death down to a tolerable level.

Next she took the camera she'd been using on the lion transect and hung it around her neck. Switching on the headlamp, though it was not yet dark enough to do her much good, she waded into the saw grass.

The camera helped. It gave her distance. Through its lens she was able to see more clearly. Sheila Drury was parcelled out into photographic units. As sheclicked, Anna made mental notes: no scrapes, no bruises, no twisted limbs. Drury probably hadn't fallen.

Track of the Cat --Guadalupe Mountains National Park (1993)
A Superior Death --Isle Royale National Park (1994)
Ill Wind --Mesa Verde National Park (1995)
Firestorm --Lassen Volcanic National Park (1996)
Endangered Species --Cumberland Island National Seashore (1997)
Blind Descent --Carlsbad Caverns National Park (1998)
Liberty Falling --Statue of Liberty National Monument (1999)
Deep South --Natchez Trace Parkway (2000)
Blood Lure --Glacier National Park (2001)
Hunting Season --Natchez Trace Parkway February (2002)
Flashback --Dry Tortugas National Park February (2003)
High Country --Yosemite National Park February (2004)
Hard Truth --Rocky Mountain National Park March (2005)
Winter Study --Isle Royale National Park April (2008)
Borderline --Big Bend National Park April (2009)

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Nevada Barr:

Nevada Barr (born March 1, 1952, Yerington, Nevada) is an American author best known for her Anna Pigeon series of mystery novels set in national parks in the United States. Barr won an Agatha Award and Anthony Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat. She lives in New Orleans.

Although Barr was born in Nevada, she was named not after her state of birth but after a character in one of her father’s favorite books.[Interestingly, neither Wikipedia nor the source from which they got this information bothers to give the title of the book. Wouldn't they think fans of Barr would want to knwo that, also?]

She grew up in Johnstonville, California, and finished college at the University of California, Irvine. With a masters degree in drama, she pursued a career in theater,TV, films, commercials and voice work for almost two decades. When her then-director husband changed careers and became interested in the environmental movement she began working as a seasonal park ranger in the summer.

Barr created the Anna Pigeon series while working at her second seasonal job in Guadalupe Mountains National Park,Texas. Pigeon is a law enforcement ranger with the United States National Park Service. The books in the series take place in various national parks, where Pigeon solves murders that are often related to natural resource issues.

Barr's first permanent Park Ranger job was on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. She resigned to focus on writing when her books began to achieve commercial success.