In Nevada Barr's newest Anna Pigeon mystery, Liberty Falling, our heroine is quite out of her element. Unfortunately, the author seems to be out of her element as well. In the six previous mysteries featuring the tenacious park ranger, Anna has battled evildoers in places such as the West Texas back country, Lake Superior and Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. In the story just previous to this, Blind Descent, Barr placed her in Lechuguilla Caverns, a dark and unexplored maze near Carlsbad Caverns. (Even for a reader with no claustrophobic tendencies, Blind Descent is an awesome nailbiter.) But in this newest venture, we find Anna in the Big Apple. While it could be an interesting change of pace, the setting and meandering plot do Anna in. Let's face it Anna: you're not a city girl.

National Park Service Ranger Anna Pigeon is a middle-aged tomboy. She's a jeans and T-shirt kind of gal who prefers the outdoors to almost anything else. Smart, cynical and tough, her one downfall is that she is also human. While she wants to be steely, she is coming apart while facing the serious illness of her only close relative, her older sister Molly.

Psychiatrist Molly is another independent woman who has gone her own way, but those ways have caught up with her. Years of Scotch, cigarettes, poor diet, and a lot of work have put her heart in danger. While Molly lies in intensive care with numerous complications from bypass surgery, Anna realizes how close she is to losing the only person she is truly close to. To make matters even worse, Anna's ex-flame Frederick Stanton, a geeky FBI agent, appears on the scene. He is over Anna, and hopelessly in love with Molly!

While Anna is understandably overwhelmed by her sister's illness, she seeks refuge from the hospital with her friend and fellow NPS employee Patsy. Her cottage on Liberty Island allows Anna many privileges in exploring both the Statue of Liberty and the ruins of the buildings on Ellis Island. The decaying hospitals, offices and quarters offer Anna a chance to be her adventurous self. In due time, of course, Anna witnesses a death.

A young girl tumbles from the Statue of Liberty and Anna is one of the first on the scene. Did she jump? Was she pushed? Soon there is another death, this time of a Park Service employee, and Anna becomes suspicious. The eerie remains of a once bustling complex, now overgrown with vegetation and crumbling, offer a clever setting for Nevada Barr's new tale. Unfortunately, the clever setting is not enough.

While the plots of Nevada Barr's mysteries are never neat and predictable, this one seems almost aimless at times. As Anna travels back and forth between the city hospital and Liberty and Ellis Islands, she hates almost every minute. Depressed, worried and even panicky, this Anna is not much fun to be around. Even as Anna begins to tie the (very) loose threads together and uncovers a sinister plot, her heart doesn't seem to be in this adventure.

Unlike her previous mysteries featuring the admirable (if sometimes grumpy) Anna Pigeon, Nevada Barr seems a bit lost in Liberty Falling, like Anna is out of place in New York City. Just as Anna can't wait to return to her wide open spaces of Colorado, her fans will be eager to see her back at home, too.

--Martha Moore