Boar Island

The newest in the "Anna Pigeon" series by Nevada Barr is set on an island off the coast of Maine adjacent to Acadia National Park. Since Hal and I will be headed there in a couple of weeks, I was especially interested, although Nevada Barr has always been a favorite (see previous blog on Destroyer Angel). Anna's goddaughter Elizabeth is being cyberstalked and bullied after she is grabbed and fondled by her best friend's husband. At first Elizabeth thinks her friend has started the smear campaign, but when Anna and Heath (Elizabeth's adoptive mother) confront the family they deny everything. Anna is suddenly assigned to be acting Chief Ranger at Acadia while their regular Chief is off fighting fires. Heath's pediatric surgeon aunt, Gwen, comes up with the brilliant idea to go visit friends who own Boar Island and get Elizabeth et al. away from bad situation in Boulder.
In a thread that will soon tie in, we learn about Ranger Denise Castle, who is still seething about being dumped after 11 years together with Superintendent Peter Barnes. Now Peter is married and has a daughter, after forcing Denise to have an abortion. Denise discovers she has a twin; they were separated and put up for adoption at birth. Denise lived a horror story of foster homes until finding her place in the National Park Service. Sister Paulette has been living with an abusive husband since she was 16, who beat her during both pregnancies, causing miscarriages. Denise begins to formulate a grand plan for them to get away and be together, starting with killing Paulette's husband.
Meanwhile, the stalker appears to have followed Elizabeth to Maine and is now demanding an in-person meeting in order to stop the harassment. Anna is pulled to investigate both the murder of Paulette's husband, even though it is technically outside her jurisdiction, and so becomes a target for Denise.  It is a fast-paced, tense story line, but not a lot of description of the park, which was a disappointment. Still, you can't go wrong with this series.