“Winter Study” ($24.95, Penguin Group) isn’t going to be on my list of all-time favorite Nevada Barr mysteries, but it’s hard to complain about yet another entertaining and engaging tale from one of the best writers in the biz. Barr used to be a restaurant critic, a National Park Service ranger and an actress, and she never fails to employ something from those experiences in her insightful explorations of human nature and relationships through her heroine, park ranger Anna Pigeon, as she goes from park to park solving crimes and mentally tossing off hilarious one-liners about how annoying and ridiculous folks can be. “Winter Study,” No. 14 in the series, is set at the little-visited Isle Royale National Park, an island in Lake Superior, Mich., and its focus is a wolf study in jeopardy. Like Barr’s other books, it’s a terrific look at a park and takes some well-deserved whacks at the Park Service and the government in general. But don’t start with this one — if you haven’t been properly introduced to Barr, “Track of the Cat” is the one that started it all. Kyle Wagner
