Yes, the riveting "Trailed" explores what happened to two hikers whose mutilated bodies were discovered at a campsite in Shenandoah National Park in 1996. But Kathryn Miles' Edgar Award finalist, now in paperback, also looks at why it's difficult for people, especially women, to feel safe in some of our most beautiful places.
Julie Williams, a St. Cloud, Minnesota, native, and Lollie Winans met via Woodswomen Inc., a Minneapolis-based adventure club. Miles identifies reasons their murders weren't thoroughly investigated — a suspect was identified early, despite contrary evidence, and investigators seemed skittish about the women's relationship — but also gets to the bottom of safety issues in national parks. She finds that, because parks report incidents separately and don't always communicate with each other, there's no way to find out how safe natural places are (even as the bodies of Williams and Winans were being discovered, rangers were telling nearby hikers there was no danger).
With help from investigators, hiking experts and those who knew the women, Miles identifies a likely culprit. But, she warns, solving crimes in remote areas is especially difficult (How does one secure a crime scene that encompasses a forest?) and little is being done to make it easier.
____
Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders
By: Kathryn Miles.
Publisher: Algonquin Books, 320 pages, $17.99.
____
