No Word from Winifred

Cross presents a welcome addition to her mystery series (Death in a Tenured Position, Poetic Justice, etc.), featuring Professor Kate Fansler, feminist and sleuth. In Kate's brother Larry's law office, says her niece Leighton, something odd is going on: Charlotte Lucas, a word processor in-putter, has vanished. In addition, the legatee of one of the firm's clients has also disappeared. The former is easily found, but the latter, a woman named Winifred Ashby, who is somehow related to the famous, now-dead English author Charlotte Stanton, is more elusive. The reclusive Winifred had been serving as ""hired man'' on a New England farm until she went to England in connection with a will, a trip she neither completed nor returned from. Why has no one heard from Winifredis she, as Kate feels ``in my bones'' dead? This entertaining and highly literate novel is peopled with strong women and other interesting characters, and is rich with ideas, though at times the plot can be confusing. Kate Fansler, who can on occasion be a bit stuffy, is not at all so here. (May 29)