Grizzly, a Mystery

English prof Lee Squires, fresh from her crime-solving escapades in Trail of Murder, heads west to help save the ranch-in this case, the J-E (Journey's End), a Montana dude ranch she visited as a child. Lee has been summoned to serve as fill-in cook while ranch owners Dave and Trudi Fife woo four Japanese executives who might buy into their cash-poor spread. The charmed businessmen (``Like City Slickers... We are Billy Crystal!'') might be less ecstatic if they knew about the decaying, multilated corpse Lee has found in the woods. Adding to the ensuing complications is the presence of Lee's bunkmate-freelance journalist Monica Leeds, who, determined to squeeze a story out of the ranch, acts like she's hot on the trail of a Pulitzer. Although Lee is an engaging, credibly drawn protagonist, the real star here is the Western landscape. With its quirky mix of inhabitants, the setting functions as the novel's central ``character,'' giving this mystery a driving complexity. (Nov.)