Bum Steer

When Cat Benet inexplicably bequeaths his Kansas ranch to a civic foundation on the condition that his family be barred from the land, Jenny Cain, the foundation's director turned sleuth, goes to meet Benet, only to find him murdered. ``Pickard writes fluidly on family ties . . . while her appealing detective displays warmth, intelligence and a social conscience as she perseveres in her search for the truth,'' commented PW. (Jan.)