At a difficult and sad time in his family life, A. B. Guthrie, Jr., turned for surcease to reading western and whodunit novels. In his autobiography, "The Blue Hen's Chick" (also a Bison Book), he touches on that moment when he realized he could write as well as or better than the published plot-spinners. "What about a mystery and cow-country myth in combination?" he mused, "So far as I could recall, the two had never been blended. All right. I'd blend them."

The result was his first novel, "Murders at Moon Dance," appearing in 1943. It was an audacious debut with bold characterizations and a sharply etched, atmospheric setting The dusty town of Moon Dance, smacked down between barren mountains and a badland named the Freezeout, would also be a back-drop for "The Big It and Other Stories" (1960). In Guthrie's hand, raw vitality replaces the woodenness of much writing in the genre, and unexpected grace notes in the verbal rhythms suggest the author of "The Big Sky" (1947) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Way West" (1949).

A. B. Guthrie Jr. is best known for his historical fiction; his classic novel The Way West earned him a Pulitzer Prize. Guthrie had the ability to create memorable yet believable characters, was skillful in his use of narration and point of view, and possessed a notable flair for describing the landscape of the American West. It is unsurprising, perhaps, that Guthrie also had a deft talent for short fiction. The Big It and Other Stories collects his diverse shorter tales, written between 1946 and 1960. Often relying on a few recorded facts as a springboard for his lively and sympathetic imagination, Guthrie explores many of his favorite themes-communion between man and nature, the test of manhood, resilience in the face of new or dangerous situations-with a sure and steady hand that always holds the reader's interest. Full of humor and excitement, The Big It and Other Stories showcases Guthrie's art in a new genre and spotlights the love for the West and for westerners that is the hallmark of his writing.

The temperature in Midbury, Montana, is hovering at 40 below zero, wolves are howling, and the town is smoldering with a strip-mining debate that quickly exceeds the bounds of polite discussion. The ranchers are not about to see their land destroyed, and as the miners' trailers roll into town the tension rises. Sheriff Chick Charleston has the task of calming the hotheads on both sides and making sure the law is carried out. His earnest sidekick, Jason Beard, is back with him, but the department is short-handed and Jase is instructed to find another deputy. It says something about Charleston's problems that the likeliest candidate is bantam Ike Doolittle, up before Judge Bolster on a charge you wouldn't believe if we told you. Ritual cattle killings and environmental strip-mining hearings pale in significance when a murder takes place at the Chicken Shack, the miners' hangout, launching Sheriff Charleston and Jase on a new mystery chase that will keep readers guessing.

Small-town Montana sheriff Chick Charleston and his highly educated sidekick, Jason Beard, star again in this fourth installation of Guthrie's Montana murder mysteries. This time Jason is helping the sheriff solve the murder of a call girl, and his first step involves him in the unwelcome necessity of interviewing the local madam, whose view of the town is extensive and rather unusual. It also involves him with various drifters and cranks, as well as with the uncooperative police of the neighboring oil town of Overthrust. Weaving a story set against a broad western landscape-from the raw and cheerful locales of the Bar Star and The Gusher to the grand, wide-open spaces-Guthrie's touch is unerring.

Not many people in Midbury especially liked F. Y. Grimsley, a rancher with twenty thousand acres and five hundred head of cattle. Still, when Grimsley is found dead on his back doorstep with a mysterious gash on his head, Chief Chick Charleston and his crew have to use their dusty detective skills to root out his killer. They are aided by Deputy Jason Beard, who, though he grew up in Midbury, has been away for two years at college, waiting to go out into the "real world." In their small Montana community, Charleston and Beard must conduct their investigations delicately, ignoring local prejudice, sifting through gossip and speculation, enduring the pressures of higher-ups, dealing with some less-than-savory characters, and eliciting information from those who would prefer not to talk. And, not surprisingly, things get worse before they get better. A second body is discovered, and relations between the sheriff, the Indian reservation, and the town deteriorate until finding the murderer becomes more than just a matter of enforcing the law--it becomes crucial to keeping the peace in this small ranching community. With an entertaining cast of characters and a vivid sense of Montana ranch land, "The Genuine Article" is a page-turning mystery of surprising warmth and humor.

After Buster Hogue is shot at the annual town picnic, plenty of motives appear, but no clues point to the sniper. A lot of people had reason to dislike Hogue or even to wish him dead because of personal and unhappy experience, but grudges don't count in the absence of evidence. Chick Charleston, the small-town Montana sheriff, has had no experience with this kind of case, the county not having been inclined to homicidal endeavors. Neither does his county office have the gadgets to ferret out the criminal. But he has patience, persistence, a sense of humor, and a sharp understanding of human nature. He also has a keen assistant in seventeen-year-old Jason Beard, pitcher for the Midbury baseball team and amateur detective, who takes notes and acts as Watson to Charleston's Holmes. In the violent and surprising finale, young Jase plays a saving hand. There is humor in these pages, even earthy hilarity, but at no cost to mystery and suspense. Against the western background he knows so well, A. B. Guthrie Jr. has created a very human and believable sleuth in Chick Charleston, and in Jason Beard a singularly engaging narrator, whose accounts of local characters such as Loose Lancaster, Doc Yak, and old Mrs. Jenkins are guaranteed to entertain the reader.

"It was a fine country to grow up in. To find riches, a boy had only to go outside," writes A. B. Guthrie, Jr., aobut his childhood in Montana early in the twentieth century. This autobiography was originally published in 1965 when he was sixty-four and still had miles to go. It recounts lively adventures and reflects on a career that brought fame for "The Big Sky" (1947) and led to the Pulitzer Prize for "The Way West" (1949).

In an afterword David Petersen, who edited "Big Sky, Fair Land: The Environmental Essays of A. B. Guthrie, Jr." (1988), describes the last twenty-five years of Guthrie's life. The world-famous author died in 1991 at the age of ninety.

In the latest in his series of light-hearted stories, A. B. Guthrie transplants Midbury, Montana, sleuth Chick Charleston to a brand-new setting, a quiet English village in the Cotswolds. Chick and his wife, Geeta, are vacationing at the Ram's Head Inn, a quaint hotel in beautiful Upper Beechwood, where Geeta plans to trace her ancestors, but when an unpopular guest checks out early with a knife in his back, Chick gets involved in the search for the killer. Accustomed to the authority of a badge, Chick unfortunately can only assist with the investigation being run by Detective Chief Inspector Fred Perkins and his vindictive supervisor, Superintendent Hawley, whose style of police work doesn't always agree with Chick's. But Chick's Montana experience and good common sense serve him well as he unravels more than one English mystery. Full of the quirky characters and dry wit for which Guthrie is famous, "Murder in the Cotswolds" is a welcome addition to the series that the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" has called "just about perfect of its kind."