by Nevada Barr, 2001
Anna Pigeon, District Ranger, is working in Glacier National Park with Joan Rand, a National Park Service bear expert, and Rory, a young man interested in bears. They are attacked at night in their camp by a bear, which they don’t see, but which destroys their tents. Rory runs away. Anna and Joan pack out to another camp where a murdered woman is discovered. Turns out it’s Rory’s step-mom, Carolyn Van Slyke. Carolyn was a violent woman who abused Rory’s dad, Les, and put him in the hospital several times. Anna investigates the murder, suspects are Rory, Les, and a man named Bill McCaskill. It turns out a beautiful, huge Alaskan grizzly bear named Balthazar, was the one who killed Carolyn, with a swipe to the head. She was wearing Bill McCaskill’s army jacket, who was trying to capture Balthazar and sell him for trophy hunting in Canada. A young boy, 15 years old, Geoffrey Micou, had raised Balthazar and trained him for a Florida adventure park. The park had closed and Geoffrey was taking Balthazar to learn how to live in the wild. Good mystery – page-turner.