The Scent of Rain and Lightning

I have never been a huge reader of rural America novels for I am a true city boy and I just never found there was much I could relate to. Until this novel that is. What a surprise and pleasure this book turned out to be. We are taken to day to day life in rural Kansas in 1986. The Linders are the prize residents of the community due to their farms and moral good standing. The story slowly and effectively builds to the awful night that is what this whole novel is based on. Son Hugh-Jay is murdered and his wife goes missing. There is a suspect everyone believes is guilty and he is put in prison. We then jump to 2009 when Hugh-Jay's daughter Jody returns to Rose Kansas to be a schoolteacher and live in her family home. But she encounters tremendous pain as the man accused of killing her father is let out of jail on many technicalities. This is the basic plot but what makes this story ring true is its characters. They are not developed merely to carry the plot. We get to know all of each character - the good, the bad and the ugly. Some characters you will like, some you won't, but they are all very believable. Motives for their actions are always understood whether the reader agrees or not. Billy Crosby was the man accused of the horrific crimes and his son Collin plays a huge part in the story. Though this story is indeed a murder mystery it is more a deep character study of believable characters that totally ring true. Reading this book is becoming a part of the lives of them all. And life in rural farming Kansas rings very true as well. It's as if you can smell each piece of hay and drop of rain and understand each body ache due to the strenuous farm work. How the author weaves daily life and tribulations with a murder mystery is brilliant. How the story evolves is at times breathtaking. Do yourself a favor and introduce yourself to the Linders and all the other folk of Rose Kansas. It will be a trip you will never forget. Highly recommended.

Is Nancy Pickard's latest book a literary novel with an interesting mystery, or is it a mystery with unusual depth? I am not sure, but I AM sure that it is a great read! The basic story is that young Jody Linder has returned to her small ranching town of Rose, Kansas, to teach English. Soon after she moves into the family home that she inherited from her parents at the age of three after her father was murdered and her mother disappeared, her uncles give her the unwelcome news that Billy Crosby, who had been convicted of killing her father and was presumed to have killed her mother, has been released from prison and given a new trial thanks to the efforts of his son Collin, who was 7 when his father went to prison and who is now an attorney. The book then shifts between present-day 2009 and 1986, the time leading up to and following the murders. The suspense is handled beautifully. The reader becomes aware of the murders in Chapter 1, in which her uncles tell Jody about Billy Crosby's impending release. In the next section, which switches to 1986, the reader is introduced to both the likeable and the less attractive members of the Linder family. I was caught up both by the interesting relationships within the clan and by the growing suspense of "When is this murder going to happen and how?" "Am I going to learn if Crosby really did it?" The story then turns into an exploration of the effects of this brutal event on the Linder and Crosby families and, indeed, the whole town. The suspense is provided by trying to decide "whodunit" , and Pickard gives us a number of reasonable possibilities. In addition to a well-told tale of relationships and a satisfying puzzle, Kansan Pickard gives us a nicely painted picture of a Kansas ranching community, which I found intriguing, being accustomed to associating ranching with Texas or other more western states (I know---Kansas stockyards, etc., but who stops to think about where the stock came from?). Pickard does all these things well, but the ultimate test of a mystery, to me, is the denouement. Is it credible, and did she keep me guessing? I would answer Yes to both questions. Since Ms. Pickard is regularly nominated for Edgar Awards, The Scent of Rain and Lightning will probably be shelved in the Mystery section. If so, that is a shame because both mystery buffs and general readers should enjoy this book, and it deserves the broader audience.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning is a very good read. I have read all Nancy Pickard's books and they get better and better. This book like many of her books is set in Kansas.Jody Linder was brought up by her grandparents, the rich and powerful Hugh and Annabelle Linder, after her father Hugh-Jay was murdered and her mother disappeared when Jody was a toddler. The murder was blamed on Billy Crosby. a ranch hand who had a grudge against the Linders. The book starts with the news that Billy Crosby is coming back to town for a new trial with his son, now a lawyer defending him. From there the book flashbacks from the murder to the present. Many things are not what they seem and in the end, the real murderer is revealed. I was surprised because the murderer was to me the least likely suspect. The book is a very enjoyable read, read either as a novel or murder mystery.

I recommend this book very highly. Jody Linder is shocked and horrified to find that Billy Crosby, the man convicted of killing her father and probably her mother, is out of prison and going to be retried. She was three when the murder happened and knows only what she has been told by her family. Billy's son, Collin, was seven at the time, and became an attorney when he grew up. He convinced a judge that Billy was unfairly convicted. Jody discovered that many people had thought that Billy was too drunk to do the murder, but were perfectly happy to see him go to prison. He was very hot-tempered, had a chip on his shoulder, was a drunkard and a nasty drunk at that, a wife abuser, and always felt that he didn't do anything wrong. The townspeople are uneasy that he is out of prison and back in town. A lot of history is uncovered, and you finally discover exactly what happened that night years earlier. Nancy Pickard writes great stories. I've never read one that disappointed me.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard was the best novel I've read in a long time. The first couple of pages grabbed me--there was no reading half the book before I decided I liked it. Pickard writes in an easy style about people and life in Kansas, but it could be any rural/ranching setting. The characters were described so perfectly that I felt like I grew up with them. This is a murder mystery, but it's definitely not your typical who-done-it. The plot unfolds gently--no harsh, sharp twists and turns. It's also a love story and a story of a close-knit family. It has everything but nothing is contrived; it's all very natural and believable. I think the best way to describe the book is that it's a gentle, easy story about some ungentle events. I can understand why Pickard has received so many awards. She is a great American author; in my opinion on the same level as Twain and Steinbeck. This book is a MUST READ.