The Scent of Rain and Lightning: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

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Published
Random House Publishing Group , 2010.
Status
Available from Libby/OverDrive

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Titles may be read via Libby/OverDrive. Libby/OverDrive is a free app that allows users to borrow and read digital media from their local library, including ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines. Users can access Libby/OverDrive through the Libby/OverDrive app or online. The app is available for Android and iOS devices.
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Description

One beautiful summer afternoon, from her bedroom window on the second floor, Jody Linder is unnerved to see her three uncles parking their pickups in front of her parents’ house—or what she calls her parents’ house, even though Jay and Laurie Jo Linder have been gone almost all of Jody’s life. “What is this fearsome thing I see?” the young high school English teacher whispers, mimicking Shakespeare. Polished boots, pressed jeans, fresh white shirts, Stetsons—her uncles’ suspiciously clean visiting clothes are a disturbing sign.The three bring shocking news: The man convicted of murdering Jody’s father is being released from prison and returning to the small town of Rose, Kansas. It has been twenty-six years since that stormy night when, as baby Jody lay asleep in her crib, her father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared, presumed dead. Neither the protective embrace of Jody’s uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents’ ranch could erase the pain caused by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night.Now Billy Crosby has been granted a new trial, thanks in large part to the efforts of his son, Collin, a lawyer who has spent most of his life trying to prove his father’s innocence. As Jody lives only a few doors down from the Crosbys, she knows that sooner or later she’ll come face-to-face with the man who she believes destroyed her family. What she doesn’t expect are the heated exchanges with Collin. Having grown up practically side by side in this very small town, Jody and Collin have had a long history of carefully avoiding each other’s eyes. Now Jody discovers that underneath their antagonism is a shared sense of loss that no one else could possibly understand. As she revisits old wounds, startling revelations compel her to uncover the dangerous truth about her family’s tragic past.Engrossing, lyrical, and suspenseful, The Scent of Rain and Lightning captures the essence of small-town America—its heartfelt intimacy and its darkest secrets—where through struggle and hardship people still dare to hope for a better future. For Jody Linder, maybe even love.

More Details

Format
eBook
Street Date
05/04/2010
Language
English
ISBN
9780345516633

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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* A decades-old mystery is solved and a woman's haunting questions put to rest in Pickard's latest thriller. When she was just three years old, Jody Linder lost both parents in one night, when her father, Hugh Jay eldest son of the wealthiest rancher in the small town of Rose, Kansas was killed and her mother, Laurie, vanished. Raised by grandparents, Hugh Senior and Annabelle Linder, and with loving support from three uncles, Jody spends years collecting human detritus around the area's towering Testament Rocks, where authorities once searched for clues to Laurie's disappearance. Jody's world is rocked 23 years later when Billy Crosby, the vicious drunk convicted of her father's murder on circumstantial evidence, is released for a new trial; his return to town brings events to a head. In her second stand-alone (after The Virgin of Small Plains, 2006), Pickard shows her storytelling skills, weaving elements of deception, revenge, and romance into a novel with full-bodied characters who deal with tragedy as best they can; Annabelle Linder's encounter with Crosby's wife is particularly moving. From an award-winning author, this is engrossing fiction with an eminently satisfying denouement.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Tavia Gilbert demonstrates remarkable range in her narration of Pickard's spine-tingling thriller set in a rural Kansas ranch community, where mysterious secrets surrounding the wealthy and prominent Linder family come to light in chilling detail. Gilbert's performance as convicted murderer-and town pariah-Billy Crosby crackles with pentup rage. The scene in which protagonist Jody Linder-a 20-something woman who lost her parents in a crime spree for which Crosby was imprisoned two decades earlier-encounters the newly paroled Crosby in the parking lot of a local tavern demonstrates Gilbert's remarkable ability to heighten the suspense through vocal nuances and pacing. Gilbert also delivers an especially winning turn in her portrayal of Jody as a little girl too young to understand the sordid events around her. An edge-of-your seat listen. A Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 8). (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

Pretty young schoolteacher Jody Linder doesn't stray too far from small-town Rose, KS, returning to teach at her own high school. Jody is emotionally fragile, yet she's stubborn enough to live in the same house where her father was murdered 23 years earlier-the same night her mother vanished, also presumed dead. Raised by her grandparents and her uncles, Jody's believed their side of the story all her life. Town drunk Billy Crosby was convicted-wrongfully perhaps-of the murder. The bombshell that Billy is being released from prison opens up Jody's personal floodgates. She suddenly realizes how little she knows about her town and her family's motives. New revelations begin a thaw in Jody's heart and unleash in her a new determination to find the real killer. Verdict Stylistically similar with flashbacks, a determined young heroine, and a snappy twist, this novel is a worthy successor to the author's much-acclaimed The Virgin of Small Plains. Pickard's superb storytelling transports the reader into the characters' world, making all too real their dilemmas, their choices, and their willingness to believe the unlikely. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/10; library marketing.]-Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* A decades-old mystery is solved and a woman's haunting questions put to rest in Pickard's latest thriller. When she was just three years old, Jody Linder lost both parents in one night, when her father, Hugh Jay—eldest son of the wealthiest rancher in the small town of Rose, Kansas—was killed and her mother, Laurie, vanished. Raised by grandparents, Hugh Senior and Annabelle Linder, and with loving support from three uncles, Jody spends years collecting human detritus around the area's towering Testament Rocks, where authorities once searched for clues to Laurie's disappearance. Jody's world is rocked 23 years later when Billy Crosby, the vicious drunk convicted of her father's murder on circumstantial evidence, is released for a new trial; his return to town brings events to a head. In her second stand-alone (after The Virgin of Small Plains, 2006), Pickard shows her storytelling skills, weaving elements of deception, revenge, and romance into a novel with full-bodied characters who deal with tragedy as best they can; Annabelle Linder's encounter with Crosby's wife is particularly moving. From an award-winning author, this is engrossing fiction with an eminently satisfying denouement.

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Library Journal Reviews

She's a Macavity, Anthony, and Agatha Award winner and a four-time Edgar nominee, but Pickard seems to have moved beyond the mystery genre with recent books like The Virgin of Small Plains. In her new work, English teacher Jody Linder discovers that the man convicted of murdering her father is being released from prison and is returning to town with his attorney son to establish his innocence. Expect interest. Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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LJ Express Reviews

Pretty young schoolteacher Jody Linder doesn't stray too far from small-town Rose, KS, returning to teach at her own high school. Jody is emotionally fragile, yet she's stubborn enough to live in the same house where her father was murdered 23 years earlier-the same night her mother vanished, also presumed dead. Raised by her grandparents and her uncles, Jody's believed their side of the story all her life. Town drunk Billy Crosby was convicted-wrongfully perhaps-of the murder. The bombshell that Billy is being released from prison opens up Jody's personal floodgates. She suddenly realizes how little she knows about her town and her family's motives. New revelations begin a thaw in Jody's heart and unleash in her a new determination to find the real killer. Verdict Stylistically similar with flashbacks, a determined young heroine, and a snappy twist, this novel is a worthy successor to the author's much-acclaimed The Virgin of Small Plains. Pickard's superb storytelling transports the reader into the characters' world, making all too real their dilemmas, their choices, and their willingness to believe the unlikely. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/10; library marketing.]-Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

With exquisite sensitivity, Edgar-finalist Pickard (The Virgin of Small Plains) probes a smoldering cold case involving the Linders, a cattle ranching family that's ruled the small, tight-knit community of Rose, Kans., for generations. One stormy night in 1986, someone shoots Hugh-Jay Linder dead, and Laurie, his discontented young wife, disappears. The authorities arrest Billy Crosby, a disgruntled ex-employee of High Rock Ranch with a drunk-driving record, in whose abandoned truck Laurie's bloodied sundress is found. In 2009, Billy's lawyer son, Collin, who's certain of his dad's innocence, secures Billy's release from prison and a new trial. Father and son return to Rose, where 25-year-old Jody Linder, the victims' daughter, works as a teacher. Collin's pursuit of justice will force Jody and other members of her family, including her three uncles and her grandparents, to finally confront what really happened on that long ago fatal night and deal with the consequences. (May)

[Page 32]. Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Pickard, N. (2010). The Scent of Rain and Lightning: A Novel . Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Pickard, Nancy. 2010. The Scent of Rain and Lightning: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Pickard, Nancy. The Scent of Rain and Lightning: A Novel Random House Publishing Group, 2010.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Pickard, N. (2010). The scent of rain and lightning: a novel. Random House Publishing Group.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Pickard, Nancy. The Scent of Rain and Lightning: A Novel Random House Publishing Group, 2010.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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