The Scent of Rain and Lightning

Starred review from March 8, 2010
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.

Starred review from August 30, 2010
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).