The Scent of Rain and Lightning » (Unabridged, 8 CDs)

Nancy Pickard is the creator of the acclaimed Jenny Cain mystery series. She has won the Anthony Award, two Macavity Awards, and two Agatha Awards for her novels. She is a three-time Edgar Award nominee, most recently for her first Marie Lightfoot mystery, The Whole Truth, which was a national bestseller. With Lynn Lott, Pickard co-authored Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path. She has been a national board member of the Mystery Writers of America, as well as the president of Sisters in Crime. She lives in Prairie Village, Kansas. Visit her website at www.nancypickardmysteries.com.

Written with the wisdom and grace devoted readers have come to expect from the award-winning author of The Virgin of Small Plains, here is a brilliantly moving tale of family, murder, and redemptive love.

One beautiful summer afternoon, Jody Linder, a young English teacher, 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 they have been gone almost all of Jody's life. The polished boots, pressed jeans, fresh white shirts, and Stetsons—her uncles' 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 Jody's father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared...

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio

…Pickard has the storytelling gift. Working with dramatic descriptions of the deep darkness of the plains and the pounding storms that turn the skies black, she offers a sober account of the cattle-ranching families who have survived for generations by keeping their secrets close and their guns handy.