A couple of years ago I read Nancy Pickard’s The Virgin of the Small Plains after a friend recommended it to me. I really enjoyed it as it was a mystery though not a standard detective story or cozy. So I thought I’d give another of her books, The Scent of Rain and Lightning a try.
It’s the story of a murder in a small, Kansas town which sends the lives of a wealthy Kansas ranching family into turmoil. And while the premise is good, and Ms. Pickard is extremely adept at creating detailed imagery of setting that I enjoy, and the mystery kept me guessing, the story felt awkward to me and left me wishing she had spun the tale differently.
You see, she starts out focusing on her female protagonist, which was great, we’re in her head, she’s got issues, it’s all fine. Then, after the reveal, we’re flung into the past where we get all the backstory all the way to the midpoint of the novel. Well, that’s fine, but we’re seeing that backstory from a half-dozen different viewpoints which I always find disconcerting and doesn’t really let me bond with any one character. By the time we get back to the “present” we’re on a forty-eight hour whirlwind in the lives of our protagonist, where things happen that now seem out of character from the women who the author introduced us to in the beginning. Furthermore, once we’re led to believe the mystery won’t be solved, we’re led on another whirlwind wrap-up through yet other viewpoints so we can find resolution to the mystery. It’s as if the author got to the same point, and realized she never revealed the mystery and decided to do it in a rushed fashion. I wish the author just stayed with her main protagonist and let the entire story reveal itself through her eyes.
All that said, it was a fine beach read and if you can get it for a deal or out of the library, I would recommend it but not at the $10 price tag currently on Amazon.