The Scent of Rain and Lightning

The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard is set in a fictional, small Kansas town in 1986 and 2009. At the center of the book is the Linder family, Mother Annabelle and father Hugh senior, their three grown sons and one daughter.

The Linders are influential, rich owners of a large cattle ranch. Granddaughter Jody is 26 in 2009 and planning to teach school in the fall. One pleasant summer afternoon she looks out her bedroom window to see her three uncles coming up her front walk. They've come to tell Jody that Billy Crosby, the man convicted of her father's murder in 1986 is being set free. Jody's mother Laurie disappeared the same night her father was killed.

Billy Crosby's son Collin became a lawyer and is sure of his father's innocence. He has worked for years to get him released. After making enquiries, Jody learns that more than a few people in town believed
Billy Crosby was not guilty. However, he was also a wife beater and a nasty drunk.

Author Pickard weaves together revenge, deception and romance. The first chapter, where you learn Jody's parents are gone and you return to 1986 as the mystery unfolds, pulls you in. The suspense then builds as you continue. Pickard was previously an Edgar award finalist for The Virgin of Small Plains.

The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head

Imagine coming face-to-face with a naked woman standing on her head, a man who wants to amputate his own arm, or a woman so desperate to have a baby her mind tricks her body into thinking she's pregnant.  Dr. Gary Small, respected psychiatrist and professor, has seen all this and more over the course of his career. He shares the most memorable and unique cases in The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: a Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases, co-written with is wife, Gigi Vorgan.

Through the cases he shares, Dr. Small shows his growth and increasing confidence as a doctor. His diagnoses based on mysterious and bizarre physical symptoms are intriguing and the importance of good psychiatric care is well-illustrated. I enjoyed the balance of science and storytelling.

The Devil Amongst the Lawyers

Author McCrumb returns to the setting of the Blue Ridge Mountains in The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, her long-awaited new Ballad novel. The novel is set in a small coal town in southwestern Virginia in November 1935. A pretty, young schoolteacher named Erma Morton stands accused of killing her father. Journalists from the big newspapers in New York are converging by train on the small mountain town. Henry Jernigan
has already decided he will depict Erma as an innocent victim. He and Rose Hanelon, a so called sob sister write the story they feel their readers expect. Many other journalists plan to write of the backward hillbillies they expect to find in the small town. Carl Jennings, however, just wishes to write what really happened. He's just 18 and on his first assignment. Carl comes up with an excuse to invite his 12-year old cousin Nora Bonesteel to the mountain town. Nora, an old woman in the other Ballad novels, has the sight. Carl is hoping Nora can tell him something of the murder that the other reporters cannot know. McCrumb's Ballad series is quite interesting and as usual the author shows great detail and description of place.

Return of the Don't Miss Lists

If you’re one of the many patrons anticipating the return of the Don’t Miss Lists in LINKcat, some are now available! The lists for new material are still being developed. Until they are available, you can find a short list of upcoming book and DVD releases on our website and newsletter. If you’re looking for more extensive lists of upcoming releases, Barnes and Noble and Amazon both offer lists of book and DVD releases coming soon, many of which you can already place on hold.

Sisterhood Everlasting

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares is the first book in the hugely successful young adult series that first came out in 2001. It follows the lives of four girls who share a pair of jeans during summers they spend apart (hence the "traveling").  Now, 10 years later, Brashares returns to the girls in their adult lives. The jeans are long gone, lost at the end of the last book, and the girls have somewhat lost touch since their busy lives have taken over.  When Tibby sends the other three tickets for a reunion in Greece, where they have many shared memories, all are excited. However, a tragedy occurs as soon as they arrive and the rest of the book explores how the girls cope.

I had very mixed opinions about this book, partly because I had read an interview with the author first that contained a major spoiler.  While there were still surprises, I still seemed to be pretty angry with the author (and interviewer) while I was reading.  It was also a bit strange to read about characters familiar to you as being teenagers now acting as adults.  Overall, I found some parts a bit annoying (some things drag on too much for me) but the ending somewhat made up for the spoiler. If you were a fan of the original books, I would recommend this follow up.

Book of the Month

Our book of the month for July, selected by Dani, is Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman. Copies of this book, which Dani previously reviewed, are available on display in the library. Don't miss it!

Mystery Book Club

The Mystery Book Club will meet Thursday, July 14 at 6:45 p.m. to discuss mysteries by James Benn.  Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle mystery series set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War. Copies are available on display in the library. New members are always welcome!

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, the first novel by author Louisa Young, is set in London and France between 1907 and 1918. It shows the horrors of war and the impact on two sets of lovers.

Riley Purefoy, a working class boy meets Nadine Waveney, the daughter of a rich family at a skating rink when they are children. The children become friends and Riley is semi-adopted as a model and assistant by the Waveney’s friend Sir Albert, a famous painter. Riley is bright, attractive and learns much about art and the world. When Riley and Nadine are 18 they fall in love. Her family doesn’t approve. Riley impulsively joins the war effort to prove he’s a ‘man.’

Peter Locke is an upper middle class officer with a rather vapid wife called Julia. Peter becomes Riley’s commanding officer in the killing fields of France. The nightmare of World War I irrevocably changes the four main characters who stay with you long after you’ve finished this book.