“Marcie Rendon is writing an addictive and authentically Native crime series propelled by the irresistible Cash Blackbear—a warm, sad, sharp, funny and intuitive young Ojibwe woman. I want a shelf of Cash Blackbear novels! To my delight I have a feeling that Rendon is only getting started.”
—Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Night Watchman
Set in 1970s Minnesota on the White Earth Reservation, Pinckley Prize–winner Marcie R. Rendon’s gripping new mystery follows Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman, as she attempts to discover the truth about the disappearances of Native girls and their newborns.
A snowmelt has sent floodwaters down to the fields of the Red River Valley, dragging the body of an unidentified Native woman into the town of Ada. The only evidence the medical examiner recovers is a torn piece of paper inside her bra: a hymn written in English and Ojibwe.
Cash Blackbear, a 19-year-old, tough-as-nails Ojibwe woman, sometimes uses her special abilities to help Sheriff Wheaton, her guardian, with his investigations. When Cash sees the hymn, she knows her search for justice for this anonymous victim will lead her somewhere she hasn’t been in over a decade: the White Earth Reservation, a place she once called home.
When Cash happens upon two small graves in the yard of a rural, “speak-in-tongues kinda church,” she is pulled into the lives of the pastor and his wife while yet another Native woman turns up dead and her newborn is nowhere to be found.
Publisher : Soho Crime (12 September 2023)
Language : English
Paperback : 240 pages
ISBN-10 : 1641295236
ISBN-13 : 978-1641295239
Item Weight : 227 g
Dimensions : 13.97 x 1.63 x 20.9 cm
Country of Origin : United Kingdom
by Kindle Customer
The author, Marcie Rendon, tells stories that are deep with emotion. Her descriptions of the prairie farms, the forests and the characters stretch my mind to understand another land and another people. Thank you.
by Amy
Amazing authorHave read all 3 in the seriesYou won’t be able to put it downRecommend reading the other 2 firstMurder on the Red River and Girl Gone Missing
by Lynn Emery
A simple request from Sheriff Wheaton leads Cash Running Bear to another murder investigation. She follows a series of clues right into danger. A pastor and his wife are hiding deadly secrets. Once again Cash fights human and supernatural darkness.
by Kathryn A Schauer
This series is so good and I canât help but see the similarities in how the indigenous community are treated. Plus itâs in an area where so many of my relatives live and work. I anxiously await the next installment!! Keep on writing!!
by Dave Schwinghammer
Cash Blackbear is an enigmatic character. I was more interested in her personality than I was in the flimsy mystery element Marcie Rendon gave her.Cash smokes, drinks beer, and plays pool almost constantly. Her adult role model is Sheriff Wheaton who relies on Cash to deal with developments relating to the White Earth Indian reservation. Cash is his ward as is Geno another young Objibwe without any parents. Her present case deals with a young girl who was found dead in the Red River Valley, almost annual, flood. Cash sets out to identify her when she learns of another dead girl, this one with an identity, but it seems she was murdered and thereâs a suspect. Some of the town names will be familiar to Minnesotans. Detroit Lakes or DL as Cash calls it, Mahmomen, Ada, Fargo-Moorhead all make appearances.Thereâs a connection between these lost girls and a nearby church. When Cash checks it out sheâs struck by the graves in the cemetery. The pastor and his wife invite her to have dinner with them. At first they seem really nice, but on her third or fourth trip to the church, they begin to seem really strange. The pastor has a reputation as a ladies man. Thereâs some inappropriate touching going that Cash thinks might be a come on.Cash doesnât seem to have any close friendships other than pool buddies. Wheaton has encouraged Cash to attend college, and she meets a girl and her boyfriend who offer competitive challenges in that respect. They team up to play in tournaments, but thatâs about as far as it goes. She also has a relationship with a married man which is really only about sex, and thereâs a mechanic named Al she also met playing pool. She doesnât really know how she feels about a close relationship. You see, Cash hardly ever answers her phone. When Al calls her the phone is either unplugged or Cash doesnât answer. They seem to be heading towards a closer relationship when the book ends. Having had to deal with nasty foster parents, Cash doesnât really trust anyone and sheâs almost pathologically independent. The reader will keep hoping she lets people get closer to her by the end of the book.Although I found Cash intriguing some of the stuff Rendon has her do, is rather unrealistic. Can you throw a paring knife at a man from across the room and have it stick in his neck? Not any paring knife Iâve ever used. Seems like it would have to be heavier and sharper than most paring knives.Another less bothersome aspect of the story is the mysticism involved. Cash has an out of body experience. Well, I know that Indians believe in ghosts, so why not? They also have a closer relationship with nature and with animals. When Indians would kill a buffalo they would pray to its spirit thanking it for giving them food.Somehow I missed the second book in the series, GIRL GONE MISSING. I know Iâll be reading that one and will be looking forward to the next one, if only to see if Cash and Al get together.