Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon

 

First Line: Cash stepped out of the cab of her Ranchero onto the soft, black dirt of the field she was to plow under.

It's spring in the Red River Valley of 1970s Minnesota, and Cash Blackbear is out working the fields of a local farmer... until she finds him dead in a rented farmhouse on his property. The Native couple renting the house are nowhere to be found, but Cash finds their young daughter, Shawnee, hiding under a bed. Shawnee, a possible witness to the killing, is too terrified to speak.

Cash is suspicious of the farmer's grieving widow, and she spends every spare second scouring the countryside for Shawnee's parents before the little girl is put into the foster care system. When another body turns up, Cash knows she has to find out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse before the clock runs down.

~

Cash Blackbear is a young Ojibwe woman I've come to care about deeply in this series (of now) four books. Broken Fields is a tapestry tightly woven with details of Native American life in northern Minnesota, abusive farm labor practices, and women's liberation. 

Rendon's depiction of the landscape and farming aspects takes me right back to my childhood in a small farm town in central Illinois. Sights, sounds, smells-- Rendon's descriptions are incredibly vivid. 

Equally vivid are her characters. There's Sheriff Wheaton, the great rescuer, who keeps a close eye on Cash and is doing his best to further her education and work experience.  No one wants to see Cash succeed more than he does. But no character shines more brightly than Cash, battle-scarred survivor of the harsh foster system. Her fierce protectiveness of little Shawnee shows how deeply she cares-- and sometimes she cares so deeply that her anger takes control of her actions. After what happened in the previous book (Sinister Graves), Cash doesn't trust her intuition the way she used to. She sleeps with the lights on. She drinks too much. It's been a long time since I've been so invested in a character. I want this young woman to succeed. I want her to thrive. 

And I want this series to continue for a good long time. If you like good mysteries with a strong main character, a superb sense of place, and a writing style that draws you right into the heart of each book, you have to make the acquaintance of Cash Blackbear. Start with the first book, Murder on the Red River. You can thank me later.

Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon

eISBN: 9781641296595

Soho Press © 2025

eBook, 272 pages

Historical Mystery, #4 Cash Blackbear

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon

 

First Line: Cash sat in a battered fishing boat on murky floodwater that was headed to the Red River.

 

When spring flood waters wash the body of a young Native woman ashore, Sheriff Wheaton asks Cash Blackbear for help. The nineteen-year-old Ojibwe woman has helped him in the past, and since she doesn't have any college classes she must attend, she agrees. The only thing that may help identify the body is a piece of folded paper found tucked in the woman's bra. It was ripped from a hymnal and is the words to a song in both English and Ojibwe.

 

Trying to track down information through that piece of paper, Cash finds herself on the doorstep of a rural "speaks in tongues" kind of church led by a charismatic preacher and his shadow of a wife. There's something not-quite-right about that couple, but what Cash finds much more troubling are the two small graves in the churchyard. When another young Native woman dies in mysterious circumstances, Cash knows that she must do whatever needs to be done in order to bring an end to these deaths.

 

~

 

Marcie Rendon has created a series with such authenticity, and such a nuanced main character, that I want it to go on for a good long time. I would recommend these books to anyone who likes a good mystery, a strong main character, a superb sense of place, and a writing style that draws readers right into the heart of each book. You could pick up Sinister Graves and read it without feeling lost, but to get the full effect of Cash Blackbear and the life she's had to lead in the Red River country of 1970s Minnesota and North Dakota, I highly recommend reading the books in order, starting with Murder on the Red River and continuing with Girl Gone Missing.

One of the best things about this series is watching Cash Blackbear's world open before her very eyes. This nineteen-year-old has survived a series of abusive foster parents and back-breaking work as a farmhand (since the age of eleven). Her life only began to take a turn for the better when she became emancipated at the age of sixteen. She's had an apartment of her own since then, and she's been under the caring, watchful eye of Sheriff Wheaton, a man I would love to know more about.

With Wheaton's encouragement, Cash has started going to college. She knows when she must study. She knows when she needs to get her laundry and housecleaning done. She keeps in touch with the farmers in the area so she knows when there will be work, and when she's not driving her Ford Ranchero, she spends the rest of her time shooting pool in a local bar. She's quite good, and the money she wins helps pay the rent. 

Cash is a young woman who knows a lot but doesn't want much. Why dream of things she can't have (or things that will be taken away from her)? This is what her life has taught her so far. But things can change, and they are during the course of this series. Cash has even begun thinking about buying her own house because, if she does, no one can ever tell her to leave. This young woman is sad, sharp, funny, and very intuitive. It's been a pleasure getting to know her.

In Sinister Graves, Cash works to find out what happened to the dead Native girls, and it's not easy. She's going to have to deal with a whole new kind of crazy as she searches for answers. This character and her investigations are so addictive that I can't wait for the next book in the series. Bring it on!

Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon

eISBN: 9781641293846

Soho Press © 2022

eBook, 240 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #3 Cash Blackbear mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

 

Girl Gone Missing by Marcie R. Rendon

 

First Line: Cash pulled herself up and out of her bedroom window.

 

In the Fargo-Moorhead area of the 1970s, the age of peace and love is beginning to wane. Nineteen-year-old Cash Blackbear is in college. Two of her classes are boring; the only two she likes are psychology and judo. If she had her way, she'd just attend those two classes, shoot pool, drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and drive beet trucks for the local farmers. 

 

Then a local teenage girl goes missing, and Cash is troubled by dreams of terrified young girls calling to her for help. She doesn't know exactly what is going on, but she intuitively feels that it's something bad. Things become even more tense when Cash has an unexpected houseguest. It's the brother that she didn't even know was alive; the two were separated as children when they were taken from the reservation and put into foster care.

With the help of her guardian and friend, Sheriff Wheaton-- and possibly even her brother-- will Cash be able to discover the truth about the missing girl... and save her before it's too late?

~

If you want to read and learn about another culture's experiences, I highly recommend that you find Marcie R. Rendon's Cash Blackbear mysteries. You will be taken straight into the life of a young Native American girl in 1970s North Dakota and Minnesota. You will learn what commonly happened to Native Americans at this time and how their lives and hopes and dreams were (almost always) warped by the experiences.

In this second Cash Blackbear mystery, Rendon shines a light on the Indian Adoption Project that was in effect from 1941 to 1967 as well as the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women that still haunts the country to this day. Cash's brother, Mo, is full of surprises and shows us how life was for many returned Vietnam veterans. I think the best part of Girl Gone Missing for me-- outside of the brilliant characterization of Cash herself-- was learning more about her friend and guardian, Sheriff Wheaton. His backstory and motivations make him even more special.

 

There is an inevitability to Girl Gone Missing that is compelling. Even though the missing girls are young and white and blond and blue-eyed, readers feel that Cash will be the exception to the rule... and they will also feel that she will be able to survive whatever experience follows. How she does it is true to her indomitable spirit. No matter how many times she's knocked down, no matter how many times she tells herself not to wish for anything, this young woman will not give up, and I for one will always cheer her on. 

 

The third book in the series, Sinister Graves, will be released in October. I can't wait. Without a doubt, Rendon's Cash Blackbear mysteries are my favorite finds of 2022. Do yourself a favor and grab the first one, Murder on the Red River. How these books can be so bleak yet so full of hope, I'll never know. But I do know that Marcie R. Rendon is an incredibly talented writer, and I want to read more. 

 

Girl Gone Missing by Marcie R. Rendon

eISBN: 9781641293792

Soho Press © 2021

eBook, 214 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #2 Cash Blackbear mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon

First Line: Sun-drenched wheat fields.

 

Sheriff Wheaton has kept an eye on Cash Blackbear since he pulled her from her mother's wrecked car at the age of three. Now nineteen, Cash has had her own apartment for two years. She's been working as a farm laborer since the age of eleven and supplements her income by playing pool most nights at the local bars.

 

The sheriff can see how smart Cash is and how much potential she has, but he also knows she has a special gift: she can meditate and have out-of-body experiences that give her uncanny insight. That's why she's standing next to him in a field looking at the body of a dead man.

 

Soon Cash dreams of the dead man's house on the Red Lake Reservation and the wife and children who are waiting for his return. She knows she must go there in order to find out who killed him. What she doesn't know is how dangerous that journey of discovery is going to be.

 

~

 

Author, playwright, and poet Marcie R. Rendon's Murder on the Red River left me speechless at its power. This book should be required reading in our schools because of its authentic portrayal of Native American life. As hurt, as enraged, as I was while reading certain scenes, my emotions could in no way hold a candle to those of Native Americans who have actually lived through what is depicted in this book.

While important, the death of the man found in the field often takes a backseat to Cash's life story. She's survived a succession of foster homes, beginning work as a farm laborer at the age of eleven and getting her own apartment at the age of seventeen. Now nineteen, this five foot two woman with (as she tells us) black hair down to the bottom of her butt doesn't expect anything from life. If she doesn't need it, she doesn't buy it-- the cigarettes and beer she's smoked and drank since the age of eleven she considers necessities. She is very attuned to the land and nature because "the land had never hurt her or left her." She is a small, fierce bundle of rage, and as her story unfolds, readers understand why even though they may wish she could control herself better for her own safety. When she learns that there are seven orphans that will become a part of the foster care system, she rages, "You know, every one of these farmers is working our land. They got it for free. The government gave them our land for free... And now they'll have seven more farm laborers to work our land for them...for free." Cash doesn't want the same thing happening to those seven children that happened to her. 

The legal kidnapping of Native children into the government foster care system is injustice at its finest (worst?), and through Cash, Rendon makes us feel every bit of it. Cash thinks about many things. Of working in the fields since the age of eleven. Of both her parents running away from government boarding schools. Of Native women fake speaking Spanish in order to be allowed into bars. It's 1970, and something called the American Indian Movement is beginning to be heard from, but Cash has also signed up for junior college. What's she going to do? 

 

I can't wait to find out in the next book in this series, Girl Gone Missing. What a book! What a character!

 

Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon

eISBN: 9781641293778

Soho Press © 2021

Originally published 2017.

eBook, 202 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #1 Cash Blackbear mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box

First Line: "The trap is set and he's on his way," Cassie Dewell said to Sheriff Jon Kirkbride.

It's been three long years, and Cassie Dewell is still on the trail of a serial killer known as the Lizard King whose hunting grounds are highways and truckstops frequented by runaways and prostitutes. Now Cassie is working for the Bakken County, North Dakota Sheriff's Office, and she believes she's set the perfect trap for the Lizard King... but she hasn't. Her trap is a total disaster, she's disgraced and loses her job.

But a missing boy's grandmother insists that Cassie take on her investigation. Her grandson, Kyle, disappeared on the same day that Cassie's trap blew up-- and no one seems to care about what happened to him. With nothing else to do, Cassie reluctantly says yes to the grandmother, all the while knowing that she's going to keep on searching for the Lizard King. But it's a whole new world for the investigator everyone calls "relentless." Is Cassie going to be able to go solo successfully?

The feminist side in me must be getting stronger the older I get. C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series is one that I've read in the past and enjoyed, but for some reason, I'm just not passionate about keeping current with it. It's as though I know it can wait patiently until I'm ready to read it again. However, when I found out that Box was starting a new series with a female lead, I perked right up. When I did a little research, I discovered that Cassie Dewell isn't a new character but one that's been in Box's Highway Quartet books. Lo and behold, the last book in that quartet went on sale, and I snapped it up so I could see whether or not Cassie is my type of character. She most certainly is.

I didn't feel at a disadvantage beginning with the last book in the Highway Quartet. On the contrary, Box's fantastic opening scenes and pedal-to-the-metal pacing grabbed me right at the start and kept me reading. Several characters made me sit up and take notice. Yes, Cassie is relentless and just the type of person that I want to read more about. The Lizard King is appropriately creepy, young Kyle can break your heart while impressing you all at the same time, and that crusty old guy known as Bull reminded me of my grandfather.

When you put this high-octane story in a setting that stretches from the oil fields of North Dakota to Yellowstone National Park, you've got a winner. Now that I've been formally introduced to Cassie Dewell, I'm ready for The Bitterroots. Bring it on!

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box

eISBN: 9781466851993

Minotaur Books © 2017

eBook, 352 pages

Police Procedural, #3 Cassie Dewell mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

See Also Proof by Larry D. Sweazy

First Line: The closet door stood wide open and an empty cardboard box sat at my feet.

The winter of 1965 is a long and a bleak one for Marjorie Trumaine as she deals with sometimes overwhelming grief on her isolated North Dakota farm. Her border collie Shep keeps her company and her work as an indexer keeps her busy while women from the Ladies Aid society urge her to join their ranks.

When Marjorie hears the news that a neighbor's fourteen-year-old disabled daughter is missing, she joins the search which doesn't turn up the young girl but does find the body of a murdered man. The man's body was near the missing girl's house. Why? Who wanted him dead? Is his death connected to the girl's disappearance?

Marjorie's search for the truth leads her six hours away to the Grafton State School where the missing girl lived. And-- as often happens-- the information she uncovers raises even more questions. But the most important question of all is this: will the murderer come after Marjorie now that she knows a long-hidden secret?

Larry D. Sweazy's Marjorie Trumaine series continues to be one of my favorites. In See Also Proof, he uses a chapter of North Dakota history that was swept under the rug (and all other states have similar chapters that they've tried to bury). I also like how Marjorie uses her indexing skills to further her investigation into murder; moreover, readers get to learn more about this little-known skill as the story progresses.

Winter is a major character in this book. One blizzard after another roars through. People have to wear many, many layers of clothing in an attempt to stay warm. It's a fight to keep vehicles running in this brutal weather. And most of all, Marjorie shows us why it's so important to have an emergency kit in your vehicle because the chances of being stranded in a snowbank are very real.

As the investigations into the girl's disappearance and the man's death progress, another important theme of the book is uncovered: how people in these isolated areas come together to help each other in times of grief and of trouble. Once again, Sweazy has created a strong mystery for a stalwart woman to solve, but he's also painted a portrait of community, and that will stay in my mind even longer than the mystery itself.

See Also Proof by Larry D. Sweazy

ISBN: 9781633882799

Seventh Street Books © 2018

Paperback, 251 pages

Historical Mystery, #3 Marjorie Trumaine mystery

Rating: A

Source: Amazon Vine

See Also Deception by Larry D. Sweazy

First Line: By the fourth ring concern started to creep into my heart and mind.

It's an ordinary day for professional indexer Marjorie Trumaine: she has a question for her friend Calla Eltmore, the local librarian. But Calla isn't the person who answers the telephone. No-- according to police, Calla has committed suicide. 

Suicide is a verdict Marjorie just cannot accept, and when she notices something wrong at Calla's wake, the police don't seem to care. That means one thing and one thing only to Marjorie. Despite looming deadlines with her publisher, despite caring for her blind and paralyzed husband, Marjorie is going to find the time to uncover the truth... and unmask a killer.

It's not been that long since I last visited Marjorie Trumaine on her North Dakota farm in See Also Murder, and I was happy to be back. Sweazy knows how to put readers right in the middle of farm life in the 1960's, with party lines on the telephones, sewing your own clothes, proper funeral etiquette, and just "making do" in general. 

After what occurred in the first book of this series, Marjorie's comings and goings have been seriously curtailed. In some ways it doesn't bother her. Her husband Hank-- blinded and paralyzed in a freak hunting accident-- needs her, and her work as an indexer is done at home. But the mere fact of not being able to go somewhere when the mood strikes is crippling and shows just how isolated Marjorie has become. Her determined attempts to find Calla's killer is the best possible example of how much her friend meant to her. 

I like watching how Sweazy's mind works. Just as I foresee a problem that could affect future books, he lays the groundwork to take care of it. (What's done in See Also Deception really has me looking forward to the third in the series.) He can also make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, such as the scene when Marjorie finds out her truck tires have been slashed and her telephone line cut. The killer is making a move, and Marjorie can't get away or call for help... what in the world is she going to do? Sweazy makes that farm house feel like it's a thousand miles to the nearest neighbor.

The tone of See Also Deception is rather bleak, just as it was in the first book, but it's not a gray depressing weight that brought me down. I found Marjorie too interesting as a character, and besides-- with what that woman has to deal with should she really be laughing and kicking up her heels? (I think not.) But as I said before, changes are afoot, and I'm hoping that the author brings Marjorie a bit of happiness because she certainly deserves it.

Time period-- check. Characters-- check. And Sweazy is also good at crafting puzzling whodunits, although I have to admit that I was a bit willfully blind as I read because of the sympathy I felt for one of the characters.  Yes, people can live secret lives even in the smallest of towns, and Marjorie Trumaine is just the sort of character to bring those secrets to light. Bring on book three!  
   

See Also Deception by Larry D. Sweazy

ISBN: 9781633881266 

Seventh Street Books © 2016

Paperback, 270 pages

Historical Mystery, #2 Marjorie Trumaine mystery

Rating: A

Source: Amazon Vine  


 

See Also Murder by Larry D. Sweazy

First Line: I saw a plume of dust through the window over my desk, and something told me trouble was heading my way.

After her husband is paralyzed and blinded in a hunting accident, there's just not enough money to pay the bills. It's 1964 up in North Dakota farm country, and after taking a course, putting in some hard work, and having a tiny bit of luck, Marjorie Trumaine is a professional indexer. It still doesn't bring in enough money to cover all the bills, but at least she can stay on the farm and take care of her beloved husband.

When her closest friends (and nearest neighbors) are murdered in their beds, Marjorie has a whole new set of worries come home to roost. One of her murdered neighbors was clutching a strange amulet, and knowing Marjorie's powers of research, Sheriff Jenkins asks her to find out what it is. As she closes in on the identification of the amulet, more people die, and that makes Marjorie realize that the killer has to be closing in on her as well.

From the very beginning of See Also Murder, author Larry Sweazy plopped me down right in the middle of Hank and Marjorie Trumaine's North Dakota farm. You get a true feel for life on the Great Plains in the 1960s. Not just the weather. Not just what needs to be done on a farm. But the loneliness, and also-- with things like party lines on the telephone-- the interconnectedness of people in rural areas.

As I watched Marjorie care for her husband and cook, clean, and index with her constant companion Shep the border collie, I was completely immersed in her world of no microwave ovens, no mobile phones, and no computers. Part of her world is creating indexes for books, and I appreciated the insights into that as well, especially since I've used them for years but never really gave their creation any thought.

Marjorie's mind is an orderly one, as you'd expect from a professional indexer, and somehow Sweazy uses that orderliness to lull readers into a false sense of security. Trouble, when it comes, is violent and frightening.  As closely as I was paying attention, you'd think that I would have the mystery all figured out. Think again. When the killer was revealed, it came straight out of left field. And when I began to say, "But wait a second!" I went looking through the pages of See Also Murder and found all the carefully planted clues that I didn't see the first time around.

My little grey cells are still percolating with this first Marjorie Trumaine mystery, so you have to know that I have the next book (See Also Deception) on my radar!

 

See Also Murder by Larry D. Sweazy

ISBN: 9781633880061

Seventh Street Books © 2015

Paperback, 253 pages

Historical Mystery, #1 Marjorie Trumaine

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet 


 

Scapegoat by Amy Dawson Robertson

First Line: The rain had been coming down hard for days all over the West Virginia Panhandle.

When a covert government operation goes wrong and becomes fodder for the press, someone's got to take the blame, and with regard to the botched mission in Tajikstan, Rennie Vogel is the chosen scapegoat.

Shuffled off to a dead-end assignment in Turkey, Rennie descends into depression, forgetting to exercise her body and her mind but remembering to drink, smoke, and stay awake through the endless nights agonizing over the rubble that's left of her career. For years, she's wanted a job where she could serve the country she loves, a job where she could truly make a difference. When she's finally forced completely out, she has nothing left. Even Hannah Marcus-- the woman she rescued in Tajikstan and came to care deeply for-- has moved on. The government has forced them to agree never to get in touch with each other.

Hannah Marcus takes a safe job at a newspaper while recovering from her traumatic time as a hostage, but that job soon palls. She, too, wants to make a difference, and she soon learns of a homegrown terrorist group in North Dakota. Hannah quits her job and goes freelance, traveling to North Dakota to uncover everything she can about the group.

In the meantime, one of Rennie's former adversaries offers her a job. She's never heard of The Foundation, but they've heard of her. When asked if she'd be interested in a rather illegal but honorable job, she eventually overcomes her misgivings and agrees to work for the group. She soon finds herself on the way to North Dakota. She and Hannah are set on a collision course with some very dangerous people.

The character of Rennie Vogel fully engages me as a reader, and she often brings out clashing emotions in me. While she wallowed in self-pity long enough for me to want to shake her, I have to admit that the woman has the worst luck with her employment and her personal life. She's cut off from her family-- her mother in particular-- and her wish list is short: (1) to find people who will accept and love her for whom she truly is, and (2) to have work that fulfills her need to serve her country and to do good. She's really not cut out for government work; she is too moral for that line of business. To Rennie Vogel, collateral damage is not acceptable-- "People aren't peripheral." (It's a sad state of the world's affairs when hearing someone say this is so refreshing.)

Although the action took a while to get started, once it did things moved quickly, and Robertson had more than one surprise in store for me toward book's end. The author does an excellent job of portraying a very strong yet conflicted character. Rennie Vogel is the type of character who can (and hopefully shall) go far in a series.

Scapegoat by Amy Dawson Robertson

ISBN: 9781594932625

Bella Books ©2012

Paperback, 302 pages

Genre: Thriller, LGBT, #2 Rennie Vogel

Rating: B

Source: the author

REVIEW: Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson

Title: The Bones of Plenty
Author: Lois Phillips Hudson
Protagonist(s): George, Rachel and Lucy Custer
Setting: rural North Dakota in the 1930s
Rating: A+

First Line: For nine years George Custer had picked rocks out of the three hundred and twenty acres he rented from James T. Vick, but still the wheat fields were not clear enough to suit him.

This compelling novel is centered around one farm family as they struggle to earn a living during the Dust Bowl years of 1933 and 1934, and contains, I suspect, a large dash of autobiography since Hudson grew up in the same area at the same time. Some have likened The Bones of Plenty to The Grapes of Wrath, and for once I agree with the comparison. In fact, I prefer this novel to Steinbeck's for its uncompromising, unflinching look at farm life and the attitudes of the people in that era. My people were farm people, and I didn't hear one false note.

The prairie landscape and the weather are brought to pulsing life by Hudson. A chapter depicting a dust storm had my eyes watering and my lungs closing up. But no matter how wonderful her depictions of the natural world are, Hudson is brilliant with characterization. The story revolves around the Custer family: George, Rachel and Lucy. The daughter, Lucy, was my favorite along with her grandfather. The villain of the piece, to me, was the father, George. His stiff-necked pride and unerring tendency towards violence in thought and deed made my hackles rise. But...every single character is completely fleshed out; all their good qualities and their flaws are on view for everyone to see. It's been a long time since I've run across such marvelous characterization. It is a testament to Hudson's talent that, in the end, I felt compassion for the one character I thoroughly disliked.