Marcie Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, a Pinckley Prize-winning author, playwright, poet, freelance writer, and a community arts activist. Rendon was awarded the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award for 2020. She is a speaker on Native issues, leadership, and writing. Her second novel in her Cash Blackbear mystery series, Girl Gone Missing, was nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award. Rendon was recognized as a 50 over 50 Change-maker by Minneapolis AARP and Pollen in 2018. She lives in Minneapolis.
Praise for Sinister Graves
A Minnesota Book Award Finalist
An MPR News Best Book of 2022
A Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2022
A Publishers Weekly Big Indie Book of Fall
A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Book of Fall
“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, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The
Night Watchman
“[A] winning 1970s-set series.”
—Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review
“Like Cash's life, there's a rawness and a poetic leanness to
Rendon's prose. The plot is quick with no excess, building to a
confrontation that's inevitable and electrifying. Rendon's writing
is quick and sharp and unflinching in its honesty . . . Haunting
and truly gripping.”
—Carole E. Barrowman, Star Tribune
“Marcie R. Rendon has me cheering on Cash Blackbear even more
vociferously in her latest mystery! Marcie writes the way
Anishinaabe people view the world — full of rich descriptions and
layered storytelling. While confronting difficult truths about
religion and the value of Indigenous lives, Marcie shares
revelatory moments of Cash awakening to her own worth.”
—Angeline Boulley, New York Times bestselling author of
Firekeeper’s Daughter
“A powerful, textured, and haunting authentically voiced noir—the
kind of book only Rendon could write. The prose is visceral and
impossible to ignore, with a story that is bursting with memorable,
three-dimensional characters like Cash Blackbear. The best novels
in our genre transport readers to new places and times through a
knowing, thoughtful guide. Sinister Graves does that and so much
more. This book lingers with you in the best way possible.”
—Alex Segura, bestselling and acclaimed author of Secret
Identity
“Marcie R. Rendon pulls us into a gritty Native American noir about
a rebel with a supernatural verve: Cash Blackbear. She’s as
mysterious as she is deadly, and after five minutes in Cash’s
presence I was intrigued and charmed. Sinister Graves is a gripping
novel that digs into the sacred and unearths haunting fragments of
reservation life. Rendon is a master storyteller and binds us
inside the depths of our own psychological cellars, from which we
may never return.”
—Oscar Hokeah, author of Calling for a Blanket Dance
“Sinister Graves is a gripping, must-read mystery. The rhythm
brings to mind Sue Grafton at her finest, but Cash Blackbear, the
story’s beating heart, is a character all her own. She’s both
fierce and vulnerable, and I’d follow her anywhere.”
—Jess Lourey, Edgar-nominated author of Unspeakable Things
“As a storyteller in general, Rendon is masterful. She is
straightforward in her writing and plot building, avoids hyperbole,
and makes you care about her characters. The violence she described
in Sinister Graves is not gratuitous. Instead, through
her superhero, Cash, Rendon shines a light on the actual epidemic
of violence against American Indian women in the U.S.”
—The Circle: Native American News and Arts
“Rendon writes through an Indigenous lens . . . [She] addresses
topics like Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, religion and
historical trauma in a way that’s not weighed down or
overbearing.”
—MPR News
“Absorbing . . . If you enjoy rural crime writing that offers
unique characters and vividly evoked settings along with intriguing
plotlines laced with real-life issues, then run, don’t walk to add
Marcie R. Rendon’s superb books starring tough Ojibwe teenager Cash
Blackbear to your must-read pile.”
—Mystery Scene
“A riveting read from start to finish.”
—Midwest Book Review
“[Cash is] an engaging character.”
—Toronto Star
“A gripping look at missing, murdered Indigenous women.”
—The Seattle Times
“Propulsive . . . Rendon’s mystery novel simultaneously grips and
informs, depicting modern Native American issues and drawing
attention to the violence committed against one of America’s most
vulnerable populations. Powerful and haunting, Sinister Graves is a
riveting character-driven mystery with the fierce and nuanced Cash
Blackbear at its helm.”
—Electric Literature
“I fell fast and hard for Rendon’s Renee “Cash” Blackbear. The pool
playing, beer drinking, hard-nosed 19-year-old Cash is the perfect
anti-hero as she juggles a tough exterior that’s protecting someone
who's been through a lot. Cash drives this story, and you will
follow her down any trail to solve the crime.”
—B&N Reads
“In Cash Blackbear, an irresistible, beautifully rendered mix of
smart, shy, prickly, fierce, and vulnerable, Marcie R. Rendon has
created a character we could read about all day long. Readers will
be riveted by Cash . . . Addictively readable, as Rendon can make
even the purchase of used tires, or a night at the pool club a
suspenseful and character-revealing exercise.”
—Amazon Book Review
“Rendon’s mystery novels simultaneously inform and entertain
readers, presenting current Native American issues through her
heroine’s efforts to solve crimes perpetrated against society’s
more vulnerable members in the early 1970s . . . Rendon’s stories
create a world for Cash that readers will want to inhabit.”
—Chicago Review of Books
“Thank goodness, Cash Blackbear is back! If you like a good
mystery, this will be right up your alley.”
—Ms. Magazine
“Once again, Rendon immerses us in the 1970s Midwest and gives
readers a plot to carefully consider.”
—CrimeReads
“The terrifying conclusion is sure to have listeners on the edge of
their seats.”
—Audiofile Magazine
“Following along as nineteen year-old Cash finds herself, even as
she struggles to do the right thing by the dead and by a culture
that was not only forcibly taken from her but is now wary of her
attempts at reintegrating at least some aspects of her heritage, is
an absorbing, fascinating journey, with an intriguing mystery
framework to help propel the narrative.”
—Criminal Element
“Rendon infuses her novels with compassion for Indigenous women who
are missing or killed and never found. Cash’s toughness, commitment
to justice and vulnerability honor those women.”
—Pioneer Press
“A compelling and suspenseful murder mystery . . . An addictive and
engaging story. Cash is a tough and smart character. I wholly
enjoyed this book.”
—KAXE Northern Community Radio
“Downright chilling. With expertly crafted suspense, the story is a
page turner both when Cash is on and off the case.”
—Longfellow Nokomis Messenger
“A fantastic whodunit.”
—KARE 11
“A superb slice of character-centric crime.”
—Mystery Scene
“[Rendon] writes in an easy style that braids the mystery with
Cash's everyday life - playing pool, taking classes, drinking beer
- in prose that is both matter-of-fact and graceful.”
—Reviewing the Evidence
“A gripping mystery with enough fascinating characters and chilling
problems to keep readers up reading until all hours . .
. Great writing, snappy dialogue, and a very compelling story
make this a must-read for mystery fans.”
—San Francisco Book Review
“The engaging main character, Cash, makes this story resonate . . .
Recommended for readers wanting a character-driven murder
mystery.”
—Historical Novels Review
“[Sinister Graves] feels extremely, extremely relevant for really
tragic reasons that have to do with . . . the violence that happens
to Indigenous and Native folks on reservations and, specifically,
the disappearance of Native girls and women.”
—BookRiot's All the Books! Podcast
“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.”
—Kittling Books
“Fans of rural mysteries laced with unique characters, vivid
settings and intriguing plot lines should add Rendon to their
must-read list . . . Rendon offers a very good murder
mystery and much more, using her character-centric writing
toexplore prejudice and injustice.”
—New Zealand Listener
“Emotionally intense . . . [Rendon] skillfully handles sobering
social issues of stolen children and isolated young adults who feel
loss. Recommend to readers of David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s
award-winning Winter Counts.”
—Library Journal
“Rendon deepens the complex character of her eccentric Native
American lead, who believes she can read minds and has revelatory
out-of-body experiences. Lisbeth Salander fans will be eager to see
more of Cash.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Lots of menace in this hyperunderstated character piece.”
—Kirkus Reviews
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