Murder on the Red River

The Cash Blackbear Mysteries, Book 1

By: Marcie R. Rendon

Narrated by: Siiri Scott

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A murdered man in a field. The sheriff needs Cash - a 20-something tough, smart Indian woman with special seeing powers.

Cash and Sheriff Wheaton make for a strange partnership. He pulled her from her mother's wrecked car when she was 3. He's kept an eye out for her ever since. It's a tough place to live - northern Minnesota along the Red River. Cash navigated through foster homes, and at 13 was working farms. She's tough as nails, 5 feet, 2 inches, blue jeans, blue jean jacket, smokes Marlboros, drinks Bud Longnecks. Makes her living driving truck. Playing pool on the side.

Wheaton is big lawman type. Maybe Scandinavian stock, but darker skin than most. He wants her to take hold of her life. Get into junior college. So there they are, staring at the dead Indian lying in the field. Soon Cash was dreaming the dead man's cheap house on the Red Lake Reservation, mother and kids waiting. She has that kind of power. That's the place to start looking. There's a long and dangerous way to go to find the men who killed him. Plus there's Jim, the married white guy. And Long Braids, the Indian guy headed for Minneapolis to join the American Indian Movement.

©2017 Marcie R. Rendon (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Such a moving story

Loved this story. My niece is native in Canada and while she didn’t go thru this horrific childhood I knew it happened to many native children. Heart breaking.

Very Good

This was an very good listen.
I was unaware of the history of native American children. I found it very disturbing; I am informed now. The United States has not been good toward people of color. This is sad. Very good story and good narration. I would recommend this book.

Really wanted to like this more, but...

Plot pretty thin -- you know the outcome halfway through. And the author must be getting compensation for product placement of cigarettes. (There's a smoking reference in about every other paragraph. God help you if you're trying to quit smoking.) Also, too much repetition about the main character. OK, we get it. Cash is damaged goods, angry at Whitey. But how about a plot? Also, are we really going to rely on the old trope about Natives having special "spiritual" powers, like getting messages from their dreams? Meh.

The Red River Valley

My early years were spent in Fargo. I still remember the rich black earth. When we moved to Montana and I saw the pale grey brown earth, I asked my Dad what was wrong with the dirt! I enjoyed hearing about this place with amazingly thick top soil.
I don’t recall seeing a Native American in Fargo. The first Native American I saw was in Billings, Montana. There we were fed stories of the glory of Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
I loved the characters in this novel. Cash, the young Native American woman, had been raised by a stream of white foster parents, apparently common till 1978 when Congress passed a law to protect Native children. I once talked to a Black man from Nigeria who was raised by Catholic missionaries. He, too, was beaten for speaking his own language.
I liked the plot of this story and the mystical aspects of Cash that helped her identify the Native American man who was murdered and helped her to identify the murderer and his associates. I also liked Cash’s relationship with the sheriff. I loved listening to this story.

Would Have Could Have

There was so much mundane filler, no real suspense that it reminded me of eating unflavored jello. Definitely a disappointing first timer. Maybe after more practice a star will emerge, but this author needed much more time in the boiler room before trying to emerge. I had high hopes sadly

My review

Great book very said that the Indians where so mistreated. I don’t know what people where thinking. Did we just discover compaction.

I enjoyed the story.

I liked how descriptive the story is and I liked the farming information. Overall, I like the story.

Nicely paced and picks up in chapter 3 till the end

Several nice surprises and layer depth of understanding explain in some beautiful sentences. Some page turner moments

Hate the voice of the reader

The book was good, but the reader sucked. Can’t tell if she’s whispering or trying to stay quiet, but her voice is crap. barely any inflection at all. Seriously find a different job because you not so good at this one.

Slow start

This was a really good book. It was a little slow in the start but overall well worth the listen