Marcie Rendon
Marcie R. Rendon, citizen of the White Earth Nation, is the best-selling author of Where They Last Saw Her, and acclaimed author of the Cash Blackbear crime series. The most recent in the series is Broken Fields. Rendon's poetry, Anishinaabe Songs for the New Millennium, was released in 2024; and Stitches of Tradition, a picture book, Oct 2024.
Tell us about the featured book. What is it about, and why did you choose to write this story?
Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman and occasional sleuth, is back on the case after a man is found dead on a rural Minnesota farm in the fourth installment of the acclaimed Native crime series. Cash walks in to a murder scene that engulfs her in a search for a child’s mother, to keep her out of the foster care system.
Tell us a little about your writing process. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
I write every day, in whatever time becomes available to me. I research as I work on my manuscript. The most difficult part of my artistic process is finding the time and space to write around family obligations.
Are there any writers or authors who have influenced your writing? If not, who are some of your favorite writers?
I am a compulsive reader it is hard to pinpoint a specific author. I would say Stephen King and a wider variety of crime novelists have probably been the greatest influence.
Has a library or librarian impacted your life or your writing life?
I would say the biggest influence on my reading/writing life would have to be the Bookmobile that served rural northern Minnesota. They brought the world to me.
When you’re not writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?
What is this spare time you ask of? I am currently trying to find time to play spades and enter jigsaw puzzle competitions.
Favorite place to go to in Minnesota?
I love to visit the headwaters of the Mississippi River.