New book by Minnesota writer is a thriller that raises awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women

For at least a decade, missing and murdered Indigenous women have gathered attention from officials and media. But Marcie R. Rendon’s “Where They Last Saw Her” argues the issue goes all the way back to the beginning of our country.

“Our women have been targeted since non-Native people got here. We have been ‘disappearing,’ we have been victims, but there’s this whole mentality in the larger country that we no longer exist,” said Rendon, an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. “When you look at history, Pocahontas was probably the first young person who was taken. Sacagawea, too.”

That’s what one of the characters in the new book means when she says, “We’re under siege. This hasn’t stopped in over five hundred years.”

“Where They Last Saw Her” isn’t history. It’s set in the present, following three Ojibwe women who train together as runners — Quill, who has two kids with husband Crow; Punk, who has begun an affair with a police officer; and Gaylyn, a casino worker. They become amateur detectives. It all starts when Quill, running near her northern Minnesota home, hears a scream and finds an earring she believes indicates that another Native woman has been abducted.

Rendon has sold many thousands of copies of her three, 1970s-set mysteries featuring sleuth Cash Blackbear (a fourth, “Broken Fields,” is due next year) but, in discussions with her editor, the Minneapolis writer decided to create a contemporary tale. It was immediately clear missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) would be at the center.

“I’ve been writing about this issue since probably 2014, 2015,” said Rendon, who also published a book of poetry this year and has a children’s book on the way. “I’ve written poetry, short stories, a play. So it’s an issue that is in the forefront here in Indian country. I’ve been writing about it because I’m aware of it and when the opportunity came to write a book, I took it.”

The trickiest part? Taking an issue that is deeply tragic — many of the missing women are never found, their disappearances never resolved — and making it an absorbing read.

“The issue is real and it’s present and it impacts just about every Native person we know. We all know somebody who is missing or has been murdered or we don’t know where they are. The thing I say is that there’s no happy ending to this issue,” said Rendon.

That comes through in “Where They Last Saw Her,” although the three amateur detectives do solve the disappearance they’re investigating.

Along the way, they face the kind of complications that confront real-life activists who put up flyers or sponsor fundraisers for missing women: It’s assumed victims are sex workers or runaways or are dealing with addiction and, whether or not that’s true, that makes it difficult for investigations to gather steam. And many of the crimes occur in the vicinity of “man camps” set up near mining operations, where the population is often transient.

“Where They Last Saw Her” balances sadness with the joyful camaraderie of the three women, especially in an inspiring sequence when they participate in a charity run in Duluth. The run emphasizes that Native women were the first to speak up for missing and murdered Indigenous women, and spotlights Ojibwe culture.

Respect for tradition is a big theme in the book, which presents the women’s culture from their perspective, rather than filtering it through a “white gaze.” That means practices such as tobacco offerings and characters such as the spiritual Elder Who Smudges are presented matter-of-factly. Context clues help readers unfamiliar with Ojibwe customs. Because the women wouldn’t be explaining them to each other in real life, however, Rendon’s book doesn’t explain them to us.

Rendon said “Where” is for everyone, yet she hopes Native readers will see themselves in it.

“Quill uses her middle finger as her fingerprint on her phone, and that, to many of us, is funny. And I can’t even explain why,” said Rendon. “The other thing that is true is that as Native people we face tremendous and horrendous oppression, but one thing that is also true about us is that Native people have really, really good senses of humor. They will find something funny about just about anything.”

The book balances tragedy and comedy, something Rendon says goes all the way back to her ancestors who shared stories orally.

“It’s only — what? — the last 100 years where we’ve had the knowledge or opportunity to write our own stories. Pocahontas never wrote her story. She couldn’t. Sacajawea never wrote her story,” said Rendon. “Being able to share the stories from our perspective is key. Not from the outside looking in. How do we tell our own stories, ourselves? Because something is always lost in translations.”

One theme that runs through most of Rendon’s work is that Native people are stronger than their traumas. The writer sees evidence of that in growing awareness of MMIW, including legislation focusing on the issue and an annual Valentine’s Day march to draw attention to the national tragedy.

But she also wants her fans to know “Where They Last Saw Her” is a gripping read.

“I’m not trying to write a history lesson or social studies curriculum,” said Rendon. “I’m trying to write crime novels that people will pick up at 3 in the afternoon and not be able to put down until 3 in the morning.”

Where They Last Saw Her

By: Marcie R. Rendon.

Publisher: Bantam, 307 pages, $28.

Events: 6 p.m. Wed., Sept. 4, Once Upon a Crime, 604 W. 26th St., free; 3 p.m. Sept. 28, Avant Garden Bookstore, 215 E. Main St., Anoka, free; Oct. 19 Twin Cities Book Festival, 1265 Snelling Av., St. Paul, free; 4:30 p.m. Nov. 6, Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour, Lowell Inn, 102 2nd St. N., Stillwater, $10.