Thank you to Ballantine and PRH Audio for the review copies. Where They Last Saw Her is a powerful and atmospheric novel that resonates with the works of Nick Medina and Tommy Orange, drawing attention to Indigenous lives and, crucially, the often-overlooked stories of missing Indigenous women. The audiobook format, with its moody intensity, beautifully captures the style and tone of Rendon’s work, making it an especially engaging way to experience the story.

The novel is rich in detail, offering deep insights into Quill's life and the paths she navigates. Rendon’s exploration of bystander behavior, passive acceptance, and the normalization of problematic mindsets is particularly impactful. I was especially moved by the portrayal of Indigenous women's lives and the complex experiences surrounding missing women, as well as the broader cultural treatment of women.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an eARC for this soon to be published novel. The author has been on my radar for some time as we share Minnesota roots and indigenous people relatives. This novel is an empowering present day view of the plight of many indigenous people wrapped up beautifully in a crime novel. I will seek out other works by this author past and future. Highly recommended read.

I would like to thank NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. I loved this book so much. It is an eye opener to the epidemic of violence that Native American Women face everyday. Can’t wait to read more by the author!!

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
This book follows Quill, a Native American woman who is scared for her life, her community, and her family as women keep disappearing from the reservation that they live on. One morning Quill is out running on the reservation when she hears a faint scream. She is convinced this scream has come from a woman. Quill is determined to find out what is going on and why these indigenous women are being targeted and keep disappearing. This is their land, and Quill wants to keep it safe and see that those behind the women’s disappearances are held accountable for their actions.
This book is so well written and I love the Native American history that Rendon has included throughout. Rendon’s storytelling is fantastic, gripping, and heart wrenching at times. I loved Quill’s character- she is strong, persistent, determined, a leader, and her character is so beautifully complex and well developed that you cannot help but adore her. This story grips the reader in from the first few chapters, and slowly the layers and the mystery are peeled back. There is just the right blend of suspense, tension, mystery, and emotion portrayed throughout. If you are looking for a powerful book that blends mystery with Native American history and the women who fall victim to the monsters that surround them then be sure to pick this one up!


𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
✦Mystery, suspenseful, and emotional books
✦Native American history
✦A powerfully moving mystery that centers around one courages and determined woman
✦Well developed, complex, and multi-layered characters
✦A gripping and engaging story from start to finish


𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

Native American author Marcie R Rendon is known in crime fiction for her smart and engaging Cash Blackbear series, but with Where They Last Saw Her she brings us a standalone novel about an amateur detective searching for some women. At a deeper level, Rendon explores the social issue of the thousands of indigenous women and girls who have gone missing and been murdered over many decades in the US and Canada. It’s a book that shows the injustice and violence done to indigenous women, through their eyes.

The novel opens with the main character Quill running on a snow covered trail on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota. She moves with ease and confidence, and is training daily for the Boston Marathon. The sound of a woman screaming in the distance brings her to a halt as she drops to the ground in fear.

There are no further screams. When Quill doesn’t see anyone else in the woods, she runs the three miles back to her car. Once she is home safely, she notifies the tribal police. They promise that they will drive to the area to check things out.

It is evident that Quill loves her home and family deeply. Her husband Crow is a mechanic who works from home unless he is out doing a service call. They have two children – a 10-year-old girl named Niswi, and a three-year-old boy called Jackson. He might be three, but he’s still referred to as Baby Boy. Quill and her friends joke about him still being called Baby Boy when he starts grade seven.

The following day, Quill and Crow return to the area where she heard the scream. The tyre tracks in the snow show that the tribal police only drove one mile down the trail and turned around. Quill sees their lack of thoroughness as a sign of incompetence and laziness. She and Crow go a couple of miles further along the trail and discover a spot where a vehicle was parked. The tracks in the snow indicate that there was some sort of a struggle beside the truck. Quill finds a beaded earring in the snow which she slips in her pocket.

The earring has a very distinctive style that Quill recognises as the work of Giigoonh Jones. She decides that she and Baby Boy should visit Giigoonh to see if she can learn anything about the woman who purchased the earring. Her friends and fellow runners, Punk and Gaylyn, join them. The earrings were sold to someone called Mabel Beaulieu – vital information to move the case forward. Quill vows to herself that she will make the tribal police find the missing woman.

Some men in a pickup truck follow Quill and her friends on their way home. The truck has no front plates and the back plate is covered with mud. Later when another woman is abducted, Quill becomes obsessed with finding out who was in that truck. Her searching does not go unnoticed. The more determined Quill becomes to identify the men, the greater the risk. This is amplified further yet another woman goes missing. You may struggle to decide if Quill is extremely brave or foolish in her determination, but you will not be able to put the book down.

Although missing indigenous women are often described as addicts or sex workers in the press, this takes a limited view of them and their lives. The press fail to see their posts on social media sharing images taken with their families and friends during happy times. When Quill researches missing and trafficked women, she discovers that in another area three oil and gas pipeline workers had lost their jobs after a sting operation uncovered the men’s role in trafficking the women. This information feeds her anxiety about what is happening in their community. The reputation of the pipeline workers is not good. Her anxiety is contagious. You too will worry about the girls and women living on the Red Pine reservation.

Rendon’s plot about the missing women and girls shines a light on the strange symbiotic relationship between the pipeline employees and the people who live on the rez. The men who traffic indigenous women as sex workers benefit financially through the exploitation. Their behaviour is not welcome in the community but it creates a strange dynamic as the oil companies bring much-needed money to the area. The hotels, restaurants and bars rely on their business. Rendon will have you invested in the lives of the people who live on the rez.

You may wonder why Quill takes so many risks in her search for the missing women. Why doesn’t she seek more assistance from the tribal police or from her husband? Crow is a good man and a loving supportive partner but this is not his story. Where They Last Saw Her is about indigenous women in control and supporting each other and in it we also see the support provided by the female elders in the community.

This story takes place on the Red Pine Reservation in Minnesota. Quill lives with her husband and two children. Their Ingenious nation is know as the Ojibwe to the the non-ingenious people. But they know themselves as Anishinaabe people. Quill knows that women of her color and looks disappear. So she must be careful as do her friends on the reservation. She is a runner and trains for marathons and runs in any type of weather. In Minnesota, the weather gets mighty cold and there is lots of snow. When she is running she hears and see things. I love when she see the the birds flying in the sky. But one day she heard a scream. How alarming that was to her and to wonder where it came from. She goes to look to see where the scream came from and finds a pretty beaded earring, but only the one.

Then another woman disappears, and in her heart she needs to know how they disappear. She must help, she searches for clues as to how and where they have gone. She learns of men who are working on a pipeline north of their reservation. This is a part of history many of you do not know, there are many Ingenious woman who have disappeared and have not been found. I wanted to read this book and I wanted to know the story and history of these happenings to these beautiful women. How can someone just take a wife, daughter, aunt, sister and even children too, then harm them. As, I am of native American background too.

I found this book very hard to put down each night when I would read. I would fall asleep wondering what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this book to those who want to learn this history. Thank you Marcie for penning this book. And a thank you to Bantam and Net Galley for approving me to read this wonderful book before publishing.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Native American goes missing and a trio of three other women begun a hunt for her. The characters are interesting and their backstories contain twists that demonstrate why the search is individually important to each woman.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When Quill and her husband, Crow live on a reservation in Minnesota. When out for a run in the Minnesota's Red Pine reservation, Quill hears a scream in the middle of the forest. She's unnerved and convinces Crow to go back out with her, where they find signs of a scuffle but nothing else. As Quill and her 2 friends begins to investigate, they discover that many women and children are going missing. When they figure out who is responsible, they take justice into their own hands.

This is a very well written and intensely engaging story based upon the kidnapping of native american women. Quill is a really strong, fierce main character who doesn't always make the best decisions but who clearly has her heart in the right place. I liked seeing Quill's interactions with her friends and how those relationships grow over the course of the book.

Really a well written, powerful book!

I think with this book, it's important to go in expecting a slower burn mystery than a thriller. I loved Quill's relentless pursuit of what happened to the missing women, and the book sheds light on the many Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons.

This story focuses on Native American communities and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women which needs to be talked about more, and I want to continue learning about. Although the topic is important, I had mixed feelings about how I wanted to rate this book because the writing was a little chaotic and didn't flow nicely. When a scene was set up it would suddenly be the next day and I felt like many times a thought was not completed. Also...I did see the twist coming and the end made me confused at times. I enjoyed the character development, the friendships, and strong female lead!

Everything changes for Quill when she hears a scream on her usual afternoon run. She, along with her friends Punk and Gaylyn find themselves pulled in and determined to find not only the mysterious woman but also to help other women who have been grabbed and abused. Her husband Crow (great character) isn't happy that she's putting herself at risk, especially after she becomes a target. But she's determined and she goes all in. What's up with Punk? What is the mystery behind Gaylyn? No spoilers from me. This is a propulsive, immersive thriller where you'll feel the cold, taste the stew, run with the women, and turn the pages. My only quibble beyond the slightly fuzzy life timeline for the characters is that the last couple of chapters which feel too hasty compared to the care taken earlier. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd not read Rendon before but I'm going to look for her in the future. Quill, as impulsive and reckless as she can be, is a woman to admire.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced mystery with its strong female characters, Quill and her two closest friends, as they work to help missing Native American women. It was easy to root for Quill and her friends, even when they put themselves in dangerous situations. I could see myself going to great lengths to save my own close friends as well. The story is gripping and brings important awareness to the issue of undocumented missing Native women, making it a must-read for everyone.

In the novel, Quill, a Native American woman from the Red Pine reservation, hears a scream during her morning run and finds only tire tracks and a beaded earring. When another woman goes missing, she decides she’s had enough and starts investigating the men working on a nearby pipeline. With the support of her friends and family, Quill is determined to uncover the truth and bring justice to her community, facing hard truths along the way.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for providing me this complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Marcie R. Rendon for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Where They Last Saw Her coming out September 3, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I really love Native American stories! I feel like I can’t get enough of them. This one had a really good plot. I loved Quill’s character. She’s a quiet but strong character who has compassion for the people who live on the Red Pine reservation. I loved her husband Crow was supportive of her. They work together well. There were some heavy themes in the book and I loved the exploration of those themes of crime, missing women and bystander culture. I would definitely check out more books by this author!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Native American stories!

This is a story that will tug at your heart strings. It will make you want to cry, kick and scream at the injustices. The author does a magnificent job of using the characters to humanize and create empathy in what is a horrible situation. In the midst of all of it she shows their resilience, kindness, love of community and family. It is a well crafted story and one I believe everyone should read.

First and foremost, "Where They Last Saw Her" effectively sheds light on the issue of missing and exploited indigenous women. The author adeptly weaves the challenges faced by these women into the storyline's mystery elements. The realistic portrayal of First Nations people and reservation life adds depth to the narrative.

Nevertheless, there are instances where the plot seems to slow down, particularly due to excessive dialogue from the main character, Quill. This detracts from the focus on the central missing woman.

Overall, "Where They Last Saw Her" is a worthwhile read. It offers an insightful exploration of the struggles of First Nations people. If you're interested in delving into this topic, I would recommend giving this book a read.

I received a digital advance copy of Where They Last Saw Her by Marci R. Rendon via NetGalley. Where They Last Saw Her is scheduled for release on September 3, 2024.

Where They Last Saw Her follows Quill, a woman living on the Red Pine Reservation in Minnesota. Quill is alone in the woods on a training run for the Boston Marathon when she hears a scream. Once she flees to safety, she reports the scream to tribal police, who sort of investigate. Unsatisfied, Quill heads out with her husband Crow and finds the site of a struggle and a single beaded earring. Convinced that another woman has been disappeared, Quill investigates the men working the pipeline construction with the help of two friends.

This novel deals with a lot of heavy topics: bystander culture, “invisible” women who go missing, the ripples that spread out from violence and crime, domestic violence, and human trafficking. Rendon manages to weave them together in a story that feels as if it could happen at any moment. The result is a novel that feels like a reflection of a slice of our world. Like Quill, the reader gathers clues to the layers of what is happening in and around this community. While there were not huge surprises or big plot twists, there was a definite sense of tension and danger throughout the story.

We spend all of the novel in Quill’s point of view, which means we get to know her best. I did feel a bit of distance from Quill, which might be the result of the writing style and the focus of the story. Quill spends the story in action, constantly moving forward in her mission to find the missing woman. This means we don’t get to know much about her outside of her quest. The writing style throughout the novel was very fact based, almost as if the narrator was reporting only what they could see. This also contributed to the sense of distance, as we didn’t get deep into Quill’s thoughts.

What was present and deeply developed in this novel was the setting and sense of culture. The story is primarily set on a reservation, giving us a peek into the culture of Quill’s tribe. We see the variety of lifestyles in the tribal members, from those who hold tightly to tradition to those who embrace modern culture. Strong throughout is the interaction of the tribe with those who are not members, and who may mean them harm.

Overall, Where They Last Saw Her is a mystery that delivers important insight and focus on women who are sometimes considered “invisible.”

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc of this novel! Where They Last Saw Her comes out September 3, 2024.

Where They Last Saw Her follows Quill, who, on a run one afternoon, hears a woman scream. From there, she and her friends try to find out what happened to that woman and what is happening to the women on their reservation and the surrounding area.

For some context: I love the Cash Blackbear series by Rendon. I think Cash is such an interesting and complex main character. I was so excited to see Rendon come out with a novel separate from that series and, as a whole, it didn't disappoint. Quill's relationship to her family, friends, and her community are beautifully rendered. This novel is very much centered on the MMIW crisis (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), which means that it can be extremely hard to read. There is a decent amount of tension as we have the folks on the reservation living in fear and anxiety of the men working on the pipelines and the danger that they bring with them into the community (both environmentally and in terms of gendered and racial violence). This is an important read and I hope it's one that inspires non-Native audiences to learn more about how they can help and support Native peoples -- especially Native women and children.

I would also encourage non-Native readers and reviewers to resist the urge to complain about the use of Anishinaabemowin in the novel -- specifically the fact that there are no translations. Context clues can allow you to gauge what is being said. I would encourage you to think about the fact that maybe that's not for you. Plus, google is free if you really want to know.

I do have some critiques about the pacing of the novel and its inconsistencies. There will be instances where a character leaves a place and then re-leaves that place like two sentences later. Very small details that are out of place or repetitive or inconsistent. I also think that Rendon's writing and storytelling is really conducive to slightly shorter length novels or novellas. This felt a bit too long and we probably could have done without a couple of instances of running or Quill wondering the same thing over and over again.

I also had a hard time with the repeated info dumps on MMIW and other issues affecting Native communities. I understood having some information once but that same information would be repeated multiple times in a way that felt didactic and unnecessary. The characters would also say things that clearly felt like they were for an audience that did not understand what was happening and that didn't feel authentic to the characters themselves.

There was also one moment where the novel likens having piercings to self harm (specifically cutting oneself) which was so unnecessary and almost offensive. I hope that is taken out of the final copy because it reads like such an outdated thought on piercings and other bodily ornamentation. Very harmful!

Critiques aside, I do think this is an important novel and one I would recommend. I would also recommend being mindful of the content, specifically if sexual violence and harm is a trigger for you.

📚 Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie Rendon 📚

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this early. Pub date September 3rd!

This is a standalone novel/thriller about MMIW in Minnesota. It's not a Cash Blackbear novel and I found myself thinking about similarities and differences between Quinn, the main character in this, and Cash, the very beloved amateur sleuth from the series.

Quinn is a little bit older than Cash, is a mother, and is in a good relationship with her husband. She grew up in her tribe and on the reservation, unlike Cash who was in several foster homes before ICWA. Quinn is also living in present day Minnesota whereas Cash is in the early 70s. As I read further into the book, I discovered some of their similarities - especially the tendency to make rash decisions that place themselves in clear danger, and their lack of trust in authority figures like police to make a difference when it gets down to it. Needless to say, I loved this book even though it didn't feature Cash, and she was still in my thoughts a lot while reading it.

Quinn navigates fear, trauma, parenting through trauma, trust issues, while investigating a disappeared woman whose scream she heard while she was out running. Though some of her decisions confused me, I came to realize that they were about doing what she only trusted herself to do, no one else, when it came to protecting women from the man-camps and other places and people who were preying on them. I loved how she used running and the community uplifted her with that and it helped with some healing. The book is thought-provoking and brought up the sense of horror that families of MMIW are feeling all the time. It's an unputdownable thriller and also a book that brings this issue to the forefront, everyone should read it.

Quill is a Native American woman who is tired of seeing women go missing on and around the reservation. She is scared for her life and her friends and family. She’s not a person to take it lying down. She starts investigating the missing women and discovers shocking things.
This was an interesting story and had me quickly flipping the pages. Thanks NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this eARC that will be released September 3, 2024!

Where They Last Saw Her covers some very hard but very real issues for Indigenous Women and children. This book is a fictional story of Native American women living on a reservation in northern Minnesota. The women have to do things in a group in order to be safe. The reservation law enforcement is overworked and often can’t spend enough time on each case.
Marcie R. Rendon does a good job with informing us of some of the statistics for Native American women’s abductions, murders and trafficking. There are over 4,000 unsolved murders and missing Native American/Indigenous women.

The book is definitely a hard to read book, but I really enjoyed reading about the women who helped each other. The elders and families were respected. Altogether, the members of the reservation were a cohesive group.

This review has been hard to write, I wanted to tell of the issues that are happening and yet also state how much I loved this book. Something must be done to help the Native American women who have been abducted, raped, trafficked, and abused.

This book would be a great for a book club, I would love to be a part of the discussion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. The review is entirely my opinion.

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