A really good series of mysteries by Marcie E Rendon. Sinister Graves has a creepy vibe. The story moves at a good pace. The characters are outstanding. ( )

This is not my favorite mystery plotline, but I still love this series. Very invested in Cash. ( )

When the dead body of a Native woman shows up in Ada after the flooding of the Red River subsides, Sheriff Wheaton calls on Cash Blackbear to see if she can offer any insights. Her search takes her back to the reservation where she was born and to an isolated Christian Church which seems to be a focus for missing woman and babies. Cash is a great character. The setting is wonderfully realistic. The mystery is engaging. ( )

The third Cash Blackbear mystery starts when a body floats into Ada during one spring Red River flood. The unidentified Native woman has only one clue: a torn page from a hymnal written in English and Ojibwe.

Since its Spring Break, Cash has time to help Wheaton do some investigating. Her investigation takes her onto the White Earth Reservation. She was born there but has been in the foster system since she was three years old and was raised on an assortment of farms owned by White people.

Cash meets an older Native lady who understands Cash's gifts and who offers her a medicine bag to help protect her as she is investigating. And Cash needs the protection as her investigation leads her to an isolated church with some strange beliefs and a pastor with mesmerizing appeal.

This was another exciting episode in an engaging series. This one talks about Native women and their babies and just how vulnerable they were and still are. The author's note talks about the many, many bodies of Native kids recently found on the grounds of the boarding schools that they were forced to attend.

The setting is very well done in this story. The reader can certainly feel Cash's love for the Red River Valley in every page. Cash's resilience and emotional fragility make her an amazing character. ( )

Third in the series. The plot can be wandering but this protagonist is a winner. ( )