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 next installment of the acclaimed Native crime series.Minnesota, 1970s: It’s spring in the Red River Valley and Cash Blackbear is doing fieldwork for a local farmer—until she finds him dead on the kitchen floor of the property’s rented farmhouse. The tenant, a Native field laborer, and his wife are nowhere to be found, but Cash discovers their young daughter, Shawnee, cowering under a bed. The girl, a possible witness to the killing, is too terrified to speak.
In the wake of the murder, Cash can’t deny her intuitive abilities: she is suspicious of the farmer’s grieving widow, who offers to take in Shawnee temporarily. While Cash is scouring White Earth Reservation for Shawnee’s missing mother—whom Cash wants to find before the girl is put in the foster system—another body turns up. Concerned by the escalating threat, Cash races against the clock to figure out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse.
Broken Fields is a compelling, atmospheric read woven with details of American Indian life in northern Minnesota, abusive farm labor practices and women’s liberation.
"Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman, is back on the case after two men are found dead on a rural farm in Minnesota in the next installment of the acclaimed Native crime series. 1970s Minnesota. It's spring in the Red River Valley and Cash Blackbear is doing summer field work for Bud Borgerud, a local farmer-until she finds him dead on the kitchen floor of the property's rented farmhouse. The only possible witness to the murder is the young daughter of a Native field laborer who was renting the house. The girl, Shawnee, is too terrified to speak about what she's witnessed, and her parents seem to have vanished. In the wake of the murder, Cash can't deny her intuitive abilities: she is suspicious of the dead man's grieving widow, who offers to take in Shawnee temporarily. While Cash scours the county and White Earth reservation trying to find the missing mother before the Shawnee is placed in the care of a social worker-the same woman who placed Cash in foster care a decade earlier-another body turns up. Concerned about the girl's fate, and with the help of local Sheriff Wheaton, Cash races against the clock to figure out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse. Broken Fields is a compelling, fast read with seamlessly woven in details of rural life, the American Indian Movement, abusive farm labor practices, and women's liberation."--