"Murder on the Red River," a mystery by Marcie R. Rendon, is the latest book featured in the One Book / One Minnesota statewide book club.

Originally published in 2017, it's the first in her series of novels about Cash Blackbear, a young Anishinaabe woman who grew up in foster homes and is enlisted to help the local sheriff solve a murder.

Rendon, an enrolled member of the White Earth Anishinaabe nation, is a poet, essayist, children's author and playwright as well as a novelist. She won the 2020 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award and is a recipient of the Loft Literary Center's Inroads Writers of Color Award for Native Americans.

The One Book / One Minnesota club began in April 2020 as a way to unite the state during the pandemic lockdown. Through Sept. 26, Minnesotans will have access to author videos, reading guides, and virtual book club discussions on the website of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. They can download the e-book and audiobook for free here at Ebooks Minnesota. The book is also available at public libraries or can be purchased at local independent bookstores.

All Minnesotans also are invited to participate in a statewide discussion with Rendon at 7 p.m. Aug. 31. Her conversation with Allison Waukau, who is Menominee/Navajo and a member at large of the American Indian Library Association, is free and open to the public, but registration is required at https://bit.ly/3ihmUSJ.

Previous books discussed in the series are "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo; "A Good Time for the Truth," edited by Sun Yung Shin; "A Plague of Doves" by Louise Erdrich, and "Slider" by Pete Hautman.

Laurie Hertzel • @StribBooks