Cash Blackbear is back again in the second entry of Marcie R. Rendon’s Cash Blackbear Mystery Series, Girl Gone Missing. Just like its predecessor, the strength of Girl Gone Missing does not lie in the process of mystery-solving, but more so on how that process affects the titular character, Cash.

Girl Gone Missing picks up where Murder on the Red River ended, with Cash starting her freshman year of college. She’s underestimated and underchallenged, leaving her discontent in her new setting. She is brought into the investigation of a missing girl by her long-time mentor, Sherif Wheaton, who encourages Cash to use her prophetic dreams to solve crime in the past. Wheaton has also been the only consistent adult in her life since she was forced into the foster care system at age three.

Just like the first novel, Girl Gone Missing explores Cash’s childhood traumas as an Ojibwe being passed around from foster family to foster family, but with more detail than the first one. Cash is more in touch with her feelings this time around, her thoughts a little more vulnerable than they were in Murder on the Red River, as she pushes herself outside of her comfort zone- taking college classes, reconnecting with family, meeting with other Indigenous students, and spending a little less time drinking beer at the Casbah.

The mystery in Girl Gone Missing did not keep me wondering or worrying about the resolution, but that doesn’t mean I could put the book down. While it’s only the second in the series, I feel so attached to Cash. I want her to always stay as independent and tough as she is, but it’s so nice to see her experience love and comfort too. Watching Cash grow through the start of the series has been such a pleasure, I can’t believe I have to wait until October for its follow up, Sinister Graves.