The Marcus Black Series
No One Came Looking
Book One
An FBI agent investigating cold cases on the reservation where his grandmother lived finds himself reckoning with the heritage he left behind.
Series
The Marcus Black Series, Book One
Genre
Indigenous supernatural mystery
Publisher
Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks
Editor
Melissa Rechter
Representation
Sara Megibow, Megibow Literary Agency
Publication
Fall 2027
Book Two
Fall 2028
Deal Announced
Publishers Marketplace, July 14, 2026
Representation
Publishing & rights inquiries
Sara Megibow
President and Senior Literary Agent
Megibow Literary Agency
For publishing, subsidiary rights, licensing, and adaptation inquiries concerning Jerin Falcon’s books, contact Sara directly.
01
The idea that would not leave
I can’t say I ever planned to become a writer.
I’ve always read voraciously, probably since middle school. When I read a book, I see it like a movie in my head. That’s why books have always captured me so completely. They’ve carried me into a thousand worlds through a thousand stories.
The story that became No One Came Looking had been in my head for a long time. The idea would not leave me alone. Eventually, after I retired and moved to Japan, I thought, “I wonder if I could write this book.”
So one day, I sat down and gave it a shot.
I have ADD, and when something catches hold, I hyperfocus. That’s what happened with this story. I stayed with it until the book was out of my head and on the page.
02
The first readers
Several drafts and rereads later, I thought maybe I could let a few people read it.
Before I sent a single query letter, I handed the manuscript to people I knew would tell me the truth. Law enforcement folks. People with real Indian Country experience. People I came up with in BIA OJS. Nobody in that group was going to pat me on the back just to protect my feelings.
They shot me straight.
“I didn’t say I liked it. I said I loved it.”
An early reader
One compared it to books he had only read twice in his life, all written by Stephen King and Ken Follett. A few people teared up. More than one asked me, “Are you Marcus?”
That’s when I started to think maybe I had something.
03
Finding representation
Then came the part nobody warned me about: learning the publishing world from scratch.
I knew nothing. I had to learn what a query letter was and how to write one. Then I had to learn what a synopsis was, why agents wanted one, and why it was somehow harder to write than the actual book. I learned about comp titles, genre expectations, word counts, manuscript requests, QueryTracker, Publishers Marketplace, response windows, and what “no response means no” feels like when you are on the receiving end of it.
31
Queries Sent
4
Offers of Representation
2
Books Under Contract
The first full-manuscript request came back within hours. Another arrived the next morning. Then more followed, mixed in with the silence, form rejections, and agents who never responded.
I took my time and chose the person I believed understood not only this book, but what I wanted my future as a writer to look like.
That person was Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency.
04
Finding a publishing home
Sara sold No One Came Looking to Melissa Rechter at Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, as part of a two-book agreement.
The deal was announced in Publishers Marketplace on July 14, 2026. No One Came Looking is scheduled for publication in Fall 2027, with the second Marcus Black mystery to follow in Fall 2028.
Suddenly, the story that started in my head and followed me across the ocean to Japan had a publishing home.
I still can’t always say the word about myself out loud.
Writer.
It still feels borrowed.
But here I am. And I’m enjoying every minute of it.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m sitting in a rowboat and the oars are still on the shore.”
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