Carol Potenza

New Mexico Mysteries

Carol Potenza's website header

About Carol Potenza

Award Winning Mystery Author

Hi, I’m Carol

Here’s a little about me

I live in southern New Mexico with my husband, Leos, and our extremely grumpy chihuahua, Hermès. I love my adopted state and the desert southwest. It’s beautiful, and its strong multicultural history has been shaped by diverse peoples and cultures. Las Cruces sits nestled at the bottom of the Organ Mountains to the east and the Rio Grande to the west. It is the second largest city in the state, but has a wonderful small town feeling, and every fall, the scent of roasting green chile fills the air. I have a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from UC San Diego and worked in a plant genetic engineering laboratory at New Mexico State University for years before I moved to full time teaching—Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.

My husband’s family has been in New Mexico for generations. I moved here in 1991, so I love to explore the state. We’ve been to Angel Fire and climbed the wooden ladders at Bandolier. Visited El Morro and Chaco Canyon, and stood in the Lincoln County Courthouse where Billy the Kid escaped by murdering two deputies. We’ve stood in four states at one time and bought jewelry on the Plaza in Santa Fe, been to the depths of Carlsbad Caverns, sifted White Sands through our fingers, and toured the Alien Museum at Roswell. I’ve been to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque many times, though I have yet to fly in one. Maybe next year. This beauty of this state is the inspiration for my books and will continue to be for years to come.

The paranormal and “visions” I add to some of my books come from true stories told to me by relatives and friends who experienced them first hand—and their words can be hair-raising. I knew as I listened, I’d need to write them down and blend them into my fiction because I love that shivery feeling. I myself am not sensitive, except for one time. Ask me about it if we ever meet. I love to blend strong women sleuths, paranormal, and mystery with science to create my BiocheMysteries. I hope you will enjoy my stories.

What People Are Saying

 

Nicky’s temperament is another interesting twist. She is clearly not the perfect heroine investigator. I sometimes was angry with her for being oversensitive to imagined slights, and other times delighted with her courage.

S.L.
-for Spirit Daughters

“Carol Potenza’s award winning debut novel is a fascinating page turner that will leave readers anxious for the next in the installment. Pueblo Police Sergeant, Nicky Mathews, blends science, mysticism and cunning police work as she investigates a tribal murder that leaves her life in jeopardy. Thoroughly researched and masterfully plotted, Hearts of the Missing uses the atmospheric beauty of New Mexico to fully make… Read more “Tricia Fields”

Tricia Fields, The Josie Gray Mystery Series
- for Hearts of the Missing

“The Hearts of the Missing is engrossing, bewitching, and compelling. Filled with the natural enchantment of its New Mexico setting, this story of an intrepid detective in Native American culture and her FBI partner kept me rapt and delighted.”

Jeffe Kennedy, RITA® Award winning author of The Twelve Kingdoms and The Uncharted Realms
- for Hearts of the Missing

“Hearts of the Missing is a stunning debut. It’s compelling, intelligent, and brilliantly designed. Brava, Miss Potenza! I couldn’t put it down.”

Darynda Jones - NY Time Bestselling Author
- for Hearts of the Missing

“In the Hillerman tradition, Carol Potenza’s Hearts of the Missing winds and weaves together like a Tsiba’ashi D’yini basket holding one fine mystery.”

Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries, the basis for the Netflix drama Longmire
- for Hearts of the Missing

Tony Hillerman Prize Winner 2017 ‘Hearts of the Missing’ by Carol Potenza “New Mexico is a spectacular setting for mysteries, and Carol Potenza puts its majestic landscape to unexpected and thrilling use.”

David Morrell. New York Times bestselling author of Murder As a Fine Art
- for Hearts of the Missing

“Getting hooked on Carol Potenzas character Nicki Mathews. I just finished Third Warrior after reading Hearts of the Missing, also Nicki Mathews mystery set in New Mexico. The character Nicky Mathews has evolved in the past two books. She’s somewhat of a mystery herself. As a strong but vulnerable person she keeps up a a independent professional life when possible. Yet she has a inner… Read more “Nina Hampton”

Nina Hampton (Goodreads)
- for The Third Warrior

“I’ve been a long-time fan of Tony Hillerman since my father introduced me to those mysteries way back in the early 1970s. Since then, I’ve read every Tony Hillerman book and, being raised in the Southwest, love how he (and later his daughter, Anne Hillerman) capture the aura of the land and its people so beautifully and with such empathy. Author Carol Potenza’s debut novel,… Read more “Suanne Schafer”

Suanne Schafer
- for The Third Warrior
https://suanneschaferauthor.com/book-review-the-third-warrior/

“Author Carol Potenza is now on my automatic-buy list. I have read every Tony Hillerman book and, being raised in the Southwest, loved how he (and later his daughter Anne Hillerman) captured so beautifully the aura of the land and its people. Author Carol Potenza’s debut novel, Hearts of the Missing, won the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest and… Read more “SuZreader”

SuZreader
- for Nicky Matthews Mystery Series

“Tony Hillerman Prize recipient Carol Potenza strikes gold with her upcoming police procedural debut Hearts of the Missing.”

New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo
- for Hearts of the Missing

“The spirit of Tony Hillerman hovers over every page of Carol Potenza’s debut novel Hearts of the Missing (Minotaur), so it’s no surprise that, when still unpublished, it won the 2017 Hillerman Prize for the best first mystery set in the Southwest.”

Neil Nyren BookTrib
- for Hearts of the Missing

“I loved all the suspense, mystery and surprises in this book. There was so much suspense that it had me hooked to the storyline and I was so into uncovering the mystery of what was going on that I flew through this book and felt myself on the edge of my seat as I was reading through the chapters….I really enjoyed reading about Nicky’s characters.… Read more “Booksonthebookshelf”

Booksonthebookshelf.wordpress.com
- for Hearts of the Missing