• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header left navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Endorsements
  • Books
  • Periodic Table of Death
  • Contact
  • Blog
Carol Potenza

Carol Potenza

New Mexico Mysteries

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Goodreads

Tightly plotted and intelligent | Science and Suspense | Eerie Spirits and Visions | Action-Packed Thrills | Slow Burn Romance

BOOKS BY CAROL POTENZA

The Nicky Matthews Mystery Series

Hearts of the Missing

The Tony Hillerman Prize winning first book in the Nicky Matthews Mystery series. Members of the Fire-Sky Pueblo have gone missing, but no one seems to notice except a young woman who turns up dead in an apparent suicide. Pueblo Police Sergeant Nicky Matthews is assigned to the case and pressured by her superiors to close it quickly. But as Nicky’s investigation deepens, she discovers that the young woman and the Pueblo’s missing were targeted for murder—hunted because of their ancestry and genetics. With a hostile captain, interference by a politically powerful ex-lover, and a burgeoning relationship with one of the undercover agents, Nicky doesn’t know who she can trust.

READ MORE
AMAZON

The Third Warrior

Ancient prophecies and a stalking death. “They say the chief decided to approach this god of death and fire and called for volunteers. They say four brave warriors stepped forward to run into the fire. No one knew the warriors would return alive.” Three brothers who coveted the title of sacred fetish carver are dead. Is it murder? Or did the vengeful spirit of the god of death and fire require their sacrifice? A vulnerable young boy is the only one left to inherit. Can Fire-Sky Pueblo Police Sergeant Nicky Matthews protect him? With the tension, heat, and body count rising, Nicky’s actions take a reckless and dangerous turn, driven by elements outside of her control.

READ MORE
AMAZON

Spirit Daughters

A treasure beyond value. Her mother’s life on the line. When a murder victim falls out of a closet at Police Sergeant Nicky Matthews’ feet, her investigation leads her to a powerful tribal fertility medicine. What Nicky keeps secret is that this medicine was once at the center of her father’s scientific research. He’d isolated the single most-important compound in a fertility treatment worth a fortune … and worth killing for. But when her father vanished, the identity and location of the plant that produced this compound was lost. Or was it? Nicky’s archeologist mother may hold the key to the plant’s rediscovery which makes her the target of the desperate killers.

READ MORE
AMAZON

A De-Extinct Zoo Mystery

UNMASKED

Catch the Killer, Save the Bear. Veterinarian Milly Smith is living her dream, working in a zoo populated by de-extinct creatures resurrected from ancient DNA: Mammoths and mastodons, dire wolves and do-dos, camelops and saber-toothed cats. But a routine surgery on a massive short-faced bear goes horribly wrong and a colleague is dead. The bear is slated to be destroyed unless Milly can prove the animal was used  by a diabolical killer as a murder weapon. A killer whose attention has turned to Milly.

And Get Carol Potenza’s Latest Book FREE!

When you sign up for Carol’s Newsletter, you’ll receive updates and special deals from Carol sent directly to your inbox! After signing up, you’ll also receive an ebook copy of Unmasked: a De-Extinct Zoo Mystery completely on the house!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hi, I’m Carol Potenza.

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.

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.

READ MORE
The Periodic Table of Death

Click on a periodic table element to learn how it contributed to human death past, present, and future.

1 Hydrogen
2 Helium
3 Lithium
6 Carbon
7 Nitrogen
9 Fluoride
16 Sulfur
20 Calcium
Periodic table element Titanium with Ti abbreviation and atomic number. Spilled Skittles Candy is in the background
22 Titanium
24 Chromium
26 Iron
Periodic Table Depiction of Arsenic (As) with a Skull on top of gold books
33 Arsenic
36 Krypton
47 Silver
77 Iridium
82 Lead

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT CAROL POTENZA

Endorsements and Testimonials

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… 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
MORE ENDORSEMENTS

RECENT POSTS FROM CAROL POTENZA

Blog Post Feed

December 26, 2022 by Carol Potenza

New Year’s Resolution: Write a Mystery Challenge from Me to You

We’ll follow Demystifying the Beats and write a mystery What made someone who’d only written scientific papers and grants want to write fiction? (That would be me) An eReader for Christmas. This gift from my sisters-in-law was amazing. It allowed me to take dozens in not hundreds of books …

Read moreNew Year’s Resolution: Write a Mystery Challenge from Me to You
Detail of Still Life Oil Painting with Native American Pottery
November 23, 2022 by Carol Potenza

You are invited to Book Club to Discuss “Spirit Daughters”

I’m going to copy paste the write-up up from the wonderful Charlotte Zimmerman who coordinates the Mesilla Valley Readers of Southern New Mexico Book Club BUT this is actually an international book club with members from all over the world because they use Zoom for their presentations, as well …

Read moreYou are invited to Book Club to Discuss “Spirit Daughters”
November 2, 2022 by Carol Potenza

Have you ever seen a ghost?

I have, one time. That’s all.  Even though most of my books contain supernatural or paranormal elements, and I’ve actively looked (ask me about Ghost Tours that I’ve been on and the cemeteries I’ve explored), I think my mind is too scientifically ordered. That might sound intellectually snooty, …

Read moreHave you ever seen a ghost?
SEE ALL POSTS

carolpotenzaauthor

I would love for you to follow me on Instagram.

carolpotenzaauthor
This quote is really, really difficult. I’m not This quote is really, really difficult. I’m not sure indie authors “rest” (until they burn out), so it’s a good one to ponder.

We have to be ON ON ON, writing new stories, #revising and #editing, learning, #reading, researching, thinking, social media posts, #newsletters, business planning, publishing, selling, promoting…

So I was skeptical when @passionateink_org and @JordynKross started a new Salon on with Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre book, The Relaxed Author.

I’ve been really surprised on how much reading and then DISCUSSING the ideas with other authors in the same boat has helped.

I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolution. I think I’ll slip this whole “completely disconnect” in as something to think about…after I finish my WIP. 🙄

#amwritingmystery #lovetowrite #indieauthorsofinstagram
Replacement books for the #freelibrary at the park Replacement books for the #freelibrary at the park

I’ve taken three books 📚 this last month and will return three books 📚  from my shelves. That seems fair. (note the #Steelers figurines in the background. Not mine.)

We have a pretty good turnover in our free library in the park. Since there’s a wonderful used bookstore in town @COASBooks, there are some really old books in here. You know. From the 80s and 90s. Some are even politically incorrect(!)

Swipe to be introduced to Hermes, my chihuahua, but I’m going to be like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their kids and only show angles that allow him to maintain anonymity.

BTW, his harness is from “Cloak and Dawggie”. Since I’m a mystery writer, I love that name. It’s the only thing that fits him.
Instagram equation: My chihuahua 🐕 Hermes (nam Instagram equation:

My chihuahua 🐕 Hermes (named after the Greek god because he’s fast) loves ♥️ the park up the street from my house
+
Margaret Truman (Harry’s Truman’s daughter and a prolific murder ✍️ mystery writer) is one of two mystery writers who will be written up as February birthday 🎂 authors in our Redreines.com newsletter for next month (you should sign up)
=
“Murder at the Watergate” (1998) by Margaret Truman inside the Little Free Library 🆓 📚 at the park up the street

Coincidence? I think NOT. 🤨

I’m seven or eight chapters in and so far about 100 characters have been introduced and I know EXACTLY what they will be eating at a fundraiser. 🦆 I will try again tonight. I’m committed to reading until the first body drop. #mysterybeats

#murdermystery #readingmystery
New Mexico Bighorn Sheep We have two types of Bigh New Mexico Bighorn Sheep
We have two types of Bighorn sheep in the state: 🌄 Rocky Mountain (Ovis canadensis canadensis—bigger, darker in color) and 🏜️ Desert (Ovis canadensis nelsoni —smaller, lighter, with adaptations for extreme heat 🥵 and lack of water) 

The herd in the picture are Rocky Mountain Bighorns up by Questa, New Mexico, taken by my husband.

From estimates of over 2 million sheep in North America before the 1800s, the population fell to ~25K by 1960s because of overhunting and disease brought in by domestic sheep 🐑 and 🐐 goats. Bighorn biological characteristics (longer lifespan, low birthrates) probably didn’t help. The sheep were believed to be extirpated* (great word) in New Mexico by the early 1900s.

Starting in the 1930s, Rocky Mountain Bighorns were brought into New Mexico for reestablishment from Canada 🇨🇦 and have continued to increase in numbers because of strict protections AND high value auction hunts of…Bighorn sheep(!) People bid, literally, hundreds of thousands of dollars 💵 to get a bighorn sheep tag, for an average of ~$400K/year for about 20 🏷️ tags re-invested in population and conservation efforts in New Mexico.

An article I read from 2021 put the Desert bighorn population in NM at 1300 and the Rocky Mountain population at 1700. Both are considered stable.

It’s weird to think about such heavy-handed human interventions to maintain wilderness and wildlife—flying in sheep on 🚁 helicopters and hunting for conservation. (Although pouring money into a problem without fixing the root causes is an established American 🇺🇸 tradition.)

I actually explore this topic in my 🦣 De-Extinct Zoo murder mysteries. “Unmasked”, the first book in the series, is free with newsletter sign-up. Link in bio.

*Extirpated: Local extinction of a species/organism but that species/organism continues to exist in other places

#bighornsheep #rockymountainbighorn #NewMexicobighorn #Newmexicoconservation #newmexicowildlife #newmexico #newmexicotrue #unmasked #amwritingmystery
I’m in a Salon/book club in one of my writing ✍️ groups (@passionateink_org), and we’re reading/discussing Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre’s “The Relaxed Author.” This quote about writing and learning really resonated because I learn/research/study as I write.

Here are a few examples and the REASON I choose to write stories the way I do: @douglaspreston6 Child’s RELIC and FEVER DREAM, Connie Willis’s DOOMS DAY BOOK, and movies like NATIONAL TREASURE (dating myself, I know). They made me realize how much research and real life science/history/literature goes into fiction. 

Do you ever choose a book to read to learn? I’m not just talking about non-fiction, but fiction.

#joannapenn #bookclub #amwriting #amresearching #conniewillisbooks
I have a 🙏 confession: This post is connected t I have a 🙏 confession: This post is connected to my writing. First, I wrote a short birthday biography of Poe and Highsmith for @theredreines redreines and our newsletter. Part of that biography is below. Second, the first MURDER in my WIP (Sacred Ghosts) is a Strangers on a Train murder swap gone VERY wrong. 😳

ENJOY!

Edgar Allan Poe was born one dark and stormy ⛈️ night (Actually, I don’t know if it was dark and stormy. Just seemed appropriate) January 19th, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, the second child of two actors, Eliza Arnold Hopkins, and David Poe, Jr., who was considered inferior on the stage when compared to his pretty English wife because he had stage fright. Maybe that’s one reason David, who was also remembered as a mean 🍺 drunk, abandoned his family in 1810, never to be heard from again.
After giving birth to Edgar’s sister in 1810, Eliza Poe died 🪦 in 1811 at the age of 24 after she started spitting blood probably due to tuberculosis. (This just gets worse and worse.) The three children were split apart. Edgar, only two years old, was fostered by John and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia.

Let’s switch over to our second birthday—Patricia Highsmith. SURELY, her story will be happier. 👀

Born on January 19th, 1921, in Fort Worth, Texas,  Patricia’s parents divorced ten days before Patricia was born. Her mother remarried and the family moved to New York City, but then Patricia’s mother dumped her off at her grandmother’s when she was twelve. Patricia recalls that year as the “saddest” year of her life 😢 and that she felt abandoned by her mother, who once told her daughter she tried to abort her by drinking turpentine. Wow.

But Patricia got back at her mom by writing with a short story called “The Terrapin” about a young boy who stabs 🔪 his mother to death after she boils a turtle alive for dinner.

Well, that was a total train 🚂 wreck. Back to Poe but this is getting too long, so go to this site (redreines.com) and Click on the blog post: And HERE is the REST of the Story (with apologies to Paul Harvey). 😬

#amwritingmystery #writingmystery #writemystery #theredreines #mystery #Edgarallanpoe #patriciahighsmith
My grandmother’s favorite midday “story” sta My grandmother’s favorite midday “story” started with “Like the Sands of the Hourglass…” ⏳

Do you know which one it was?

When my sisters and I would visit her as kids during the 🌞 summer, we would eat lunch and then go to the front room with the television 📺 and she would sit in her chair with a small piece of paper and watch and fold that piece of paper into tiny accordion folds like a fan. Her fingers were always working, but her face never seemed to relax. I wonder about that now.

40% OFF #DemystifyingtheBeats for a few more days

#booksale #amwritingmystery #writingmystery #writemystery #theredreines
I’m writing ✍️ my new 2023 long mystery WIP I’m writing ✍️ my new 2023 long mystery WIP (tentatively titled Sacred Ghosts) and get to a point where I needed to link two high mesas somehow—to create a “passage” from one mesa to the other mesa (the GHOST mesa), almost in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade style.🤠

Nothing that I could come up with seemed reasonable and realistic. I couldn’t SEE this narrow, dangerous pass in my head.🤨

So I went to my normal Tuesday morning coffee ☕️ at @Milagro.coffee. The friend I meet gets the actual hard copy National Geographic. She brings me old issues to donate to Good Sam’s (raise your hand if your mom/grandmother and dad/grandfather have old issues stacked in their garage ✋) and THIS was on the cover! It’s the land bridge to the Citadel in Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument.

Problem solved. Wow. 

#amwritingmystery #WIP #nationalgeographic #BearsEarsMonument
Bracing statement. I liked this quote while at the Bracing statement. I liked this quote while at the same time I didn’t. #amwritingmystery
#DemystifyingtheBeats is the latest collaboration #DemystifyingtheBeats is the latest collaboration between my critique group @theredreines ♠️♥️♣️♦️ and came about because we were either #writingmysteries or adding #mystery to our books. 🔍📚

But the other thing we are doing is #readingmystery for other authors at the alpha and beta level.

A lot of people already know what alpha/beta readers are, but here are some quick definitions:

#Alphareaders look at your work before it’s polished by lots and lots of edits. They help you find holes and problems with the story early on and make sure stuff is working. My critique group mostly handles this type of reading for me because I want readers who are also writers. ✍️

#Betareaders are after polishing. After holes are fixed and themes are laid in. They will still find problems or things needing more clarification. I once had a beta reader ask me what happened to a favorite secondary character. In my race to finish my book, I’d forgotten about him. 🎇 Thanks,Judy! Howard Kie is now an integral part of that series. 

I also add a lot of science 🧬  to my work and tend to get into esoteric weeds, especially with jargon. I want beta readers who aren’t scientists to tell me whether I’ve explained my science well enough. 🎆 Thanks, Sabra!

I also alpha/beta read for other mystery writers outside my critique group. And that’s why I have Demystifying the Beats ready on my writing desk. I do the same when I am alpha/beta reading ♥️ romance with Romancing the Beats by Gwen Hayes. I am also stacking up some 🤠 Western beats for my new WIP.

Beats matter in your genre stories.

FYI, Demystifying the Beats will go on SALE at 40% off for the ebook starting January 15th on Amazon. The sale will last for a week.
Load More... Follow on Instagram
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog
  • For Book Clubs
  • Extras
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Sign up for Carol’s Newsletter

When you sign up, you’ll receive Carol’s latest mystery, “Unmasked: A De-Extinct Zoo Mystery” completely FREE!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Goodreads
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog
  • For Book Clubs
  • Extras
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms & Conditions

Other Books by Carol Potenza

Nicky Matthews Mysteries

The Third Warrior

Buy This Book Online
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Amazon Kindle
Buy from Apple Books
Buy from Barnes and Noble
Buy from Barnes and Noble Nook
Buy from Google Play
Buy from Kobo
Abe Books
Booktopia
Fantastic Fiction
The Third Warrior
Buy now!
The Third Warrior

Hearts of the Missing: A Mystery

Buy This Book Online
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Amazon Kindle
Buy from Apple Books
Buy from Audible.com
Buy from Barnes and Noble Nook
Buy from Books-A-Million
Buy from IndieBound
Buy from Kobo
Abe Books
BookWorks
COAS Books
Collected Works Bookstore
The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Hearts of the Missing: A Mystery
Buy now!
Hearts of the Missing: A Mystery

Spirit Daughters

Buy This Book Online
Buy from Amazon
Buy from GoodReads
Buy from Book Depository
Buy from Amazon Kindle
Buy from Barnes and Noble Nook
Buy from Kobo
Spirit Daughters
Buy now!
Spirit Daughters
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Goodreads

Copyright © 2022 · Carol Potenza All Rights Reserved.
Website by Stormhill Media