Carol Potenza

New Mexico Mysteries

Demystifying the Beats Uncovers the Secrets of Mystery…

Demystifying the Beats: Dire Disruption The Dire Disruption will be at the end of Act 2, right at the midpoint climax. And like the midpoint climax in any story, it’s a watershed. After it occurs, everything changes. It’s the point where the sleuth is on the downward slope to solving the case, and the villain knows it. For a Whodunit, the Dire Disruption will probably be focused on the sleuth. In my Nicky Matthews mystery series, when you reach the Dire Disruption, you will DEFINITELY know it. It’s a slap in the face for both the reader and the sleuth. …

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I Love Graveyards…and Genealogy

Labor Day Saturday, we drove up to my mother-in-law’s hometown in northeastern New Mexico because she wanted to lay flowers on her mother’s and her husband’s mother’s graves. Since it meant visiting graveyards, I was in, because I absolutely love to visit graveyards, even if I don’t know anyone present. Ask my kids and husband. And wait for their eye rolls. This is my husband’s side of the family, who have been in New Mexico since the Spanish first arrived and before from their Indigenous genetics. I’ve actually been able to follow their lineage back to the late 1700s. Any …

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Krypton, Kryptonite, and the Periodic Table of Death

Krypton (Kr) is colorless, odorless, tasteless (Hey. Like iocaine powder) except it is chemically inert, which means it really doesn’t react with anything (1). It is essentially harmless. Or is it? All the noble gases can asphyxiate if you visit a small unventilated space that is full of Kr and not full of enough oxygen or have friends in low places because Kr is five times heavier than air. The only upside is that Kr has a whole-body narcotic effect, so death is relatively painless. There is a radioactive version, Kr-85, that is highly toxic (2) and can cause all …

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