Spirit Daughters continues author Carole Potenza’s Nicky Matthews Mystery series. I’ve read every Tony Hillerman mystery and, having been raised in the Southwest, love how he (and later his daughter Anne Hillerman) captured so beautifully the aura of the land and its people. When I heard Potenza’s Hearts of the Missing had won the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest, I was intrigued enough to read it and to continue with her Nicky Matthews mysteries.
Potenza’s books are every bit as enthralling as one of the Hillermans’ Leaphorn/Chee/Manuelito mystery novels. Potenza’s knowledge of and love for the New Mexico landscape comes through clearly. Additionally, she has a strong female protagonist in Nicky Matthews, an officer in the police department of the Fire-Sky people. Though not a native, she is trusted by the people she serves. For years, Nicky has been estranged from her parents, both world-class archeologists, though her father has since died. Nonetheless, her parents’ ethnobotanical research leads Nicky to investigate tribal fertility rites and medicinal herbs while uncovering a murderer. Her mother unexpectedly pops back into Nicky’s life, resulting in the unraveling of many of Nicky’s innermost demons. As always in a Potenza novel, there is enough science to entertain this physician. Can’t wait to read the next one!
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Spirit Daughters (Tiny Mammoth Press, September 6, 2022) is available through:
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You can find my reviews of Potenza’s Hearts of the Missing here and of The Third Warrior here.
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