Carol Potenza is the author of Hearts of the Missing: A Mystery.From her Q&A with Paula Munier at The Thrill Begins:
Paula: Tell us a little more about Nicky Matthews. What inspired her character? What do you love most about her? What worries you most about her?Visit Carol Potenza's website.
Carol: Nicky was inspired by my sister-in-law who is a police officer on a Native American pueblo in New Mexico. I was fascinated by the stories she would tell about the pueblo and the traditions and culture of the people who lived there. But when I’d want more details about a ceremony or ritual, she’d shrug and tell me she’d never asked because it wasn’t her business. She believes the people she serves deserve their privacy on issues they don’t choose to share with outsiders. I wanted to make my protagonist like that, with the kind of respect my sister-in-law has for the pueblo.
What I love about Nicky is her total dedication to the people she serves. To do her job, she needs to walk right up to the edge of the pueblo’s traditions and culture, and put one foot in their world, but she won’t and can’t cross over completely because it breaks a trust. She believes her job fulfills her, but at the end of the day, she must leave that place and the people and go home to an empty house. What worries me about Nicky is that her choices have thrown up barriers to her happiness. Some she can work to overcome, but others, she can’t. She will always be...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue