Potenza (the Nicky Matthews series) pairs an idiosyncratic sleuth with a rip-roaring plot in this promising series launch. Gruff paleontologist and poison expert Myrna Lee, whose colorful past includes stealing from Siberian ivory hunters who subsequently threatened her with a rocket launcher, is seeking evidence to support her theory that human ancestors hunted prehistoric megafauna, including mammoths, with poison. With few promising leads and her grant funds drying up, Lee is thrilled to learn that a New Mexico ranch owned by the influential Donavan family houses a collection of artifacts that could help prove her thesis. Lee attempts to persuade matriarch Sylvia Donavan to give her access to the collection if she solves the mystery of what, or who, is poisoning elks on the ranch—deaths which, if they’re made public, could scuttle the presidential aspirations of Sylvia’s husband, Charles. Lee’s mission grows even more complicated when she finds evidence that the poisonings were intentional, then discovers the body of an apparent murder victim on the property. Potenza peppers the action with plenty of enjoyable plot twists, and Lee’s endearingly antisocial antics make her a refreshingly iconoclastic lead. Readers will be eager for the sequel. (Self-published)