A Conversation with Cozy Mystery Author Chrystle Fiedler

with Chrystle Fiedler

We are delighted to welcome cozy mystery author Chrystle Fiedler to Omnimystery News today. Chrystle is visiting us courtesy of Cozy Mystery Book Reviews. We encourage you to visit all the host sites on her current tour; see her complete schedule here.

Chrystle's second "Natural Remedies" mystery, featuring naturopathic doctor Willow McQuade, is Scent To Kill (Gallery Books, February 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats).

We recently had a chance to talk to the author about her character and the series.

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Omnimystery News: Tell us what it is about the cozy mystery that appeals to you.

Photo provided courtesy of
Chrystle Fiedler

Chrystle Fiedler: I love the feeling of being immersed in a quaint Miss Marple-type town with a cadre of interesting characters. I don't miss the violence or sex. In a cozy all of that happens off-stage. Of course, the world of the cozy is in stark contrast to the murderous crimes committed there that shatter the peace and serenity. But I also know the detective will figure out the puzzle, catch the killer and put things back in their proper place. That's incredibly satisfying to me as a writer as well, to have the power to put things back into balance.

My cozy protagonist is Willow McQuade, a 29 year old naturopathic doctor who takes over a health food store — Nature's Way Market & Café — after her Aunt Claire meets an untimely end. The store is located in a lovely 3-story yellow Victorian house across with a water view. Inside, it's cozy too, with a homey feel, yummy cooking smells and the scent of essential oils, herbs and flower essences.

To complete my cozy universe, I gave Willow a hunky ex-cop love interest named Jackson Spade, an adorable rescued dog and two rescued cats, loyal friends and workers and the spirit of her Aunt Claire to guide her.

Willow is a great character, fun, enthusiastic about natural remedies, and a welcoming shop keeper, who is continuing her aunt's mission of helping people in the community. She also is intensely curious, a keen observer and tenacious as all heck. She won't stop until the killer is found and the Universe is back in balance again. So, while I expect Willow to be affected by what happens around her in the moment, I don't want her to change in any significant way. I like her just the way she is.

OMN: We introduced you as a "cozy mystery author". Do you consider yourself defined by the genre?

CF: I think it's an advantage to write in a specific genre, like cozies; it gives you focus and readers also know what to expect from you. Because of this, marketing, if you do it, to that reader becomes easier. There are many websites right now that are geared to cozy readers. At these sites, readers can learn more about favorite and emerging authors, new series and the cozy genre and all that means.

OMN: Tell us something about your new book that isn't mentioned in the publisher synopsis.

CF: I am a HUGE animal lover and animal rescue is a theme in the first book of the series, Death Drops, as well as in Scent To Kill, where Willow and her ex-cop boyfriend rescue two bedraggled dachshunds. I'm trying to teach as I write this arc, to make people more aware of what they can do to help, even in small ways. One of my favorite rescue organizations is All American Dachshund Rescue. The photo here is of me and Wallander, my rescue from AADR. If you can't rescue, maybe you can foster a dachshund or another dog or cat, volunteer to help in other ways or donate what you can.

OMN: It sounds like you've taken some of your own character traits and incorporated them into Willow.

CF: Absolutely. Willow McQuade is my Avatar. She is me, in the best sense of the word. I also have a strong drive to help others. I'm also very interested in natural remedies and as a journalist have written many articles about them and non-fiction books as well. Writing the natural remedies mysteries gives me a wonderful chance to share what I've learned about natural cures with readers. It's amazing what you can find in your kitchen and garden that can soothe and heal you.

In Scent to Kill, I focus on the practice of aromatherapy, the use of essential oils to improve health and well-being. As I'm writing I can just smell the lavender, jasmine and roses.

OMN: Tell us a bit about how you go about writing your books.

CF: I like to be surprised and if left to my own devices would just write from my notes and see where that took me. However, my editor wants to see some sort of an outline before I get started. I think it's a good idea and certainly understand why she needs to see it. But when I start writing I just use it as a loose outline so I remember what must be in each chapter but after that, I let the characters take me away!

OMN: You mentioned when we started that you like the appeal of a Miss Marple-type town for a mystery. Is that the case with the setting of your series?

CF: My natural remedies mysteries are set in a classic cozy setting, in this case, a real, idyllic fishing village on the East End of Long Island in NY called Greenport. When I was growing up the area was somewhat depressed but within the past two decades, Greenport has come into its own as a tourist destination with upscale eateries and boutiques, sandwiched between Mom and Pop hardware stores, diners and retro stores. Forbes magazine has even named Greenport one of the prettiest villages in the U.S. I try to represent Greenport and the East End of Long Island as faithfully as I can. Since I was born in Greenport and grew up here, and love the area, it's not hard to do. I've infused Willow McQuade's character with the same love of the East End and Greenport. As the setting for my natural remedies mysteries, Greenport is definitely an important character and influences me as I write every step of the way.

OMN: Did any specific authors influence your decision to write a cozy mystery series?

CF: Before I wrote cozy mysteries, I read them: Agatha Christie's tales of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and of course, Sherlock Holmes. And watched them: Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, and Murder, She Wrote, which I've recently rediscovered on Hallmark TV.

Whether it's by reading or watching these shows, I escape, like other readers and viewers do, to the coziness of quaint country villages, dappled country lanes, inviting stores on the high street, and lovely rose covered cottages and even the hustle bustle of cities like London, one of my favorite places to go.

Whether I am writing my cozies, reading or watching them, I experience the same comfortable, homey, and safe feeling, knowing that no matter what happens, that all will be well in the end. Considering the state of the world today, cozy mysteries are one of the best antidotes to reality I've found. I hope that the books in my natural remedies mystery series evoke the same feeling for readers.

OMN: What's next for you?

CF: I am starting to work on the next natural remedies mystery, The Garden of Death. It takes place during our annual Maritime Festival in Greenport and involves a new garden where suspicious things are happening. Willow to the rescue!

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Over the past ten years Chrystle has written about conventional and alternative health topics for many national publications including Natural Health, Vegetarian Times, Better Homes & Gardens, Remedy, and The Health Monitor Network. She was also the Good Nature columnist for Remedy magazine from 2006-2009.

When it came to fiction it was only "natural" that she wanted to incorporate her love for natural remedies into a cozy mystery. When she's not writing, she's spending time with family and friends, playing with her two dachshunds Holmes and Wallander, her two cats Tinker and Tuppence, taking a walk on the beach or gardening at her cozy cottage by the sea.

To learn more about the author and her work, visit her website at ChrystleFiedler.com.

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Scent To Kill
Chrystle Fiedler
A Natural Remedies Mystery (2nd in series)

At the Nature's Way Market & Café, a gentle touch, a dose of aromatic herbs, fresh evidence, and inspired investigating are the essential incredients to catching a killer!

When naturopathic doctor and shop owner Willow McQuade's ex-boyfriend Simon Lewis invites her to a party for the cast and crew of a new television show at Long Island's scenic Bixby Estate, she's most excited to visit the property's exclusive lavender farm. But a whole field of her favorite stress-reducing herb can't provide enough soothing support to calm the effects of a murder!

Even the show's psychic star didn't predict the demise of Roger Bixby, the estate's owner and estranged husband of Simon's new girlfriend. Now Simon, who's been collared by police, needs Willow's help to remedy the situation. As Willow snoops about the mansion, offering natural cures to ease the mounting tension, a strange energy — and the discovery of an eerily similar unsolved murder decades earlier — makes her wonder whether the alternative source of the crime might actually be … supernatural. Can she find harmony between mind, body, and possibly even spirits before somebody else goes up in smoke?