Hazel Kanetzki is the owner of the Kanetzki Funeral Home (fictional) in the town of Stevens Point, WI (real town). She is a member of the Order of the Good Death (real organization), and provides a number of services for the deceased and grieving. She is also adept at reading the Tarot.
Hazel was born Hazel Connolly, the eldest child of the Connolly family, which is an old witch family (fictional) of Stevens Point. She has twin siblings, a brother, Rowan, and sister, Ashley, who together run the Sun and Moon Coffeehouse and Bookstore, which is located on Main Street leading into what used to be a mall and which is now Mid-State Technical College (this is my rebellion against the Children’s Museum which ran my favorite Coffeehouse, The Supreme Bean, out of business several years ago — in my fictional universe, the Children’s Museum does not exist, and the Bean is now the Sun and Moon).
As a member of an old witch family, Hazel sits on the Watch Council. The Watch Council monitors supernatural activity in Stevens Point and Portage County in general. They maintain the Gate at Iverson Park, and provide services to supernaturally-aligned individuals who choose to join. The Watch Council is essentially part HOA, part union.
Hazel married Peter Kanetzki, the heir to the funeral home, and inherited it upon his death two years ago. When Peter died, Hazel discovered an ability to go into trance while preparing a body. During these trances, she creates artwork that is somehow meaningful to the deceased and/or to her.
I have already written the short story in which Hazel prepares Peter’s body and discovers her ability, and hope to publish it in the near future. I am also planning a series of murder mysteries in which the images within the art provides clues (including Tarot-based clues) to Hazel as she navigates various crimes. She has a huge black Maine Coon cat, Belladonna, who is the reincarnation of one of the old Connolly matriarchs, and who will occasionally help Hazel with her cases.
Let me know what else you would like to know about Hazel!
Leave a Reply