In Astrid Scholte's inventive and beguiling mashup of murder mystery and fantasy, Four Dead Queens, the world of Quadara is a carefully divided realm in which technology and nature, commerce and beauty, reason and emotion are carefully sorted out among four wildly different regions, each with its own queen representing her people's unique character. Teenage thief Keralie Corrington is drawn into an intrigue that threatens to overturn the balance at the heart of this world — and Keralie's cunning and professional skill may be crucial to untangling a deadly conspiracy — if she can survive the ordeal. We talked with Astrid Schulte by phone about her approach to worldbuilding, the Stephen Spielberg film that inspired her career, and how she went about pursuing her goal of writing in her words, a fantasy version of Agatha Christie.