1st-time local author makes debut with mystery novel

When she went to the library with her mom for the first time, Kate Michaelson had no idea where to start.

The Ottawa Hills resident was told by her mother, Connie Oney, “You can never go wrong with a mystery,” she said.

Years later, Ms. Michaelson went from reading mysteries to writing one of her own.

Her first book Hidden Rooms , has received mass acclaim from readers of the mystery novel, garnering many four to five-star reviews on Google Books and Amazon.

“It’s been wonderful,” she said. “When I hear [that] the reader resonates with something in the book, that just means everything.”

The novel centers around Riley Svenson, a long-distance runner from rural Ohio who’s struggling with a mystery illness, and returns home and finds herself trying to clear her brother’s name after he’s accused of murdering his fiancee.

It follows Ms. Svenson as she’s trying to solve the case while also dealing with her mystery condition, which causes her to struggle to get out of bed and pass out at home after she returns from looking for clues.

Her mystery condition was partly inspired by Ms. Michaelson’s own experiences dealing with a mystery illness, which she later found out was Lyme disease.

“I remember when I was trying to figure out what was going on,” she said. “I would go to different specialists and have all these tests and then not give any answers. ... I remember one night I was walking my dog and thinking, ‘I feel like a detective trying to figure this out, going to all these sources and putting information together.’

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if there’s a mystery where someone is trying to figure out their own condition and solve a murder mystery.’”

The idea stuck with the author for five years but she didn’t act on it until the coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Michaelson said.

When there were mass quarantines and people were urged to stay home, she suddenly had a lot of free time to work on the book.

“I decided if I’m ever going to do it, now’s a great time to do it,” she said. “If I don’t sit down and actually try, it’s not going to happen.”

Ms. Michaelson later joined the Toledo Writers Group, a conglomerate of poets and authors who meet to critique each other’s work, she said.

Fellow member Keith Davis praised the unformulaic structure of the novel and depth of the characters.

“It’s a very rich book,” he said. “The language is rich, the characters are well developed and drawn.”

Ms. Michaelson’s book being published is inspiring for members of the group that are working to have their novels, poetry, and children’s books published, he said.

Though she isn’t the first author in the group who has had a book published, it was nice for members to see the process, he said.

“It’s really funny being in the group because, with her [Ms. Michaelson], she started showing us chapters of Hidden Rooms , and you see it typed out on paper and you’re reading it and you're in Panera’s and there’s all this hubbub going on,” Mr. Davis said.

“Then the next thing you know, the same words are on [a] printed page in a book with a cover and a design. ... She’s done us proud.”

Ms. Oney said her daughter writing the mystery novel was unexpected, and she’s proud of the success Hidden Rooms has received.

“I think it’s amazing,” Ms. Oney said. “I thought it was wonderful. ... I liked the back and forth between her sister and I liked that relationship she portrayed.”

Though she had more time to work on Hidden Rooms , it was still a challenge for her to actually write the book because of her Lyme disease diagnoses, Ms. Michaelson said.

She struggles from symptoms like joint pain, which can make it difficult to sit at a computer, and extreme fatigue and brain fog, which can make writing harder.

Despite her struggles with Lyme disease, she wrote what she could depending on what symptoms she was dealing with that day, Ms. Michaelson said.

“I definitely have good days where I can do a lot and feel healthy but then there are times when it’s a little bit more of a struggle,” Ms. Michaelson said. “Something that was really hard for me for a long time was accepting limitations. I wanted to recover and be 100 percent and be able to do everything I used to do. I would try to do all of those things I used to do and then I’d get more sick.”

Ms. Svenson will be making a return in a sequel to Hidden Rooms , Ms. Michaelson said, which will see her try to identify bones found in a field in her hometown. The character suspects the bones could be a friend of hers.

Ms. Svenson will also find out what her illness is and the story will see her have to take a leave from work for treatment.

“Riley immediately thinks maybe this is a friend she had one summer who moved there with her father and then they suddenly left town but she was always suspicious that it was something more that happened to her,” she said. “She’s kind of finding her sense of purpose by looking into what happened to her friend.”