Hidden Rooms by Kate Michaelson

Hidden Rooms

by Kate Michaelson

April 22 – May 17, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

When murder hits home.

Long distance runner Riley has been fighting various bewildering symptoms for months, from vertigo to fainting spells. Worse, her doctors can’t tell her what’s wrong, leaving her to wonder if it’s stress or something more threatening. But when her brother’s fiancée is killed—and he becomes the prime suspect—Riley must prove his innocence, despite the toll on her health.

As she reacquaints herself with the familiar houses and wild woods of her childhood, the secrets she uncovers take her on a trail to the real killer that leads right back to the very people she knows best and loves most.

For readers who enjoy Deer Season by Erin Flanagan, All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers, and A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham.

Praise for Hidden Rooms:

“With a fresh voice and gorgeous writing, Hidden Rooms by Kate Michaelson is a stunning debut mystery that sweeps the reader along until the surprising conclusion.”
~ Connie Berry, USA Today bestselling author of the Kate Hamilton Mysteries

“This remarkable debut novel expertly combines a compelling mystery with a richly drawn cast of characters and a strong, beautifully portrayed sense of place. An engaging, gripping read.”
~ Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Shamus, Derringer, and International Thriller Writers award-nominated author

“Michaelson’s witty eye, sharp portrayal of illness, and twisty case make for a standout debut!”
~ Erin Flanagan, Edgar-Award winning author of Come with Me

“Hidden Rooms is a suspenseful tale full of interesting characters. This well-told story with its unexpected ending will leave the readers begging for more.”
~ L. C. Hayden, award-winning author of the Bronson Thriller Series and the Aimee Brent Mystery Series

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: CamCat Books
Publication Date: April 30, 2024
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 9780744310153 (ISBN10: 0744310156)
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | CamCat Books

Read an excerpt:

I grew up inside a lightning bolt, in a family of pure momentum. My siblings and I were young, stupid, and fearless in our white gingerbread house, surrounded by dark earth, green shoots, and wild woods—untamed beasts running loose from morning to night. We snarled and bucked, more a pack than a family.

Born less than a year apart, my brother Ethan and I spent most of our lives scrapping after the same few things, pinching each other where we knew it would hurt the most. But we also protected each other. When Trevor Paltree shoved Ethan off the tall metal slide the first day of preschool, I kicked Trevor’s little ass, and I’d do it again.

Only, now, I didn’t know what protecting my brother looked like, though I felt fairly certain that kicking his fiancée’s ass was not it. Besides, I couldn’t even say what exactly Beth was up to, which (admittedly) undermined my argument. Putting my head down and going along with the wedding might feel cowardly, but it also seemed like the least destructive path forward.

So, that’s how I found myself pulling up to Ethan and Beth’s house to pick up my puce monstrosity of a bridesmaid’s dress with Beth’s recent words still replaying in my mind: Riley, you know I’d never do anything to hurt Ethan. The problem was that she also once said with a wink and a smile that what Ethan didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. I parked in the shade of a lowlimbed oak and got out, lifting my hair off my neck to catch the breeze. The autumn sun had built throughout the afternoon into the kind of fleetingly gorgeous day that makes up for Ohio’s multitude of weather sins: one last warm postscript to summer. Rain loomed in the low shelf of clouds to the north. I crossed my fingers that it would hold off until I could get home to walk Bruno. Maybe I could even get a run in if my energy held out.

My phone buzzed, and I knew without looking it would be Audra. She called most days and knew that just the previous night, I’d finally worked up the nerve to have a conversation with Ethan about Beth. She would want the details. I was amazed she had waited this long.

“How’d it go with Ethan?” Her melodious voice skipped along briskly. People usually went with what she said simply because they were so swept up with how she said it. As her sister, I was an exception.

“Hello to you too.” I continued toward the house but slowed my pace. “I’ll give you one guess how it went.”

“Hello, dearest Riley. I guess he got mad.”

“Not just mad. He guilt-tripped me. I asked him if he’d noticed anything wrong with Beth, and he acted all injured about it. He told me, ‘She thinks you’re her friend.’” I mimicked Ethan’s self-righteous tone. The jab still stung. “I told him I think of her as a friend too, which is how I know she’s hiding something.” Granted, I couldn’t untangle what it was. It was something I sensed more than saw—a shift in posture or flicker behind an expression. The past few weeks she’d become more self-contained than ever, which was saying something for her.

“Yeah, but can you really be friends with someone who has no personality? It’s like being friends with a mannequin. I don’t know how you can tell if she’s hiding something when she never shares anything—”

“Look, I can’t talk about it now.” I lowered my voice as I neared the house. “I’m at their place getting my dress. I’ll call you later.”

I climbed the porch steps, the front of their house looking so Instagram-perfect that I wondered whether I’d been seeing problems that weren’t there. The afternoon light slanted across the pumpkins and yellow chrysanthemums that Beth had arranged just so. Dried bundles of corn rattled in the breeze. Beneath the pale-blue porch swing, Beth had set out a matching ceramic bowl full of kibble for Bibbs, the half-feral cat that had adopted her and Ethan.

The only thing amiss was the open door of the old-fashioned cast-iron mailbox nestled amid the pumpkins and flowers. Beth would kill the mail carrier for ruining the ambiance. I grabbed the few pieces of mail in the box and shut the little door obligingly, like a good future sister-in-law.

Careful not to disturb a precarious wreath of orange berries, I knocked on the screen door and tapped my foot, ready to grab my puffy dress and go. I had been a whirl of motion all day, zipping through work and crossing items off my to-do list. I worked for Wicks, an oversized candle company that sold overpriced candles. Today was my last day in the office before a trip to England to set up the IT network at our new British headquarters.

For months, I’d been fighting some kind of long-term bug my doctors couldn’t figure out, but today I felt a glimmer of my former self, twitchy with energy and moving at a clip to get everything done.

***

Author Bio:

Growing up in rural Ohio, Kate Michaelson simultaneously developed a love of nature and a strong desire to live closer to a mall. Pursuing the latter, she attended Ohio State, where she studied English and Psychology. After earning her MFA in Creative Writing, Kate worked as a technical writer and taught English at St. Petersburg College in Florida and, later, at the University of Toledo in Ohio. Over the years, she has published academic articles, creative nonfiction, poetry, and short stories. Her debut novel, Hidden Rooms, follows a distance runner who returns to her rural Ohio hometown and must clear her brother of murdering his fiancée while also seeking answers to her own medical mystery. As someone with Lyme disease and dysautonomia, Kate’s writing uses humor and suspense to explore the experience of coping with chronic illness. Ultimately, she wants to portray the reality of the challenges that invisible disabilities pose while also demonstrating that “ability” is not a binary concept—that illness does not equal a loss of self or agency.

Kate enjoys traveling, hiking, and trying (fruitlessly) to tire out her Labrador mix. She works in curriculum design and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. She lives with her husband and pets in Toledo, Ohio, only ten minutes from a mall she now avoids whenever possible.

Catch Up With Kate Michaelson:
www.KateMichaelson.com
Goodreads
Threads – @katemichaelsonwriter
Instagram – @katemichaelsonwriter
Twitter/X – @KateMichaelson3
Facebook

Tour Participant Reviews:

‘A puzzling plot that should keep you guessing! ‘
~ bookwormbecky1969

‘A suspenseful story that keeps you turning the pages. I really enjoyed this book. A very well written story.’
~ elaine_sapp65

‘Brilliant debut! The quality of the writing, sophisticated plot development, and accompanying suspense are confident and accomplished. I was hooked from the start by the engaging characters, small-town farming community setting, and immediate sense of foreboding. While the story begins quietly and mundanely, it makes a quick about-face and is suddenly off and running, the tension and suspense in high gear. Plot twists guaranteed my rapt attention, and the book had me tightly in its grip until the very end. I suspected every character in the book but never predicted the final reveal.’
~ Guatemala Paula Loves to Read

‘Every time I turned the page I suspected someone different. It had my head spinning, but in a good way! This book was very suspenseful, twisty, and even kind of spiderwebby. Fantastic character development! I thought the Author did a great job of wrapping everything up. I think this is definitely an author that I would read again. Nice job!’
~ Wall-to-wall Books

‘Hidden Rooms focuses on a woman’s determination to clear her brother’s name in a story filled with twists and turns. As the pieces fall together, an unexpected culprit emerges from the shadows.’
~ Novels Alive

‘Hidden Rooms has mystery, murder, and secrets. Also, it is emotionally gripping, heartbreaking, and dark. Kate Michaelson will keep readers guessing like she did with me.’
~ The AR Critique

‘Hidden Rooms seamlessly deals with family relationships… It’s well written and gives a good sense of place. Highly recommended.’
~ 5 Minutes for Books

‘Hidden Rooms was a fast and entertaining story! the plot is interesting and has a few twists!… an engaging and exciting story!’
~ The Page Ladies

‘I found myself wanting to devour this one in one setting … if I had the time I would have. I am looking forward to what this author brings us next. If this is only her debut, I can only imagine that the next book she writes will be better than this one.’
~ Melissa A’s Blog

‘I love a good opening suspense/mystery and this book had it y’all! Hidden Rooms starts the reader off with a mystery of what happened at the house of Ethan and Beth? The author did a fantastic job with the writing and the descriptions of the characters, including Riley and Ethan’s family. She wrote a very gripping and engaging mystery read and I highly recommend this book to mystery readers!’
~ Country Mamas With Kids

‘I love family sagas, especially ones full of generational trauma waiting to be unpacked. This book did not disappoint. It has it all – multiple motives, secrets, lies, and not so nice things someone prefers to stay in the past. The book is so well written that I couldn’t stop turning the pages. I am impressed with this debut; the characters are well developed with backstories that help to bring this book to life. The author also does an excellent job of building suspense while trickling out one detail at a time.’
~ Paws.Read.Repeat

‘I really love the setting of the story. It’s a royal community and the way the author describe the scenes you could close your eyes and feel like you were there. The book is well written. The storyline is engaging. The author has done a wonderful job and framing a story that will keep you in treated all the way up until the end.’
~ Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting

‘Ms. Michaelson writes with such vivid descriptions that will make you part of the story. The characters are complex and well developed, they definitely bring the story to life. It has murder, mystery, family drama, lies and many secrets. She keeps you guessing from the start with a great unexpected ending. I cannot wait to read more from this author.’
~ @mokwip8991

‘The book is unputdownable and suspenseful. The mystery slowly unveiled with secrets and truth. The author has described the emotions each character felt so well. It was such a gripping and unpredictable thriller.’
~ reviewsbyrudra

‘The story digs into secrets, family dynamics, addiction, and a mysterious illness that afflicts Riley. Hidden Rooms is full of suspense and surprising twists, and this novel offers a fascinating and engaging read.’
~ Why Not? Because I Said So Book Reviews

‘This book was incredible in detail, character, and scenery right from the beginning. This book is very engaging and well written. The suspense kept you reading until the very end. Definitely a must read and looking forward to more books by this author.’
~ Pat Fayo reviews

‘This is the author’s debut novel, and I reckon she nailed it! What I particularly liked about this, was being kept on my toes! It’s well written, and well delivered. There is just enough suspense, once it kicks off, to keep you fully engaged and invested with this group of people.’
~ Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!

‘This was definitely a mystery where I suspected everyone, trusted no one, and rooted for most 😉 The main character, Riley, was a favorite right from the start. It is very well written with a nice mix of suspense, family drama, and internal struggle. Hidden Rooms was a page turner from beginning to end!’
~ ashmanda.k

Tour Host Info:

Book Formats: Print, Edelweiss
Hosting Options: Review, Interview, Guest Post, Showcase
Giveaway: There will be a tour-wide PICT Giveaway
More: According to the publisher Hidden Rooms does not include: Excessive Strong Language, Graphic Violence, Explicit Sexual Scenes, or Rape. However, readers may encounter content that is considered to be another trigger situation. Generally the content is considered to be: Clean (mild language no more than a mild swear or two, no sex, mild innuendo) content. At this time, PICT staff have not yet read this book and cannot give additional information.