For J.L. Hyde, coming home to the Upper Peninsula wasn’t just a change of address: it was a creative turning point.

Hyde graduated from high school in Gladstone, just east of Escanaba off of U.S. Highway 2, in 2002. Central Michigan University lured her far from Lake Michigan’s shoreline, and after college she lived in Oklahoma for nearly two decades. 

But even as her life unfolded elsewhere, the U.P. never quite let Hyde go. 

“I’d been dating my boyfriend for six or seven years, and brought him home with me for my 20-year high school reunion,” she remembered. “It was the fourth of July, 75 degrees, just beautiful.” They arrived back in Oklahoma just in time for 22days of triple-digit temperatures. 

“When it gets that high, your air conditioning can't even keep up, so you have to close all your blinds and just sit inside. You can’t even go outside and walk your dog, the sidewalk is too hot,” she said. “I think that’s what finally did us both in.” 

House hunting proved to be a challenge during the pandemic real estate market. “We looked for a good year and a half, and we made offers on so many houses, I can’t even explain it to you,” she laughed. When the couple found their dream house, they jumped…aggressively. “It went on the market at 9 a.m., and we had a purchase agreement by 10.” 

It took patience—and timing—but in late 2023, Hyde returned to Delta County for good. More than two years later, she still calls it the best decision she’s ever made.

A Place That Shapes the Page

Hyde’s writing career mirrors that homecoming. Her first novel was set in Oklahoma, the place she lived at the time. But once she began writing stories rooted in the Upper Peninsula, something clicked.

“It’s so easy to write here - I just know this place,” she said.

That familiarity matters. Hyde is keenly aware of how quickly readers can tell when a setting feels borrowed rather than lived in. In the U.P., she knows the roads, the distances and the rhythms of small-town life. She knows what feels true, and what doesn’t.

Her second book, set in Delta County, was shaped by complicated emotions: grief, memory and the experience of returning to a place that holds both joy and loss. Writing it became a way of making new memories in a landscape that had defined her childhood.

That authenticity has resonated far beyond Michigan. Readers across the country (and increasingly, outside the U.S.) connect with Hyde’s small-town settings and grounded characters. Her stories aren’t about glamorous careers or unreachable lifestyles; they’re about the kind of people most of us encounter in our real lives, in communities where everyone knows each other—and where something extraordinary feels even more unsettling because it happens in such an ordinary place.

Writing What Feels Real

Hyde’s characters are often composites of people she’s known in real life. When she borrows directly, she asks permission–and when she doesn’t, she blends traits carefully. Especially, she said, when writing villains.

That care extends to her portrayal of everyday life. Even when one of her characters is a writer, Hyde avoids fantasy versions of the profession. No private islands or endless sabbaticals: just work, persistence and figuring things out as you go.

“I just want it to feel relatable,” she said. 

The setting also fuels her storytelling in darker ways. Vast forests, deep lakes and pockets of true quiet make the U.P. uniquely suited to writing mystery. People really can disappear here, and secrets can linger. There are places without cell service, cabins miles from the nearest road, and landscapes that don’t give up answers easily.

Life Back in the U.P.

When she’s not writing, Hyde is rediscovering the everyday joys of being home: easy hikes, waterfalls, quiet beaches where parking is free and crowds are few. Summer festivals, music in the park, art shows—and the luxury of folding chairs kept permanently in the back of the car, just in case she wants to jump out on a whim and take in a concert or show-stopping sunset.

After years of restaurant management, where schedules were set by someone else, unstructured time still feels like a gift. “ It is such a luxury just to sit in the park in the middle of the afternoon–I tear up thinking about it,” she shared.

Looking Ahead

Hyde’s next project, “The Westridge Cove Mystery Series,” leans into that atmosphere. The first book, “Witches of Westridge,” weaves together a 1990s storyline with the present day. It explores fear, accusation and the way communities sometimes turn on their own–all themes that can feel familiar to those living in small towns. 

For Hyde, the Upper Peninsula isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a collaborator.

“I have no shortage of inspiration up here,” she said.