An article by Andy Bader, published in The Mitchell Advocate on August 6, 2025.
It’s easy to forget how special Mitchell and West Perth are.
We’re kind of spoiled, don’t you think? Sometimes hearing it from an outside source, or in this case, a first-time visitor, puts it all in perspective.
“I was just blown away,” said Karen Grose, a Toronto author who uses Mitchell and West Perth as the setting for her latest novel, All June Left Behind, which was released in May.
During a recent interview, Grose gushed over the first time she and her husband paid a visit to Mitchell on a road trip at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, something they used to do to combat isolation during that challenging time.
“The perfect setting immerses a reader into the story. It’s really important, and I just hadn’t found the perfect setting,” she said. “I love highlighting Ontario because we have so much here to share. We drove through Stratford and we came upon Mitchell and, I just have to tell you, where you live is stunning. When I got out of the car on Ontario Road, and when I walked the road, it was like I could see the book in my head. It was perfect.”
She highlighted the Thames River, the dam, the wetlands, the main street and its shops, and the “stunning” library during their impromptu day-long visit.
“We walked around … and I knew in my heart that Mitchell was it,” she said. “It’s the feel of it, the buildings, the architecture, the landscape … everything was perfect. I just fell in love with the area.
“I was so excited.”
Ramona Meharg, a retired educator from Elgin County, sent a social media note to The Advocate about the novel, describing it as a “great whodunnit thriller.”
“Set in Mitchell, it’s a fantastic read about a widowed farmer who finds out his wife’s murderer has been given a new trial on a technicality,” Meharg said. “Lots of twists and turns to the very end. Lots of Perth County and Mitchell locations in the book.”
During their late spring visit during the pandemic, Grose took photographs and later conducted research on Mitchell and West Perth and was even more convinced that it was the perfect setting for her book.
“That’s how I came to love Mitchell and wanted it to be an integral part of the story,” she said.
All June Left Behind, Grose’s third novel, is about 68-year-old Ray who had it all — a loving relationship with his wife June, a busy farm and two beautiful grown children. It was perfect until the night June was shot on their 40th anniversary during a botched robbery at a restaurant. Two years after June’s death, the man convicted of her murder is granted a new trial.
Horrified by the prospect his wife’s killer might walk free, Ray vows to take justice into his own hands. But when rumours surface about his wife, Ray teams up with young crack reporter Fan Mohamed to dig into June’s past. They discover a long-buried police case, a shocking murder-mystery with connections to June’s family that has never been resolved.
Caught in a web of secrets and a race against time, Ray, his children and Fan must band together to uncover who killed June before the killer finds them.
Grose said because of the feel of the area and its beauty, everything just fit.
“It fit the mood, the plot, the theme, the atmosphere, the characters … it just was absolutely right,” she said.
She admitted she took some editorial leeway in saying that Mitchell had a courthouse (as opposed to Stratford), but she knew that readers might be a bit bored if Ray was driving all over the place.
“I think with any writer we have to make some choices to keep the pace going,” she said. “People who are not from Mitchell would have no idea, but I think that was the only thing that I had to work through.”
Grose said people from Mitchell and West Perth who choose to read the book will be guessing the restaurants used in it and will hopefully be able to sense the description of the Carnegie library in Mitchell, one of the community’s iconic buildings.
When asked if she knew about the connection to Mitchell and West Perth in the novel, head librarian Rosemary Minnella said “yes, isn’t it exciting? Our library does, indeed, have a copy of the book. We made sure of that as soon as we heard about it.”
And that’s not all. The West Perth Public Library is planning an author visit to Mitchell on Saturday, Nov. 8. Further details will be announced once finalized this fall.
Published by Kingsley Publishers, All June Left Behind is available from Indigo and Amazon and wherever you buy books.