ROSENDALE, N.Y., Nov. 18, 2025 — Readers nostalgic for the hippie era or simply
wishing they’d been there will find themselves right at home in Part of the
Solution: A Mystery, the delightfully offbeat whodunit from author Elana
Michelson.
Blending Agatha Christie-style misdirection with the mellow magic of the 1970s,
Michelson crafts a smart, funny and unexpectedly moving mystery that’s as much
about idealism as it is about intrigue.
“The book is a classic murder mystery,” Michelson explained, “but it’s also a
period piece — a way of looking back on a fascinating cultural and political
moment and exploring the different perspectives that shaped it. The divisions
and debates of that time feel surprisingly familiar today.”
It’s 1978, and Jennifer Morgan, a quick-witted New Yorker in flight from
graduate school, has traded academia for poetry readings, craft shops and
boysenberry muffins in the countercultural haven of Flanders, Massachusetts.
But her peaceful refuge takes a dark turn when a dead body interrupts the
community’s calm.
Egged on by her Tarot-reading housemate and opposed by a hippie-hating police
chief, Jennifer takes it upon herself to solve the murder before the darkness
destroys her hard-won idyll in the countryside. The suspects? A gentle
woodworker with secrets, a poet with delusions of grandeur, an anti-war hero, a
peace-loving minister and an organic farmer who knows how to hold a grudge.
As the mystery deepens, Jennifer reluctantly teams up with Ford McDermot, a
young police officer whose quiet intelligence might make him the unlikeliest
ally — or something more. Together (and often separately), they chase a trail
of clues that winds through strychnine-laced pickles, poisonous gopher bait at
the food co-op and cocaine in an abandoned Pontiac — all while life in Flanders
grinds to a paranoid halt.
Peppered with Bob Dylan lyrics and the era’s iconic soundtrack, the novel hums
with the rhythm of the ’70s, a time when music underscored everything from
protest to personal revelation.
Boomers with long memories will be transported back to the days of lava lamps,
Che Guevara posters and grass-inspired giggles, while younger audiences
fascinated by the vintage vibe and idealism of the time will get a glimpse into
a bygone era synonymous with self-expression, political awakening and cultural
shifts that still echo today.
A time machine to 1978, Part of the Solution is a witty, wistful and wildly
original reminder that every generation wrestles with the same questions about
justice, connection and what it means to be part of the solution.
Part of the Solution: A Mystery
Publisher:
Torchflame Books
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