New York City native Elana Michelson is taking readers on a groovy trip back to 1978 with her new novel Part of the Solution: A Mystery, a murder mystery that blends classic detective storytelling with the laid-back but politically charged spirit of 1970s hippie culture.
Published by Torchflame Books, the novel has been described as Agatha Christie meets the counterculture movement, complete with Tarot cards, Bob Dylan lyrics, suspicious small-town characters, and even poisoned pickles.
Set in the fictional town of Flanders, Massachusetts, the story follows Jennifer Morgan, a witty New Yorker who leaves graduate school behind in search of a simpler life. Hoping for peace, poetry readings, and homemade boysenberry muffins, she instead finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation after a dead body disrupts the town’s quiet charm.
Encouraged by her Tarot-reading housemate and frustrated by a hippie-hating police chief, Jennifer decides to investigate the killing herself before paranoia tears apart the community she has come to love.
The suspect list is anything but ordinary: a gentle woodworker with hidden secrets, a dramatic poet with delusions of grandeur, an anti-war hero, a peace-loving minister, and an organic farmer with a serious grudge.
As Jennifer digs deeper, she reluctantly joins forces with Ford McDermot, a young police officer whose quiet intelligence makes him an unexpected partner—and possibly something more.
Together, they follow a bizarre trail of clues involving strychnine-laced pickles, poisonous gopher bait at the local food co-op, and cocaine discovered inside an abandoned Pontiac.
“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.”
The novel is filled with the music and cultural references of the era, transporting readers back to the days of lava lamps, Che Guevara posters, anti-war protests, and the free-spirited rebellion that defined the decade.
Michelson, who earned her Ph.D. in English from Columbia University, spent 35 years as a college professor before turning to fiction writing. She now lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her wife, Penny, where she writes, gardens, and volunteers with local social justice organizations.
With Part of the Solution, Michelson offers more than a murder mystery—she delivers a nostalgic, funny, and thoughtful look at a generation still shaping conversations today.