Part of the Solution
by
Elana Michelson
Intriguing flashback to the 70s mystery.
Part of the Solution by Elana Michelson is a fun new novel, part mystery and part love letter to the late 1970s wind-down of the counterculture of the 60s, with both goals well met. When Professor Jennifer Morgan comes face-to-face with her former lover, Detective Ford McDermott, in the lobby of a Boston conference hotel, more than forty years after they parted ways, they agree to meet later that evening for a drink and a good catch-up. But while she awaits their reunion, she reflects on the circumstances of their meeting and what separated them so many years ago: the murder of one of her housemates.
Jennifer and her housemates, Wendy, Will, and Samir, had lived together in rooms above the diner she and Wendy owned and operated in Flanders, a quaint Massachusetts village that hosted the vestiges of a disappearing hippie community, just down the road from a private liberal arts college. Will, Wendy’s boyfriend, made a living as a carpenter and woodworker, while Samir, a friend of Will’s, was somewhat of a mystery, who drifted in and out, occasionally working at the local food coop, but largely known and revered by the college set as a peace activist from the West Coast. Also known for cutting a swath through his female admirers, he’d garnered his share of detractors. Jennifer, herself, felt his disingenuousness and was not a fan, but she tolerated his presence well enough to maintain the harmony of their group. Police Officer Ford McDermott is Jennifer’s opposite in many ways, and their meeting during the investigation of the murder of one of her housemates leads to an instant attraction and a hot, burning romance.
Spurred on by the inept investigation conducted by the detective assigned to the murder case, Allard Johns, Jennifer looks into the death herself. I enjoyed her using her intimate, astute observations of the people around her as she hypothesized who and what was behind the murder. While she initially considered everyone, it was her confidence in her assessments that led her to identify the killer correctly. While she and Ford ended up living separate lives, I could not help but wonder what the trajectory of their joint journey might have been.
The plot moved a little too slowly for me, with world-building and character introductions taking up almost 40 percent of the novel before the murder. The intriguing circumstances of the victim’s death, a closed-circle mystery, kept me engaged, as did the relationship blooming between Jennifer and Ford. Even with a second murder attempt, this is a quiet story with a gradual reveal rather than an 11th-hour bombshell. I enjoyed the cultural references of the time and the musical timestamps throughout, many of which I could clearly recall experiencing myself back then.
I recommend PART OF THE SOLUTION to mystery readers, especially those who enjoy stories set in the late 1970s.
Find this and other book review on my blog, Guatemala Paula Loves to Read.