A friend in New Zealand recommended Maurice Gee and as I checked around and although Amazon has quite a number even in Kindle format, Audible had two. So I got this one which, as a mystery, sounded like something I’d appreciate. The book had been made into a movie which I would never have seen so.
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In My Father’s Den
by Maurice Gee (New Zealand)
1972 /
read by Humphrey Bower 6h 18m
rating B + / mystery
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Having been first published in New Zealand in 1972 this book is much slower and gentler than our intense, page-turning thrillers. Still, get to the ending and it has tremendous impact. And it’s not a cozy either – there is a bit of graphic violence and discussion of matters not usually found in cozies. .
Paul Prior has returned to his home town outside of Aukland to be a history teacher. He is single and relatively young. There is one young woman who is particularly appealing to him, though, but they remain friends. Then she is found dead. The police first suspect Paul but he is quickly eliminated and the mystery goes on but Paul has a history of his own which has to be resolved.
It’s a good book and I enjoyed the New Zealand atmosphere of the 1970s and 1950’s. The story was well plotted and the main characters were fully realized. I’m interested in the other Maurice Gee now.
I really do enjoy Humphrey Bower’s voice and narration.
Becky's Books - 
LOL Becky, this is what I wrote in my review:
“The novel was written in 1972 in a more innocent era. but these days Paul Prior would be hauled up before Conduct and Ethics before he could get to the end of the Walt Whitman poems he shares with Celia. “
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Totally true, my dear – omg. Probably rightly so as it bothered me a bit but … they can just wait until she’s out of his school for god’s sake! But … those were simpler times – not necessarily gentler.
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