The Old Rocker

By Paul B Grant

Since he was 10 years of age CJ's mother had been his sole parent, but his grandfather was his greatest friend and support. When the old man dies, his guidance and care seem to continue from beyond the grave to help CJ and his best friends solve the mystery of CJ's father's death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bont n Blue Books
• Release date: Feb 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9780645497175

Paul B Grant

Paul B.F. Grant is a Melbourne born musician, singer and songwriter who taught music in Melbourne's western suburbs.

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Published by Bont ’n’ Blue Books

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https://www.paulbfgrantbooks.com

Copyright ©2024 Paul B. F. Grant

First published 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without prior permission of the copyright owner. Apply in writing to the publisher.

Edited by Scharlaine Cairns, Charlie C. Editorial Pty Ltd

Designed by Di Zign Pty Ltd

Cover design by Di Zign Pty Ltd

Cover images: Adobe Stock (room); Shutterstock (rocking chair); and Scharlaine Cairns (image of man)

Typeset in 11pt Fira Sans

Printed in Australia

ISBN: 978-0-6454971-6-8 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-6454971-7-5 (e-Book)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all who work on the front line, particularly our troops who keep us safe regardless of the personal cost.

THANK YOU ALL.

Thank you Tina for your never-ending love and support; and thank you Scharlaine (Charlie) for your advice and editorial expertise.

This book would not have been published without you.

Part 1:

Life in Beronga

Chapter 1

It was mid-winter, on a freezing cold Saturday morning in Beronga, the sleepy country hamlet 300 kilometres north of Melbourne.

Beronga was not known for much, other than its extremely wet weather, its proximity to the mighty Murray River and its fat cattle. Oh yeah, and flooding! Our town was renowned for being flooded. In winter, flooding was almost a constant.

There is also one more thing Beronga was famous for – a murder investigation that lasted over ten years and is still talked about today.

On this particular winter’s day, the rain was relentless and was coming down in sheets upon the roof of our house – ‘the Connolly house’ – splashing onto the already muddied earth and forming large puddles. It had been raining on and off for a week.

A thought crossed my mind that even this deluge couldn’t come close to matching the volume of tears that I had shed over the past seven days. My grandpa, Cliff, had finally succumbed to the horrible cancer that had ravaged his entire body. One day he had been a towering, upright, muscular man, appearing to be still in his prime despite being well over seventy years old; and the next he was bent over, sickly and old.

I really loved my grandpa. The thought that he was no longer with me was incomprehensible – so hard for me to believe! He had always been such a strong, almost invincible man! From his youth, and even well into his seventies, my grandpa had been the perfect specimen of a human male. He had never been sick in his life, so had never spent a day in hospital. He had an abdominal six pack before it was fashionable and he could bench press around three hundred kilograms – or that’s what he had told me (and, of course, I believed every word my grandpa had ever said to me)! I had no reason not to believe him. My grandfather was an honourable man!

Grandpa Cliff, my Pa, had told me that he left school at fourteen to join the Australian army. He had told me that he fought in World War 2, and had been shot at and had killed a man all before he turned fifteen. He told stories of the war and the bravery of his fellow soldiers.

My grandpa was one of those people who managed to perfect anything he put his mind to. He told me that, a few years after he had finished his army service, he picked up his first guitar. Within twelve months he had formed a rock band called Sounding Bored (Pa loved a good pun). Later, that band had several hit records to its credit, for which the band members were presented with gold records. They had won Australian music industry awards. Pa