The Matter of Parihaka

(Paperback)

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In the aftermath of the invasion of Parihaka in November 1881, Inspector Patrick O'Rorke is appointed by the government to investigate allegations of police brutality laid by the influential Maori politician Hoani Te Pae. Before he leaves Christchurch for Wellington to begin, O'Rorke is called to the house of the well-to-do Albert Howard, following the seemingly routine theft of a valuable item from his collection. Undeterred by the hostility and obstruction of the Wellington police to his Parihaka investigation, and the fact that he finds himself increasingly becoming a pawn in a battle between two warring political factions, O'Rorke is determined to get to the bottom of the incident. And when Albert Howard is murdered, he uncovers a chilling link between the two enquiries. Edmund Bohan's Inspector O'Rorke novel is set, like the others, in a vividly re-created colonial New Zealand. A skillfully woven blend of fact and fiction, it takes its protagonist from an elegant Thorndon mansion to the fetid slums of Ghuznee Street, from a downtown bordello to the houses of Parliament in a compellingly told tale of political and personal intrigue.

Author Bio

An accomplished biographer and novelist, Edmund Bohan was a finalist in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 1995 and again in 1999. His O'Rorke series of historical novels includes The Opawa Affair, The Dancing Man, The Matter of Parihaka, The Irish Yankee, A Present for the Czar and The Lost Taonga. A seventh, A Suitable Time for Vengeance is forthcoming in October this year. An honours graduate from the University of Canterbury, Bohan has 18 published titles and has also written and published historical non-fiction, given radio talks, written short stories and numerous articles. For 25 years he was one New Zealand's most successful singers in Britain.