After World War II, Reg Beck buys The Crown Hotel, then one of 72 pubs in Bendigo, 12 of which were within 300 metres. In the days before motels, his wife Madge manages the accommodation side of the business catering for many important VIPs including County and Supreme Court judges. Their children Max (aka 'Mickey'), then aged four, and his sister Zelda, five and a half, are engulfed by the hotel environment leading to exciting adventures, close shaves, trouble, funny times as well as sorrow and miscellaneous other benefits and detriments. The narrative describes challenging schooldays at Gravel Hill State in the 1950s and Bendigo High in the 1960s, the market town nature of Bendigo and its old-fashioned shops in the 1950s and some remarkably colourful characters of the time.
When Mickey joins the new cohort of 'teenagers' in the 1960's Rock 'n' Roll era, there is a possibility of trouble with a capital T!
The book is a rollicking tale written with an eye for the detail of history. Author, Max Beck, is a retired Magistrate and Coroner. Funny, challenging, potent and profoundly tragic, discover the boyhood influences that would shape a man determined to improve others lives through the law.