Showing results by author "Chris Hammer" in All Categories

In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable young people, and billionaires do as they please. Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner's death is straightforward, not even who found the body. Sydney homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful. But now—in startling circumstances—one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate. Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago—another member of The Seven—or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?

In Riversend, an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest steps out of his church and calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself. A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don't fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. 

For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping. He'd vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town and Martin knows their chance of a new life together won't come again. Martin arrives to find his best friend from school days brutally murdered, and Mandy the chief suspect. With the police curiously reluctant to pursue other suspects, Martin goes searching for the killer. And finds the past waiting for him.  

Someone is targeting Martin Scarsden. They bomb his book launch and shoot up his hometown. Fleeing for his life, he learns that nowhere is safe, not even the outback. The killers are closing in, and it's all he can do to survive. But who wants to kill him and why? Can he discover their deadly motives and turn the tables?

Newly minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her home town, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder — a 'file and forget'. But this is no ordinary cold case, as the discovery of more bodies triggers a chain of escalating events in the present day. As Nell starts to join the pieces together, she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her. Could her own family be implicated in the crimes? The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more dangerous the present becomes for her, as she battles shadowy assailants and sinister forces.

A controversial entrepreneur is murdered in a remote mountain valley, but this is no ordinary case. Ivan and Nell are soon contending with cowboy lawyers, conmen, bullion thieves and grave robbers. But it's when Nell discovers the victim is a close blood relative, that the past begins to take on a looming significance. What did take place in The Valley all those years ago? What was Nell's mother doing there, and what was her connection to troubled young police officer Simmons Burnside? 

Martin Scarsden's new life seems perfect, right up until the moment it's shattered by a voice mail: a single scream, abruptly cut off, from his partner, Mandalay Blonde. Racing home, he finds an unconscious man sprawled on the floor and Mandy gone. Someone has abducted her. But who and why? So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life so deep she has never mentioned it.

**THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH** **A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2022** In the outback, nothing stays buried forever... 'Classic Hammer. A crime novel that will stay with me for a long time.' Ann Cleeves 'This novel is Hammer's best work yet.' The Times 'A complex, twisty thriller...

* * *NOW A MAJOR BBC TV SERIES * * * THE #1 BESTSELLING AUSTRALIAN CRIME NOVEL WINNER OF THE CWA JOHN CREASEY DAGGER SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 'Shimmers ... a tortured tale of blood and loss' Val McDermid 'Stunning ... Scrublands is that rare combination, a page-turner that stays...

You think you know someone... Would you bet your life on it? A detective came to her home, drugged her and kidnapped her. She tries to make sense of it, but only one conclusion is possible: it's the past, come to claim her. His new life seemed perfect - right up until the moment a missed call...

For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping. He'd vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town and Martin knows their...

En Riversend, en un pueblo rural azotado por una sequía interminable, un joven sacerdote abre fuego desde la escalinata de su iglesia y mata a cinco vecinos antes de ser acribillado. Un año después, el periodista Martin Scarsden llega al aislado pueblo para escribir un artículo sobre el aniversario de la tragedia. Pero las historias que escucha no encajan con la versión que su periódico informó. Martin no puede ignorar sus dudas, ni la insistencia de algunos lugareños para descubrir la verdadera razón detrás del ataque del sacerdote, a quien asombrosamente todos defienden.

A body has washed up in an irrigation canal, the artery running through Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise on the border of the Outback. Stabbed through the heart, electrocuted and dumped under cover of night, there is no doubt that detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are dealing with a vicious homicide. The victim is Athol Hasluck, member of one of the seven dynasties who have controlled every slice of bountiful land in this modern-day Eden for generations. Can Ivan and Nell track down a killer before the guilt at the heart of these seven families takes the entire town down with it?

Martin Scarsden returns in the jaw-dropping and unmissable new blockbuster crime novel from Chris Hammer, the award-winning, million copy bestselling author of SCRUBLANDS. 'A beguiling read' - THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Savage and unpredictable' - THE SUN 'Exciting, touching and even heart-breaking' -...

Hitze. Mord. Rätsel. Schuld. Erlösung: der atemberaubende Nr.1-Bestseller-Thriller aus Australien Rivers End, ein Städtchen in der flirrenden Hitze des Outbacks: eiskalt eröffnet der junge Pfarrer vor der Kirche das Feuer auf seine Gemeinde. Er tötet fünf Menschen. Ein Jahr später kommt Reporter Martin Scarsden in den Ort, um über die Morde zu schreiben. Aber als er die Einheimischen befragt, begreift er, dass es mehr als eine Wahrheit gibt, was die Tat des Pfarrers angeht. Warum hat er wirklich getötet? War er ein Monster oder ein idealistischer Rächer?

A dam breaks. A body rises from the flood. Hidden for decades, can this small town face the secrets that will surface? **THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR** **SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH** Young detective Nell Buchanan uncovers a deadly, decades-old mystery at the heart of her rural...

A body has been discovered on the riverbanks of The Valley, a remote community in the hills of New South Wales. The gold mine at the heart of The Valley was once the lifeblood of this region, but it has been flooded for decades. Over the years, many have tried and failed to bring it back to life. Now, most believe the mine is barren. The victim is Wolfgang Burnside, deputy mayor - a champion of change or local schemer, depending on who you ask. He had been working on plans to take the Valley off-grid with hydro-power. Until he was poisoned, his body dumped in the river for all to see.