Paradise lost...
Seven founding families come together a century ago to build an irrigation district – they turn the arid plains of Australia into a food bowl, a garden delivering peace and prosperity for all.
But when one of the Seven is murdered in dramatic circumstances, homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan suspect that not everything is as idyllic as the community’s leaders would like the world to believe.
Could the murder be connected with the execution of another member of the inner circle thirty years ago? Or to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the great war?
How are these events connected? What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?
With the killer still on the loose and matters spiralling out of control, can Ivan and Nell crack the case before more people die?
Events
Weekend 20th-21st April – Writers at the Woolshed – Wagga Wagga, NSW
Monday 22nd April – Crime Comes to Williamstown – with Dervla McTiernan – Williamstown, Vic
Friday 26th & Saturday 27th April – Sorrento Writers Festival – Sorrento, Vic
Saturday 11th May – 5pm – An evening with Chris Hammer – Forbes, NSW
Monday 13th May – 5:30pm – Author Talk – Narromine, NSW
Tuesday 14th May – 11am – Author Talk – Coonabarabran, NSW
Wednesday 15th May – 10:30am – Author Talk – Dubbo, NSW
Wednesday 15th May – 6pm – An evening with Chris Hammer – Dubbo, NSW
Thursday 16th May – 10:30am – Author Talk – Wellington, NSW
Thursday 23rd May – 10am – Sydney Writers Festival – Sydney, NSW
Friday 24th May – 5pm & 8pm – Sydney Writers Festival – Parramatta, NSW
Friday 31st May – 4pm – Brisbane Writers Festival – Brisbane, Qld
Wednesday 5th June – 6pm – The Craft of Crime – with Sulari Gentill – Canberra, ACT
News
Shortlisted for Indie Awards
The Seven has been shortlisted for the 2024 Indie Book Awards. This is such an honour – look at the other books and authors on
Cover The Bones book of the month
Cover The Bones has been published in the UK, Ireland and Europe… and had already garnered some great reviews. The novel – published in Australia
Indies Longlist
The Seven has been out a little over two months – and suddenly it’s in the running for a major awards. It’s longlisted for the
Crime Book of the Year
The London Times has named Dead Man’s Creek its Crime Book of the Year for 2023! Dead Man’s Creek is the UK title for The
Scrublands Premieres
The television version of Scrublands premiered to a wonderful reception in Australia on the streamer STAN on November 16th – and broadcast shortly after in
The Tilt wins Danger Prize
The Tilt has won the 2023 Danger Prize for Crime Fiction, announced at an awards dinner at the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival on November
Books
The River (2010) and The Coast (2012) are Chris’ first two books – narrative non-fiction published by Melbourne University Press – click on the image to go to MUP.
Told in the first person, they tell the story of his travels through the drought-devastated Murray Darling Basin and down the east coast of Australia.
Through his travels and the people he meets, he explores issues including the environment, agriculture, climate change, indigenous heritage, colonial history, small town Australia and the importance of the bush and beach to the country’s contemporary identity.
Writing the books was a wonderful experience for Chris, teaching him so much about his craft. It also gave him the opportunity to research some of the locations that later appear in his crime fiction: the western Riverina (Scrublands); the NSW north coast (Silver); and the Barmah-Millewa Forest (The Tilt).
The multi-award winning Martin Scarsden series includes Scrublands (2018), Silver (2019) and Trust (2020). Click on the image to go to Allen & Unwin.
They follow the ongoing exploits of damaged journalist Martin Scarsden as he comes to terms with his own past, even as he solves crimes in pursuit of newspaper scoops, and builds his relationship with Mandalay Blonde.
The novels have won praise for their sense of place, their intricate plots, their colourful characters and their emotional depth.
This prize-winning and best-selling series follows experienced homicide detective Ivan Lucic and his novice partner Nell Buchanan as they contend with personal challenges even as they cacth killers.
Treasure & Dirt (2021), The Tilt (2022) and The Seven (2023) are all set in the dramatic landscapes of Australia, and can be read a series or as stamd-alone novels.
They are published in the UK and internationally as Opal Country, Dead Man’s Creek, and Cover The bones. Click on the image to go to Headline books.
Scrublands Television
Scrublands is re-imagined for the screen! The four-part series from Easy Tiger productions is now available on STAN in Australia, BBC4 & iPlayer in the UK, SundanceNow in the USA & Canada, TV3 in New Zealand and Paramount+ in Germany, with more outlets to be announced.
Allen & Unwin has published a tie-in edition in Australia (above) to mark the occasion!
Maps
Click on a map to enlarge, download and print!
Each book has a map: Riversend (Scrublands); Port Silver (Silver); Sydney (Trust); Finnigans Gap (Treasure & Dirt/Opal Country); Tulong (The Tilt/Dead Man’s Creek); and Yuwonderie (The Seven/Cover The Bones).
They’re created by the amazing Aleksander J Potočnik. Enjoy!
chris hammer
Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of the internationally bestselling Martin Scarsden series: Scrublands, Silver and Trust.
Chris’s current award-winning series features homicide detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic: Treasure & Dirt/ Opal Country; The Tilt/Dead Man’s Creek; and now The Seven/Cover The Bones.
Scrublands was an instant bestseller upon publication in 2018, topping the Australian fiction charts.
It was shortlisted for major writing awards in Australia, the UK and the United States. In the UK it was named the Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2019 and won the prestigious UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award.
Scrublands, Silver and Trust all feature troubled journalist Martin Scarsden and his partner Mandalay Blonde, while Treasure & Dirt follows homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan.
All of Chris’s books have atmospheric Australian settings, a range of colourful characters, intricate plots, descriptive language and emotional depth.
Before turning to fiction, Chris was a journalist for more than thirty years. He reported from more than 30 countries on six continents for SBS TV. In Canberra, roles included chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, senior writer for The Age and Online Political Editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Chris has written two non-fiction books The River (2010) – winner of the ACT Book of the Year – and The Coast (2012), published by Melbourne University Press.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master’s degree in International Relations from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra, Australia.
Contacts
Australia
- Agent – Grace at Left Bank Literary
- Publicity – Bella at Allen & Unwin
- Speaking engagements – Booked Out
