Dead Man's Creek by Chris Hammer

 

Dead Man's Creek by Chris Hammer.

Published 5th January 2023 by Wildfire.

From the cover of the book:

Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder - a 'file and forget'.

But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community. As more bodies are discovered, and she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her, Nell realises that finding the truth could prove more difficult - and dangerous - than she'd ever expected.

The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more treacherous her path becomes. Can she survive to root out the truth, and what price will she have to pay for it?

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Newly promoted Detective Nell Buchanan is sent to her hometown of Tulong, after the skeleton of a long-dead man is found in unusual circumstances. Her brilliant, but unpredictable, boss Ivan Lucic, remains behind in Dubbo, as a cold case is unlikely to prove the challenge of their tricky investigation among the opal mines of Finnegan's Gap... but appearances can be deceptive.

Small towns can be dangerous places, and Nell has reasons to be reluctant to return home to confront the distance between her and her family - reasons which she has no choice but to examine when more bodies are found that could be connected to her own past.

Opal Country, Chris Hammer's excellent spin-off from his Martin Scarsden series, brought Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic together, and their successful pairing in Finnegan's Gap has earned Nell a promotion and a place on Lucic's team. However, there is little to celebrate when she finds herself at the centre of a near impossible search for the perpetrators of crimes that go way back into the history of her home town, especially when she is hampered by a lack of evidence, the presence of some very dangerous characters, and her own connection to the people and place. 

The story unfurls layer by beautifully contrived layer, playing out in the present through Nell's eyes; and the past through the voice of her mother Tessa in the 1970s; broken up with intriguing extracts from the statement of Nell's grandfather James Waters, which guide you to the truth about what happened in Tulong, beginning with his boyhood in World War II. The way the separate threads play out, and eventually collide in the present, is an absolute masterclass in storytelling. I was held spellbound from the intriguing prologue, right through to the astonishing revelations at the climax of this book, and I loved every brilliant second.

This is very much Nell's show, with everything I love about twisty small town dynamics, and the way history can shape families and communities. Lucic remains almost entirely in the background, until all the dirty little secrets and lies that have been consigned to the depths, in more ways than one, are laid bare, and her family's connection to some very uncomfortable history is exposed. And what a lot of history there is to delve into! There is so much here about the bygone times of New South Wales, especially around World War II and the impact of the Vietnam War, which I found fascinating. I learned so much that I did know know about the home front in Australia during those periods, and went down many a rabbit hole in the process, which I always love doing. 

But Hammer does not confine himself to history in this novel. There is plenty to get your teeth into about gritty contemporary issues too, and the way in which the disaffected can be subverted into becoming embroiled in a cause, for good or bad, is used with great effect. 

This is my favourite Hammer yet. It makes for a story that is the very best of Outback Noir in every way, shape, and form. Dead Man's Creek earns a place on my books of 2023 pile, and I cannot wait to see where Hammer takes this series next!

Dead Man's Creek is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Wildfire for sending a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Chris Hammer was a journalist for more than thirty years, dividing his career between covering Australian federal politics and international affairs. For many years he was a roving foreign correspondent for SBS TV's flagship current affairs program Dateline. He has reported from more than thirty countries on six continents. 

Chris's non-fiction book, The River, published in 2010 to critical acclaim, was the recipient of the ACT Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Walkley Book Award. Scrublands, his first novel, was published in 2018 and was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger Award, Best Debut Fiction at the Indie Book Awards, and Best General Fiction at the ABIA Awards. It has also been longlisted for the Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel of the Year. Scrublands was optioned for television by Easy Tiger (a Fremantle Media company). 

Chris 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 with his wife, Dr Tomoko Akami. The couple have two children.