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Chris Hammer

Australia

Chris Hammer has been a journalist for over twenty-five years. He has been an international correspondent for SBS TV's flagship current affairs program Dateline, the chief political correspondent for The Bulletin and a senior political journalist for The Age. His non-fiction book, The River, published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2010 to critical acclaim, was the recipient of the ACT Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Walkley Book Award and the Manning Clark House National Cultural Award.

Awards: CWA (2019) see all

Genres: Mystery

Series

Martin Scarsden
   1. Scrublands (2018)
   2. Silver (2019)
   3. Trust (2020)

Detective Nell Buchanan
   1. Opal Country (2021)
     aka Treasure and Dirt
   2. Dead Man's Creek (2022)
     aka The Tilt
   3. Cover the Bones (2023)
     aka The Seven
   4. The Broken River (2024)
     aka The Valley

Non fiction

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Awards

2019 John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger : Scrublands

Award nominations

	2024 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel (nominee) : Cover the Bones
	2024 CWA Gold Dagger (longlist) : Dead Man's Creek
	2023 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel (nominee) : Dead Man's Creek
	2020 Barry Award for Best First Novel (nominee) : Scrublands

Chris Hammer recommends

The Last Truths We Told (2025)
Holly Watt
"Agatha Christie meets The Big Chill - I loved it! An intricate plot, intriguing characters, edge-of-the seat suspense - this has got it all!"

Smoke (2024)
Michael Brissenden
"The best crime book I've read this year."

The Pit (2023)
Peter Papathanasiou
"Outback noir with the noir dailled right up. I loved it."

Dying to Know (2023)
Rae Cairns
"This book is a cracker - a genuine page turner. It kept me guessing all the way. Geneva Leighton is a brilliant protagonist - tough and resourceful, yet vulnerable and caring."

Day's End (2022)
(Paul Hirsch mysteries, book 4)
Garry Disher
"Disher is the gold standard for rural noir."

Dirt Creek (2022)
Hayley Scrivenor
"I loved this. What wonderful writing. Scarily good! . . . Masterful. Australian crime has a new star. The characters of Dirt Creek are rich, raw and beautifully realized. One of the crime books of the year. Intelligent, nuanced and compassionate."

The Woman in the Library (2022)
Sulari Gentill
"Wickedly clever, highly original and thoroughly entertaining - I loved it!"

Wake (2022)
(Lane Holland, book 1)
Shelley Burr
"One of the year's best debuts. Intriguing and compelling. Shelley Burr is a bright new talent in Australian crime fiction."

1979 (2021)
(Allie Burns, book 1)
Val McDermid
"Brilliant characters, masterful plotting and a pitch-perfect evocation of the heyday of newspapers. I loved it."

Snake Island (2020)
Ben Hobson
"Remarkable. Ben Hobson's characters are deeply flawed, deeply human and beautifully realised. Part Western, part Greek tragedy, part morality tale—yet wholly original."

The Searcher (2020)
(Cal Hooper, book 1)
Tana French
"A tale of flawed characters, complex relationships and elusive loyalties. Subtle and powerful."

The Girl in the Mirror (2020)
Rose Carlyle
"Immensely entertaining, hugely original, highly recommended. Rose Carlyle takes the reader on a wild ride, across an ocean and into the depths of a family riven by greed, jealousy and subterfuge . . . Like sorbet for the jaded palates of hardcore thriller fans."

Black Widows (2020)
Cate Quinn
"Everything about this book - the plot, the characters, the telling - is strikingly original. And highly recommended. Brilliantly imagined, compellingly told, a tale of survival against the odds, told with insight and compassion. The voices of the three wives will stay with the reader long after the book is finished."

The Safe Place (2020)
Anna Downes
"An outstanding debut. The Safe Place is destined to be a book club favourite."

In the Clearing (2020)
J P Pomare
"Past and present collide in this taut and unpredictable thriller ... Twist follows twist and nothing is as it seems."

Watching from the Dark (2020)
(DCI Jonah Sheens, book 2)
Gytha Lodge
"A brilliant premise, perfectly executed. A genuine page turner - it kept me guessing right until the end."

She Lies in the Vines (2019)
(Jack Quick, book 1)
Benjamin Stevenson
"A hugely-original premise, a guilt-ridden protagonist, a plot that won't lie down. A great debut."

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