The Valley
by Chris Hammer
Allen & Unwin
Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction author whose books are well known for their intricate plots, moral conundrums, colourful characters and atmospheric Australian settings.
His latest book is set in a picturesque valley in the Great Dividing Range that can only be accessed by a hazardous zigzagging road with hairpin turns.
The Valley is the sort of place where everyone knows everyone else and many people are related… whether they are aware of it or not! It is the sort of place where people can leave their doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition of their cars.
Except now there has been the murder of a 33 year-old property developer in a valley full of tree changers, hippies and farmers, and detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic, who have been unraveling mysteries for the last three years, have been sent to investigate.
When the DNA results find that the murdered controversial entrepreneur is a blood relative Nell’s, from a father she never knew, she tries to step back from the case but her superiors in Sydney are insistent that no local authorities become involved in the investigation.
“The world feels like it’s conspiring against her, playing some strange game, entangling her personal life more and more in the case.”
In order to fit all the pieces together in 2024, the detectives need to find out what happened in the past and, interspersed with the investigations in the present, is a first person account of what happened in The Valley in the 1990s.
Although the probable reason for the murder goes further back, and is indicated by the prologue, recollections from former police officer Simmons Burnside sheds light on many of the individuals who still live in the valley.
Just like the zigzagging road, suspicions take hair pin turns until the history of the valley is unearthed and it is discovered that there are many people who are not quite like they appear.
Lezly Herbert
