CRIME ROUND-UP OCTOBER 2024: NEW BOOKS BY CHRIS HAMMER, PETER JAMES AND PATRICIA WOLF

There has been a flood of new releases over the past month, or so, making it very hard to keep up with them all.

Here are quick reviews of three books that have made it to the top of my reading pile!

Chris Hammer is a leading figure in Australian crime fiction writing, with a strong stream of police novels set mainly around rural New South Wales. His latest, The Valley (Allen & Unwin, 1 October 2024), sticks pretty much to the successful pattern of his previous books, but moves the action north from the Murrumbidgee irrigation zone to a small village community between Canberra and the state’s south coast.

The Valley is Chris’ seventh crime novel and brings back his popular pairing of Detective Sergeant Ivan Lucic and Detective Senior Constable Nell Buchanan, who operate out of the rural homicide team based at Dubbo. This time around they are called in to investigate the death of a controversial entrepreneur in a remote mountain valley. Despite the peaceful surroundings, Ivan and Nell soon find themselves contending with a range of potential suspects, including cowboy lawyers, conmen, bullion thieves from the past, and grave robbers. But when Nell discovers that the victim is a close blood relative, things take a troubling turn.

As with his previous books Hammer tells the story through different timelines and perspectives, which gradually all come together. This approach allows him to build a comprehensive description of the history of The Valley, and the area surrounding it, and the impact of settlement on the environment. There is also a lot of backstory, much of which impacts on Nell. While in the present, the police investigation unfolds in a steady manner with the sort of twists you expect from a crime novel.

As the narrative switches between the various stories, Hammer delivers some good surprises and creates an interesting historical narrative of the local area. Each of the perspectives are convincing and credible, and Hammer accurately portrays the feel of the different times. As with his previous books, Hammer creates a strong sense of place, and really builds up a comprehensive history of The Valley. As well, there is the usual wealth of background information on a range of topics from historic gold mining to the impact of forestry on the environment to modern business and state politics.

The various stories and background information, however, do slow the pace of the present day police investigation, which does not get a lot of space in the book. It is still very enjoyable, but some paring back would have made it a sharper read. It will also be interesting to see where Hammer takes the series next, now that Nell’s backstory has been comprehensively explored.

The Valley was released in Australia on 1 October 2024 and is shaping up as being a good Christmas present buy for crime aficionados. Release date for the United Kingdom is 2 January 2025 under the title of The Broken River.

Berlin based Patricia Wolf enjoyed good initial success in the United Kingdom with e-format versions of her first two DS Lucas Walker books, Outback and Paradise, before being released in Australia in print format.

Outback and Paradise were both solid reads, and now she has released a third book, Opal (Echo Publishing, 1 October 2024).

Opal finds Australian Federal Police officer DS Lucas Walker on leave from his job in the Organised Crime Unit and escorting his young half-sister Grace, who is visiting from Boston, to his outback Queensland hometown of Caloodie. They are supposed to be visiting family, but a phone call sends them 400 kms further west to the tiny mining town of Kanpara to fetch Walker’s cousin Blair, who has been digging for boulder opals and is keen to escape the town. On their arrival, they find the atmosphere in the town tense with rumours of a life-changing opal discovery. The following day, they awake to find that Kanpara has been completely cut off by a flood and the roads closed. The discovery of the murdered bodies of a man and woman complicates things further, especially when Blair is taken in for questioning. Walker must now work with the police to uncover the killer in the community’s midst before the waters recede and the killer can escape.

This is a very enjoyable read. The story is well crafted, and Patricia has a good journalistic eye for capturing the essence of a scene and conveying it in simple sharp sentences. Whether it is a hot, overcrowded pub or a crowd of people on a river bank watching the water rising, she is very good at painting the scene and making you feel as though you are there. The mystery plot is also solid, and the main characters are well done, although some of the minor players have more interesting layers to them.

Patricia grew up in Australia, and returned from Berlin to research the book’s background, and there is a good authenticity to the story. The inclusion of Walker’s American step-sister, allows Patricia to smoothly weave in information as part of conversations and there is a good flow to the plot.

Opal may lack the depth and originality of some of the better Australian crime fiction, but it is an entertaining detective story that will have wide appeal locally and overseas.

Opal was released in Australia and the United Kingdom on 1 October 2024.

One Of Us Is Dead, (Macmillan, 24 September 2024), is the second Peter James book to grace bookshop shelves this year. The first, They Thought I Was Dead, brought a finale to the long running sub-story in the series about what happened to Roy Grace’s first wife, Sandy, who went missing a long time ago. Now with One Of Us Is Dead we get back into the meat of the series with a new case for Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.

James Taylor arrives late and has to stand at the back of the church at his friend’s funeral. As the service progresses he recognises the man who is six rows in front of him as being his old friend Rufus Rorke, but he must be mistaken as two years previously he read out the eulogy at Rorke’s funeral. Meanwhile Grace and his team are investigating a row of suspicious deaths, including by mushroom poisoning. Grace suspects that the deaths are connected and that they somehow lead back to Rufus Rorke, but he struggles to make the connection.

This is another smoothly written tale of murder, greed and mayhem by the always reliable Peter James. He quickly puts the various elements of the tale in place, and steadily ratchets up the emotional tension as the plot unfolds. The story moves steadily through some decent twists, and James keeps the interest at a good level as the book moves to its tense ending. As usual, the viewpoint is skillfully moved between a variety of characters, and this frequent shifting of perspective heightens the interest and builds the suspense. The pace lags at times, but the characters and the storyline keep you engaged.

In all, another finely structured tale that will appeal to James’ many fans.

One Of Us Is Dead was released in Australia on 24 September 2024.