The Valley by Chris Hammer

Publisher's Synopsis

Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic are back – as Nell is thrown into her most emotionally fraught investigation yet.

A controversial entrepreneur is murdered in a remote mountain valley, but this is no ordinary case. Ivan and Nell are soon contending with cowboy lawyers, conmen, bullion thieves and grave robbers.

But it's when Nell discovers the victim is a close blood relative that the past begins to take on a looming significance.

What did take place in The Valley all those years ago? What was Nell's mother doing there, and what was her connection to troubled young police officer Simmons Burnside? And why do the police hierarchy insist Ivan and Nell stay with the case despite an obvious conflict of interest?

My Review of The Valley by Chris Hammer

The small town Australian crime novel has become the reliable domain of Chris Hammer and, once again, we find ourselves in the rural environment of The Valley, sinking our teeth into another complex crime. It’s the 4th outing for Nell Buchanan (recently promoted to Senior Constable) and her partner of 3 years Sergeant Ivan Lucic.

Before the case is introduced we’re given a teaser to set the scene. In 1988 a crew has just successfully pulled off a massive heist getting away with cash and gold bullion worth hundreds of thousands. But there’s a falling out, suspicions of a wire, gunplay and a fire at their hideout. Some of the crew die, some get away.

In the present day, Nell and Ivan have been called in to investigate a suspicious death - a drowning - in the tiny community called The Valley. This place, idyllic gauging from Hammer’s wonderfully rich description as they drive in, is located on the South Coast of New South Wales somewhere to the west of Batemans Bay.

The dead man’s name is Wolfgang Burnside and clearly his drowning death is a murder case. But very early on we discover that there’s a personal connection to the case, a bit of a bombshell that’s going to make this just a little more of an emotional investigation than usual.

This is a story told across a couple of time periods as we alternate from the present before flicking back to 1990 and then 1994. In 1990 Simmons Burnside arrives in The Valley as part of the police force tasked with keeping order between loggers and protesting environmentalists. We’re given his first person account of the events and the people involved at the time. This includes his traumatic near death experience at Gryphon Mine.

Amber Jones, Nell’s mother, comes to the Valley in 1994 having inherited the property that includes a house and land, called Watershine, and the now abandoned Gryphon Mine. The mine sits on the escarpment overlooking the house and is the centrepiece of the story, linked by the tragedy that occurred there 4 years earlier and its potential for providing wealth and prosperity if it were made operable again.

Using the details from the past and present, Hammer gradually pulls the story together. We’re given two suspicious deaths from the past and one from the present to think about. In the meantime, Amber meets Lucas Trescothic and forms a friendship that slowly develops into something more. The more we learn about Amber the more you wonder how she’s involved, a job made increasingly difficult as the twists and unexpected changes of direction begin to come thick and fast.

Once again Chris Hammer has managed to place a large scale crime within a majestic New South Wales landscape. Familiar local environmental issues give depth to the storyline and the question of Nell’s origins (although tinged with the old coincidence brush) adds further intrigue. There’s no doubt that the sense of place is profound with beauty found in every described panoramic vista, lake, leaf and tree.

The Valley is an epic crime story, masterfully crafted, intricately plotted and well executed. Although it’s nominally a Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic police procedural, they actually take a backseat to the more complex cast of characters from the past. The question of Nell’s lineage hangs tauntingly for the majority of the story and is cleverly worked into the case as things are brilliantly wrapped up.

This is another small town Australian crime story that draws you deeply in and makes you care about the local people and the surrounding countryside.