The Seven by Chris Hammer

Publisher's Synopsis

Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful.

But now—in startling circumstances—one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate.

Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago—another member of The Seven—or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?

What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?

With the killer still on the loose and events spiralling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes. Can they crack the case before more people die?

My Review of The Seven by Chris Hammer

Homicide detectives DS Ivan Lucic and DC Nell Buchanan are once again called out into the far reaches of country New South Wales to conduct a murder investigation. This time, the setting for The Seven is in the Riverina district and makes tremendous use of the Murrumbidgee River by creating another irrigation area called the Yuwonderie Irrigation Area, a fictional clone of the established MIA.

In the fictional town of Yuwonderie a body is found floating in the waters of a local canal. The dead man’s name is Athol Hasluck and he’s a minor member of one of the area’s dominant families - one of The Seven.

Although the point of the story is the investigation into the murder of Athol, the underlying story and the source of tremendous fascination in harnessing the most valuable resource in the country…water.

The Seven refers to the original landholder families who got together to form the irrigation scheme that became known as the Yuwonderie Irrigation Scheme. Over the years, thanks to the success of the irrigation system to provide reliable water for their properties, they have become wealthy and powerful, controlling the prosperity of the entire region.

And just for reference, The Seven consist of the Titchfield, Hasluck, Blaxland, McLean, Heartwood, Horsham and Allsop families. Some of these families are pivotal to the story, particularly the lives of earlier generations and their influence on more recent events.

The story is told across three different time periods: 1913, 1993 and the present (2023). There is a great deal of history behind the Yuwonderie area as well as the families that make up The Seven in particular. Consequently, there’s quite a bit to get through to help us understand just what is at stake for the group who must be considered part of the main suspects.

Then there’s the 1913 storyline which unfolds as a series of letters written by a young woman by the name of Bessie Walker. Her role in this mystery slowly becomes clear throughout the course of the entire book.

When we flip to the 1993 time period we follow the exploits of Davis Heartwood. He’s part of one of The Seven families but is prepared to relinquish his entitlement in favour of completing his university history degree. To that end he is writing his thesis on the formation of the Yuwonderie Irrigation Scheme and throws himself headlong into as many historical records as he can. It’s fair to say that what he discovers from the past is going to be significant.

As with just about everything that involves money, greed and corruption seems inevitable along with the use and abuse of power.

Part of Lucic and Buchanan’s investigation involves learning more about the history of the area, how it was established and how the irrigation system operates. Also, they need to find out who benefits from the scheme and how. There’s a lot to get through but it proves to be a fascinating learning process and, for us, a mesmerising game of “what if”. Far from affecting the pace of the novel, it helps to ensure that there’s a constant sense of forward momentum.

To keep Ivan and Nell on their toes Nathan ‘Feral’ Phelan from the police Professional Standards section makes an appearance. To sum up Phelan we get the viewpoint from Ivan himself, “an utterly untrustworthy maverick, an operator, a collector of influence and secrets and leverage - with the power to end a career.” Thanks to the ‘friendly’ little conversation with Phelan, Ivan finds himself with a 48 hour deadline to wrap the case up with the threat of permanent leave should he fail hanging over his head.

Chris Hammer has a knack for building up a crystal clear picture of the settings of his books and he has succeeded in bringing Yuwonderie and the surrounding district completely to life. In exploring the historical aspects of the area the members of the principal families are brought to life. At the same time, the rich, fertile landscape of the region is also clearly defined and described providing a beautiful backdrop upon which the terrible deeds of the inhabitants are placed. The fact that I lived in the area for a number of years brought back fond memories of the beauty and wonder of the place in relentless waves as the story progressed. 

The triple narrative structure was an effective way of drawing together multiple narrative threads and managed to ratchet up the dramatic tension as Ivan and Nell worked to bring the investigation to its successful conclusion. Or, at least, a conclusion that could close the case.

This is the 3rd book in the Lucic and Buchanan series but it can easily be enjoyed as a stand alone novel. Characters and incidents from this series and the Martin Scarsden series make an appearance drawing together all of Hammer’s works into a single universe.

This is an epic murder mystery that should appeal to anyone who enjoys the burgeoning Aussie rural crime sub-genre. In fact, I would go as far as to say this sits close to, if not at the top of the Australian crime tree, certainly in the last 4 or 5 years.