The Valley by Chris Hammer

Nell Buchanan and Ivan, starring in Hammer’s previous books, Treasure & dirt, The Tilt and The Seven are back, this time investigating a crime in a lonely mountain valley. A local entrepreneur, Wolfgang Burnside, has been found murdered and Nell is stunned to discover that he was a close blood relative. The past is fraught with secrets. Nell’s mother must have been in the Valley, but what secrets was she hiding when she fled? Will Nell finally find out who her father is and why she didn’t know him? How is this connected to the murder?

Ivan and Nell are faced with confusing information about the past. Gold is rumoured to be found in the abandoned mine. Meanwhile there was a bank robbery that was never solved and hints of police corruption. Somehow, they must sift through clues from the past and the present, to find the murderer.

As always, Hammer has written a complex and deeply intriguing mystery. Set against a beautiful background of a wooded valley in New South Wales, and a river with a waterfall, the reader is drawn into the gripping story, reading on to try and guess what the connections are from earlier times, and how they fit into the murder. Nell’s has an emotional journey on being told of the DNA results, and Hammer cleverly brings together the threads about her parents that were started in previous books.

Fans of the Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan series will be thrilled with The Valley and will eagerly await the next book from this talented author.

Themes: Murder, Detectives, Country life - New South Wales.

Pat Pledger