Although his four published books since his 2018 crime fiction debut have all been international bestsellers, author Chris Hammer still regards himself as a writer with L plates on, a “pantser” rather than a “plotter”.
The pantser description, he told writer Susan Chenery a couple of years ago, comes from “seat of the pants” which he says is how his plots develop, their creator never knowing exactly what is going to happen on the next page. He says he threw away at least 100,000 words to get to the final version of Scrublands, his first novel. If that’s the case, it certainly wasn’t wasted effort, because for my money that book is the very best so far of its genre – Aussie bush crime.
Hammer, now 62, is something of a Covid phenomenon, with his three follow-up novels, Silver, Trust and Treasure And Dirt, all having sold like crazy while we were mostly in lockdown. The real test might come with The Tilt, published in Australia post-Covid (more or less) next week, but I rather think that he might have already become an acquired habit for many readers.
Forgive me a trace of envy here, but Chris Hammer’s overnight smash success, with sales to die for and more literary awards than he can possibly fit in the pool room, is enough to make a mere toiler in the field smash down the lid of his Remington manual and go surfing! Admittedly, success did come fairly late in life, but no one was more surprised than the author himself.
After more than 30 years as a TV and print journalist, dividing his career between covering Australian federal politics and international affairs, including stints with SBS TV, and Canberra-based political correspondent for The Bulletin, The Age and Fairfax Online, Hammer had just taken a job as a political advisor with Labor MP Stephen Jones when a publisher made him an offer for Scrublands he couldn’t refuse. He laughed, he cried, then he went in and resigned. A little hasty perhaps, but within a couple of months he’d signed an international publishing deal and a television deal.
Hammer’s fifth thriller, The Tilt, will be published in Australia next week, with the author making his only Noosa appearance at a literary lunch at Pitchfork restaurant in Peregian next Thursday, 6 October, where he’ll be in conversation with author, artist and former Noosa mayor Tony Wellington.
As the publisher blurbs, this novel “follows newly minted detective Nell Buchanan, who returns to her hometown to follow up a decades-old murder. It’s no ordinary cold case, though, with a harrowing investigation bringing dangers to the present. Gripping and multi-layered with atmospheric quality, the story will have you in its thrall.” I’m sure it will, but I rather miss the love-hate relationship I developed with Hammer’s first invented detective, the deeply troubled Martin Scarsden and his wild gal Mandalay.
The author introduced Detective Ivan Lucic in Trust, his third book and gave him a female assistant Nell Buchanan, in Treasure And Dirt, his fourth. Lucic is also apparently back with Nell in The Tilt, although since the publisher doesn’t mention him in the blurb, (spoiler alert!), I can only imagine he quickly becomes one of the many corpses that litter Hammer’s bloody pages. As well as blood and guts, Hammer is particularly fond of taking his protagonists back to the old home town, which gives him the opportunity to utilise his quite magical skills at putting you in a place, making you feel the heat and dust or the salty grim of a port, as well as revealing character traits hidden in the past.
See, I’ve already talked myself into it.
Chris Hammer in conversation with Tony Wellington, is presented by Annie’s Books On Peregian, from 12 noon Thursday 6 October at Pitchfork, Peregian Beach Village. Tickets $70 include two-course lunch and welcome glass of wine. Bookings essential: 5448 2053 or info@anniesbooks.com.au