Silver

AN ENTHRALLING AND PROPULSIVE NEW THRILLER FROM THE ACCLAIMED AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SCRUBLANDS

‘Compelling, original and brilliantly executed – an excellent thriller from a new master of Australian noir’ CHARLES CUMMING

‘Dark, twisty and atmospheric, with writing so real you can almost feel the blistering heat of the Australian summer’ LISA HALL

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A HOMECOMING MARRED BY BLOOD
Journalist Martin Scarsden returns to Port Silver to make a fresh start with his partner Mandy. But he arrives to find his childhood friend murdered – and Mandy is the prime suspect. Desperate to clear her name, Martin goes searching for the truth.

A TERRIBLE CRIME
The media descends on Port Silver, compelled by a story that has it all: sex, drugs, celebrity, and religion. Martin is chasing the biggest scoop of his career, and the most personal.

A PAST HE CAN’T ESCAPE
As Martin draws closer to a killer, the secrets of his traumatic childhood come to the surface, and he must decide what is more important – the story or his family…

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Praise for SCRUBLANDS:

‘Shimmers . . . A tortured tale of blood and loss’ VAL MCDERMID

‘Stunning . . . That rare combination, a page-turner that stays long in the memory’ SUNDAY TIMES (CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH)

‘An almost perfect crime novel … Intelligent, thought-provoking, great
narrative energy’ ANN CLEEVES

Author Biography

Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of the internationally bestselling Martin Scarsden series: Scrublands, Silver, Trust and now Legacy. Scrublands was shortlisted for major writing awards in Australia, the UK and the United States. In the UK it was named the Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2019 and won the prestigious UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award. Scrublands was adapted for TV, airing on BBC4 in the UK. Silver aired on BBC2 in 2025. Chris also writes the award-winning series featuring homicide detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic: Opal Country, Dead Man’s Creek, Cover the Bones and The Broken River.

Before turning to fiction, Chris was a journalist for more than thirty years. He reported from more than thirty countries on six continents. Chris has also written two non-fiction books, The River, winner of the ACT Book of the Year, and The Coast, published by Melbourne University Press.

Chris lives in Canberra, Australia.