The Valley is the fourth book featuring the detective team of Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan, but this is very much Nell’s book.
When Nell finds out that the murder victim, Wolfgang, was a close blood relative of hers, she also discovers her mother was caught up in a drama involving gold mining, logging, a bank robbery, political corruption and… murder.
In a Chris Hammer mystery, the location is almost a character in its own right.
In the 1990s, The Valley is a small town struggling to remain viable. The sawmill is in danger of closing when protests by greenies threaten to shut down logging operations. Previously, The Valley had been a thriving gold town, but when the gold dried up, so did The Valley’s collective wealth. Until a charming mining engineer named Francis Hardcastle turns up promising more gold.
In the present day, local entrepreneur Wolfgang Simmons is reviving The Valley’s prospects as an eco-tourism destination, with plans for an upmarket resort. When Wolfgang is found dead, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would begrudge the popular and charismatic businessman.
One of my favourite parts of this book were the scenes with the seedy lawyer, Willard Halliday, whose body is so ravaged by his bad habits that he’s on a ventilator but won’t go down without a fight. There’s a definite ‘wild west’ vibe to these scenes – I was almost expecting Harley Snouch from Scrublands to make an appearance.
If you love a small-town mystery, with layers of local history, then Chris Hammer’s The Valley should be right up your alley.
-Katrina Roe, RRL
