Cover the Bones: the master of small-town mystery returns with a Times Crime Book of the Year 2024
About this ebook
**THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH**
**A TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024**
A small town.
A closely guarded secret, stretching back decades.
And blood in the water.
'A masterful, stunning thriller. A twisting mystery epic in scale yet intricate in detail. Irresistible.' Chris Whitaker
'Epic. Shakespearean in depth and range' The Times
'Fierce, gripping and spine-chilling.' Daily Mail
A body has washed up in an irrigation canal, the artery running through Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise on the border of the Outback. Stabbed through the heart, electrocuted and dumped under cover of night, there is no doubt that detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are dealing with a vicious homicide.
The victim is Athol Hasluck, member of one of the seven dynasties who have controlled every slice of bountiful land in this modern-day Eden for generations.
But this is not an isolated incident. Someone is targeting the landed aristocracy of this quiet paradise in the desert. Secrets stretching back decades are rising to the surface at last - but the question remains, who stands to gain most from their demise?
Can Ivan and Nell track down a killer before the guilt at the heart of these seven families takes the entire town down with it?
Praise for Chris Hammer:
'My favourite Australian detective is Nell Buchanan.' - Ann Cleeves
'Hammer is a great writer - a leader in Australian noir' Michael Connelly
'Shimmers . . . A tortured tale of blood and loss' Val McDermid
'Stunning - a page-turner which stays long in the memory' Sunday Times
'Utterly brilliant, a darkly simmering mystery.' - Dervla McTiernan
'Chris Hammer is at the height of his power here.' - William Shaw
'This novel is Hammer's best work yet.' The Times
'This may well be Hammer's best work yet. Atmospheric and thrilling. I was gripped.' Victoria Selman
'A vivid and gripping thriller' Gytha Lodge
'A complex, twisty thriller, with nuanced characters and a winding plot all set in the oppressive Australian heat.' Lisa Hall
'This slice of Australian noir sparkles like an opal in the blistering sun.' Lisa Gray
'Top-notch Aussie Noir with real heat coming off the pages.' Christopher Fowler
Scrublands was named Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 2019 and won the CWA John Creasey Dagger Award in the same year.
Dead Man's Creek was named the Times Crime Book of the Year in 2023.
Ratings and reviews
About the author
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 and aired on BBC 4 in the UK in November 2023. A second series based on Silver will air later this year. 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 30 countries on six continents for SBS TV. In Canberra, roles included chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, senior writer for The Age and Online Political Editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Chris has written two non-fiction books The River (2010) - winner of the ACT Book of the Year - and The Coast (2012), published by Melbourne University Press. The River has just been republished in a special new edition (2025). Chris lives in Canberra, Australia.
