PENDING CASES
Chris High closes the Crime File with a look at some of the titles to look out for early in 2019
As the year draws to an end, it’s the perfect time to take a look at some of the novels and novelists – both familiar and not-so-familiar – to look out for in the new year.
First up, informed by his thirty years’ experience as a journalist, Chris Hammer releases his debut novel Scrublands with Headline on 6 January. In an isolated Australian outback town afflicted by interminable drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, shooting dead five parishioners before being gunned down himself. A year later, and not without his own demons, journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to discover how the townspeople are coping as the anniversary of their tragedy approaches. But as Martin meets the locals and hears their version of events, he begins to realise that the accepted wisdom may be wrong.