If, like me, you enjoy crime fiction, you will love Chris Hammer’s fourth novel, Treasure & Dirt. The story begins with the discovery of the crucified body of a miner at the base of his mine in the fictional opal town of Finnigans Gap located in western New South Wales. Lauded Sydney detective Ivan Lucic and his team fly in to solve the case. They are joined by rookie local detective Nell Buchanen whose astute observations and quick action contribute to the solving of the case.
While the solution of the crime keeps the story moving along, I found myself invested in the two main characters. Ivan’s mentor in the police force, Morris Montifore, is under suspicion and the internal investigator swoops in on Ivan at Finnigan’s Gap. A private and intense man, Ivan is torn by a gambling compulsion which at first seems out of character. To Nell, Ivan is a legendary detective in the force, having just solved a high-level corruption case. At first overwhelmed to be working with him, Nell soon finds her feet as his professional partner while her love life takes a disastrous turn. My interest in them both drew me back to the book again and again to discover how their shared pursuit of the killer might change them and bring them closer together professionally and personally.
Its palpable sense of place is a feature Treasure & Dirt shares with Chris Hammer’s other three ‘outback noir’ titles, Trust, Silver, and Scrublands. Finnigan’s Gap leaps into life. As readers, we come to know the geography of the town and its surrounds (with the help of a map), its small-town landmarks like the local pub and bowlo, the hospital, and police station, and a band of rough-neck outback characters laconic of language and dishevelled in appearance. Dominating the narrative is the oppressive heat. Ivan experiences the challenges of working in temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius in an arid landscape when the city-based cop first visits the crime scene, and when he becomes disoriented after venturing without water onto a salt lake.
An unsolved older crime initially investigated by Montifore becomes a second focus of Ivan’s attention as he delves into the history of the town, its eccentric inhabitants, and the relationships that link them together. Added to this are elements of financial wheeling and dealing related to a new mining venture in the town. At the end, it all comes together with both crimes solved and a pleasing tension remaining between local detective Nell and city-based Ivan, leaving room for these two to work together in future books by accomplished crime writer Chris Hammer.
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