Chris Hammer wins Dagger for Scrublands, a ''heatwave of a novel, scorching and powerful and with an acute sense of place''.

Chris Hammer wins Dagger award in Australia for ''Scrublands,'' a ''heatwave of a cli-fi novel, scorching and powerful and with an acute sense of place''.

Crime spree wins Aussie writer a Dagger

The Sydney Morning Herald-5 小時前

 

 

Only two years ago Jane Harper won the British Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year for ''The Dry,'' a cli-fi crime novel that examined the quiet desperation of a rural town during times of climate change and year-on-year drought.

 

Chris Hammer wins Dagger for Scrublands, a ''heatwave of a novel, scorching and powerful and with an acute sense of place''

 

The award from the UK Crime Writers' Association further underlines the international popularity of the crime subgenre of outback noir, in which Australia’s regional and rural landscape is challenging the stranglehold of genteel English crime fiction and the bleak wintry landscapes of Scandi noir.

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Only two years ago Jane Harper won the British Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year for The Dry, a book that examined the quiet desperation of a rural town during times of climate change and year-on-year drought.

Hammer said he couldn't be happier. ''When I was writing Scrublands, I don't think I knew what a Dagger was, or had heard of the UK Crime Writers Association awards. I was hoping to get published in Australia; I wasn't thinking about the UK. It helps demonstrate just how eager international audiences now are to read Australian crime writing.''

The award coincides with the publication of Hammer's second book, Silver, in which his protagonist from Scrublands, Martin Scarsden, returns to his childhood haunt to solve an old friend's murder.

Scrublands, by Chris Hammer.

''Scrublands was written in stolen moments, late at night and on weekends,'' Hammer said. ''With Silver, I had the great good fortune to be able to work on it full time. It was still challenging to meet the deadline for Silver, but I think in some ways that helped me avoid some of the pitfalls of the so-called second novel syndrome. I became so focused on writing the story and trying to make it the best book I could, that I didn't have time to over-think it or start thinking about myself.''

Now writing his third crime novel, success has ruled out a return to journalism.
''I just love writing fiction too much,'' he said. ''I also loved being a journo, but that was then and this is now. I'm having too much fun.''