Legacy

Martin Scarsden returns in the unmissable new thriller from Chris Hammer, bestselling author of Scrublands and Times Crime Book of the Year (2023) Dead Man's Creek. MARTIN SCARSDEN IS ON THE RUN. WILL THE DESERT SAVE HIM - OR BURY HIM?
A bomb at his book launch. Gunfire in his hometown. Someone wants journalist Martin Scarsden dead. Fleeing for his life into the outback, he learns that nowhere is safe. The killers are closing in and it's all he can do to survive. But who wants to kill him - and why? As Scarsden gets deeper intwined with the local community, he finds his fate lies in the hands of some surprising individuals: a disgraced ex-wife of a football legend, a fugitive wanted for a decades-old murder, and two nineteenth century explorers from a legendary expedition. With his life on the line, one thing is for sure: this is Martin Scarsden's most perilous, challenging and intriguing assignment yet. Praise for Chris Hammer: '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
'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

Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of the internationally bestselling Martin Scarsden series: Scrublands, Silver, Trust and 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, airing on BBC4 in the UK. Silver aired on BBC2 in 2025. 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 thirty countries on six continents. Chris has also written two non-fiction books, The River, winner of the ACT Book of the Year, and The Coast, published by Melbourne University Press. Chris lives in Canberra, Australia.