Chris Hammer’s crime thriller, The Seven, has been named the 2024 ACT Book of the Year. Mr Hammer has won a prize of $10,000.

Mr Hammer’s first novel, Scrublands (2018), won the prestigious UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Award for a début crime novel in 2019, and was shortlisted for various awards in Australia and the United States. It has been translated in several foreign languages, and adapted for television. His follow-up books – Silver (2019), Trust (2020), Treasure & Dirt (2021) and The Tilt (2022) – have all been shortlisted for major literary prizes.

Before turning to fiction, Mr Hammer was a journalist for 30 years, covering Australian federal politics and international affairs. He reported from six continents with SBS TV, while in Canberra he was chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, senior writer for The Age, and online political editor for the Sydney Morning Herald. He has written two non-fiction books, The River (2010) and The Coast (2012).

The Seven, described as“a compelling thriller filled with intrigue, emotional depth and an evocative sense of place”, is set in the town of Yuwonderie, dominated by seven founding families. One of their own is found dead in a ditch, and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan investigate. Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim’s friend thirty years ago – another member of the Seven – or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?

“In The Seven, Chris Hammer demonstrates total mastery of the crime genre,” judges Helen Ennis, T. R. Napper, and Barrina South stated. “From the first pages onwards, Hammer creates a thrilling narrative filled with suspense that immerses the reader in gripping, page-turning intrigue.

“Hammer conveys a beautiful sense of place in developing this quintessential Australian story, filled with compelling characters, who are poignantly reflective about their own lives. The narrative, exposing the power of the landed aristocracy in a fictional country town, is skilfully controlled so that the reader is never certain where they will be taken next, until the final resolution. The town itself functions as a powerful metaphor which, with its art deco façade, is an evocative setting for this world-class crime novel.”

Sri Lankan-Australian writer Ayesha Inoon’s Untethered, a debut novel of a young Muslim woman’s experience of immigration to Australia, and Shirley Jackson Award-winning author J. Ashley-Smith’s short story collection The Measure of Sorrow were Highly Commended.

The shortlisted works were poet Paul Hetherington’s Sleeplessness; and two works of history: Mavis Kerinaiua and Laura Rademaker’s Tiwi Story: Turning history downside up, and Jackie French’s The Great Gallipoli Escape.

“The ACT Book of the Year Award showcases this talent and the excellence of our local authors,” arts minister Tara Cheyne said. “It is not only a celebration of the amazing works coming out of the community each year, but also intended to inspire those who have an idea, a seed for a book to ‘pick up the pen’ and get writing.

“Congratulations to bestselling crime fiction writer, Chris Hammer, whose latest work The Seven is this year’s ACT Book of the Year,” “The Seven trulykeeps you in riveted suspense, and is hard to put down.

“I’d also like to congratulate authors Ayesha Inoon and J. Ashley-Smith whose highly commended works demonstrate the depth of their talent and skills. This year’s shortlisted works by Paul Hetherington, Jackie French, and Mavis Kerinaiua and Laura Rademaker exemplify the outstanding quality and the diversity of the nominated works this year. Congratulations, everyone!”