Detective Nell Buchanan has been newly appointed to the homicide division, based in Dubbo NSW (a regional city 400km north-west of Sydney). She works there with senior detective Ivan Lucic, and their patch covers a vast area of the state. The two get called to the (fictional) town of Tulong, a seven-hour drive south of Dubbo, where a body has been found. They soon learn this is a historical crime and find themselves investigating a cold case, one which has ties to Nell's family.
The story shuffles along different timelines. In the 1940s, Jimmy Waters is a young boy who catches crayfish in the river and sells them. Much of this era's history comes from Jimmy's modern witness. statements. In the 1970s teenage Tess Waters falls for Tycho Buchanan, an ambitious local journalist. Tycho's father Bert runs the metal scrap yard. Today, Nell and Ivan work with local officer Kevin Mackangara to uncover the mystery of the dead man and various unexplained disappearances that occurred on the past eighty years. To say more would give away a tightly woven plot which was a joy to unwind.
Tulong sits on the edge of a deep forest, the Cadell Fault (the 'tilt' of the title) is a geological feature running along the Murray River, impacting its flow. Like other Hammer novels, the landscape is a key character. The forest holds dark secrets, now and in the past. Back in WWII there was a prisoner of war camp on the Victorian side of the river, today there are bird watchers, doomsday preppers, and environmentalists staking claim.The Tilt (2022) (published internationally as Dead Man's Creek) is the second novel featuring Buchanan. I really liked her as the plucky novice in Treasure and Dirt (2021), and I am enjoying the evolution of her character her. I have previously critiqued Hammer's portrayal of women (his Mandalay Blonde was one-dimensional), but here he has given Buchanan a compelling back story and a growing confidence. She is fully formed, intuitive, vulnerable and self-aware.
