Alex Hammond (born 25 December 1975 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is an Australian crime fiction writer. He is also published under the name A. W. Hammond.[1]
Life
In 1981 he emigrated to Australia with his family. He graduated in Law/Arts from Melbourne University in 2001 and worked for several law firms before becoming an editor and web manager for the University of Melbourne and later RMIT University.[1]
Author
In 1997, 1998, and 1999 he wrote several short stories for Inferno! Tales of Fantasy & Adventure, a publication of Black Library and Games Workshop. The short stories were, The Demon Bottle for issue 1,[2] The Emperor's Grace for issue 3,[3] A World Above for issue 6,[4] Ancient Lances for issue 11,[5] and Rat in the Walls for issue 14.[6]
His first novel, Blood Witness (Penguin 2013), is a contemporary crime thriller set in Melbourne featuring defence lawyer Will Harris. It was short-listed for a Ned Kelly Award for Australian Crime Writing in 2014. It and its sequel, The Unbroken Line (Penguin 2015) were optioned for a TV Series.[7]
Of his third novel, The Paris Collaborator (Echo 2021), The Sydney Morning Herald said he "artfully constructs this historical thriller within a paranoid and desperate city, creating plenty of twist and tension."[8] The novel is set in German-occupied Paris and follows former schoolteacher Auguste Duchene as he searches for missing people in the days before the battle for the city's liberation.
Bibliography
Will Harris novels
- Blood Witness (2013)
- The Unbroken Line (2015)
The Paris Collaborator (2021)
Interviews
- Better Reading Podcast A.W. Hammond on the Moral Grey Areas of WWII, July 2021
- Final Draft - Great Conversations A.W. Hammond's The Paris Collaborator (Part One), June 2021
- The Sydney Morning Herald Alex Hammond's The Unbroken Line a legal thriller set in Melbourne, July 2015
- The West Australian Thriller genre the perfect choice, July 2013
- ABC Brisbane Drive with Mary-Lou Stephens, August 2013