Chris Hammer on Scrublands, reporting from Texas and Gaza, and tough love from Peter Temple

'Scrublands' by Chris Hammer begins with a young priest, Byron Swift, shouldering a high-powered hunting rifle and opening fire on his congregation in the tiny, drought-stricken town of Riversend. Martin Scarsden, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist, is sent to profile the town a year on from the massacre and discovers that there's far more to the killings than was initially reported. Here Chris talks about his 30-year career as a journalist, his investigation into the families affected by the Millennium Drought, which influenced his choice of setting, and copping tough love from Australian crime writing legend Peter Temple, who lectured Chris at university. Books mentioned in this podcast: Scrublands by Chris Hammer: http://bit.ly/2uOwsvt The River by Chris Hammer: http://bit.ly/2mFKoDC The Broken Shore by Peter Temple: http://bit.ly/2v1JGEA Truth by Peter Temple: http://bit.ly/2NDa1QM Into the Night by Sarah Bailey: http://bit.ly/2JS0Ppv