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Michael Brissenden will be in conversation with Chris Hammer on Michael's new novel Dead Letters, a potent mix of suspense and action. Counter terrorism expert and AFP agent Sid Allen, who featured in Michael's acclaimed first novel The List (2017), knows nothing good ever comes from a phone call at 5 am.

Politician Dan LeRoi, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, has been shot. Four bullets to the head. The crime scene is chaotic. Homicide. Counter Terrorism. Media. And for Sid, hunting the killer is going to get even more complicated with a decades-old unsolved murder involving journalist Zephyr Wilde.

Zephyr's mother was murdered when she was a child. When Sid learns that Dan LeRoi was helping Zephyr investigate her mother's death, he realises that lines are going to be crossed and knowing who to trust in the corridors of power is going to mean the difference between solving a crime and becoming a victim.

Dead Letters is informed by Michael's working life as a journalist, asking questions, digging for answers, talking to the good and the bad among us -the corrupt, the altruistic, the amoral and the inspiring.

Double Walkley award winner, Michael Brissenden has been a journalist with the ABC for 35 years.  He was posted to Moscow, Brussels and Washington and worked in Canberra for many years in various roles -  including as the Political Editor for the daily television current affairs program - the 7.30 Report, as the ABC's defence and security correspondent and as the presenter of the 'AM' Current Affairs program on ABC radio.   From 2017 to 2021 he was a reporter with the ABC's investigative television documentary program - 4Corners.

Chris Hammer was a journalist for more than thirty years, including chief political correspondent for The Bulletin, current affairs correspondent for SBS TV and a senior political journalist for The Age. His crime fiction novels, Scrublands (2018), Silver (2019) and Trust (2020), featuring troubled journalist Martin Scarsden and his partner Mandalay Blonde, which have won multiple awards in Australia and overseas, constitute a powerful, compelling and original trilogy.

Jeff Popple, who has been reviewing crime fiction for the Canberra Times and the Canberra Weekly since 1982, will give the vote of thanks.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, registration for this event is essential and social distancing must be adhered to. 

Signings will take place, both before and after the event, at the Harry Hartog Bookshop stand in the foyer.