Peter Temple Books In Order

Publication Order of Jack Irish Books

Publication Order of Broken Shore Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Peter Temple was an award-winning and bestselling Australian crime fiction novelist born in South Africa. He was an international newspaper and magazine editor and journalist. Temple relocated to Sydney, Australia in 1980 and later moved to Melbourne to become the editor of Australian Society magazine. The author has also taught editing, media studies, and journalism at university. He played a crucial role in the creation of the professional editing course at RMIT, Melbourne.

Peter passed away in March 2018.

Temple turned into writing in 1990’s, and his Jack Irish novels (White Dog, Bad Debts, Dead Point, and Black Tide) are set in Melbourne. The books feature unique lawyer-gambler lead character. The author has also written stand alone novels such as Shooting Star, An Iron Rose, In the Evil Day and his books have been published in over 20 countries.

The first two books in Jack Irish series were adapted into a television drama series by the same name. The series featured Guy Pearce as the lead character, who plays the role of Jack Irish, a retired criminal lawyer turned a debt collector and a private investigator. The series premiered on October 14th, 2012. In 2010, Temple won Miles Franklin Award for the novel Truth. Subsequently, The Broken Shore won the 2006 Ned Kelly Award, and 2007 Duncan Lawrie Dagger.

Bad Debts

A retired criminal lawyer Jack Irish is making his way out of the dark period of the life he drifted into after the death of his wife who passed away at the hands of unhappy clients. Trying to overcome his pain and sorrow, he is drowned in alcohol and turns to a gambler betting on the horse racing and a debt collector of serious debts. However there is another side of Jack- somehow sort of therapy, he helps a friend make furniture hence finding a bit of pride and peace of his work. He is a father to Claire, and he tries to stay on the safe side of the law, but however, there are sometimes when he has to cross that border.

As the book opens, Jack checks his telephone to several messages from a client named Danny McKillop whom he once defended in a hit and run accident. He begs Jack to meet him, but unfortunately, Jack does not remember him at the time, and the last message was left several days earlier. Now the curious Jack digs into case files where he discovers that McKillop had been accused as the person accountable for the death of a young activist named Anne Jeppeson a decade earlier. He finds out that McKillop had pleaded guilty as a witness has positively identified him as the driver of the car and hence received a ten-year sentence. Now that he is out, it appears that he want to talk to Jack, and a Jack digs around, he starts to think that probably McKillop was not the person behind the wheel, and little does he know that he is opening the real Pandora’s box. Aided along the way by a beautiful journalist Linda Hillier, it is not long before he finds out that someone is determined to kill in the name of keeping the truth hidden. In a story that is hardcore noir with some added bits of action-packed conspiracy, Jack must navigate between explosions, bullets and the people determined to kill to get the truth and the only problem is that Jack Irish does not know whom to trust.

The first novel in Jack Irish series is a genuine page turner. The story is based in Australia, and the plot is fantastic, and just as something cooled down, there was an embodiment of something about to spiral.

Black Tide

This is the second installment in Jack Irish series, and we meet Jack Irish recovering from this last encounter with the deadly criminal underworld when he agrees to return a favor to Des Connor, an old buddy of his father.

Des shows him the pictures of his mom and dad and fascinates him with stories about his father, the man Jack never fully understood him. Des loaned his son Gary sixty grand, and now he needs back the money to repay the mortgage, and if he is not able to repay the loan, he might be homeless the next day. However, on the other hand, Gary is nowhere to be found, and thus the big-hearted Jack decides to go and find him and get the cash for Des. Just as in the previous debut series novel, Jack’s search for Gary sends him into a dark web of hush-hush organizations, money laundering, kidnappings and finding someone whom he can trust would be like searching for a needle in an ocean of sand. While Jack is in pursuit of the missing son, his lover Linda relocated to Sydney where she lands a new job and apparently a new man as well leaving Jack to wonder about the possibility of a healthy future with her.

Just like its predecessor, Black Ride involves a complex maze of shady operations that will keep you guessing as who is trustworthy and who is not. The author also manages to keep a well-crafted plot. Furthermore, he holds the reins tightly as the vanishing of one many gradually branches out to reveal even more dirty dealings so that such that everything that Jack unravels fits in the entire plotline without having to off the tangents. Additionally, the author also crafts the distinct facets of the Melbourne’s population from the Aussie folks who have lost their local team to the affluent who prefer that the workmen use the back entrance. Even though the basic setup of this novel resemble closely resemble the series debut novel, some unique aspects are entirely distinct from the first book such as characters, and the plot.

Peter Temple is a superb and a prolific detective/mystery writer capable of creating three-dimensional characters, and probably a modern-day Damon Runyon; he is even good with female characters. If you love crime detective novels, then it is recommended that you create a space for Peter Temple novels in your bookshelf.

One Response to “Peter Temple”

1. Rob Herron: 6 months ago

   I love all his books and have read most several times with no loss of enjoyment each time. It seems unfair that he is so much better all other Australian writers and I think he is actually my favourite writer

   Reply