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This page lists novels by Peter Temple.

Cover images are of recent paperback or digital editions.

Bad Debts

Peter Temple

1996

A Jack Irish novel.

"Jack Irish doesn't spook too easy. He's had guns pointed at him too many times - more often since he started hiring himself out as a debt collector - and he saves his nerves for the racetrack. So when he receives a phone message from an ex-client begging for help, he's inclined to ignore it. It's not an acquaintance he's looking to renew. Some-time lawyer, part-time private eye, he has some old memories - and old friends - he'd do better to forget. But then the caller turns up dead. And Jack has no choice but to take a trip down memory lane - into dangerous territories. There are some old debts that need chasing."

An Iron Rose

Peter Temple

1998

"A regular at the local pub, a mainstay of the footy team, Mac Faraday is a man with a past living the quiet life of a country blacksmith. But when his best friend Ned Lowey is found hanged, Mac - who has learned the hard way never to accept things at face value - isn't convinced he committed suicide and starts asking questions. .... As Mac's search for answers pushes deeper into the past, it resurrects the terrifying spectre of what he calls his 'old life', forcing him to turn to long-discarded skills not only to discover why his best friend died, but also to save his own life."

Black Tide

Peter Temple

1999

A Jack Irish novel.

"Jack Irish has no shortage of friends. Jockeys and journos, lawyers and standover men, people in nameless occupations who aren't in the phone book. These days, though, the only family he sees are Irish men in faded football team photographs on the pub wall. So when Des Connors, the last link to his father, calls to ask for help in the matter of his missing son, Gary, Jack is happy to lend a hand. But sometimes prodigal sons go missing for a reason. And Jack soon discovers Gary Connors was a man with something to hide."

Shooting Star

Peter Temple

1999

"Anne Carson: fifteen, beautiful, wayward. Abducted. Her rich family has closed ranks and summoned Frank Calder, ex-soldier and sacked police hostage negotiator. They want him to deliver the ransom money to the kidnappers. Frank wants them to call in the law, but the family refuses, since police bungling nearly cost the life of another Carson child kidnapped years before. But are the two kidnappings connected? And is greed the motivation? Revenge? Or could it be something else? To find out, Frank Calder must go beyond his brief."

Dead Point

Peter Temple

2000

A Jack Irish novel.

"Jack Irish has a lot on his mind. His woman has an old flame, his champion horse has been put down and his gambling has left him broke. No wonder then, that he's a bit distracted from the work he is getting paid for - looking for the elusive Robbie Colburne, occasional barman. He's not the only one. Robbie's caught the interest not only of the police, but also certain dealers from the city's criminal class. So when Robbie finally shows up - in the morgue - Jack thinks he'd better start taking his job seriously. But there are those who would prefer him not to. Who don't like it when Jack begins asking questions. Who would do anything to make sure Jack Irish stays off the case - for good."

In the Evil Day

Peter Temple

2002

"The Cold War is long dead but the trade in deceit and lies is still running hot. In Hamburg, John Anselm is hiding from the ghosts he has left behind in foreign war zones. He spends his days working for a surveillance firm. At night he drinks too much, paranoid about the suspicions he glimpses in the eyes of strangers. In London, Caroline Wishart calls herself an exposé journalist. The story she has stumbled on could make her career - or is she playing somebody else's game? Into both their lives comes ex-mercenary Con Niemand, bearing an explosive secret, a secret with the power to topple governments and destroy them all."

White Dog

Peter Temple

2003

A Jack Irish novel.

"Mickey Franklin was shot dead in his shower on a Saturday evening. Before long, his girlfriend - Sarah Longmore - was in custody. She had a gun and a key, and a witness placed her at the scene. .... Jack Irish hasn't found much of late. Unless you count the joys of Schubert and home cooking as discoveries, that is. So, when he is asked to take a look into Sarah Longmore's defence, he's more than happy to oblige. After all, it shouldn't take much time and effort: if she seems that guilty, the chances are that she probably is. However, Sarah's case will prove to be far from straightforward, and Jack's investigation far from quick and painless."

The Broken Shore

Peter Temple

2005

"Haunted by his last case, homicide detective Joe Cashin has fled Melbourne and returned to his hometown, running its one-man police station while his wounds heal and his nightmares fade. But when a local man is attacked and left for dead, Cashin's recovery is put on hold. And in a small town where everyone knows everyone, he finds himself standing alone fighting a battle against corruption and prejudice."

Truth

Peter Temple

2009

"At the close of a long day, Inspector Stephen Villani stands in the bathroom of a luxury apartment high above the city. In the glass bath, a young woman lies dead. .... Now, over a few sweltering summer days, as fires burn across the state and his superiors and colleagues scheme and jostle, the girl's murder will collide with what seems on the surface to be another brutal gangland slaying and expose the darkness in the city's soul."

The Peter Temple Omnibus

Peter Temple

2008

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels: The Broken Shore; In The Evil Day; and An Iron Rose.