Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Bad Debts by Peter Temple

Peter Temple (1946-2018) was an Australian crime fiction writer. He was born in South Africa and eventually emigrated to Australia, where he worked as a journalist and teacher before turning to writing fiction full time. He wrote four books about a lawyer and gambler named Jack Irish, who lived in Melbourne. Three of the four won Ned Kelly awards and the fourth was shortlisted.

In 2012, the Australian ABC Television and the German ZDF produced the first two books as feature-length films with Guy Pearce in the title role under the series title Jack Irish. Acorn TV also produced 16 episodes of a Jack Irish series across three years, again with Pearce. Both the movies and the television episodes can be streamed via Acorn.

Bad Debts is the first book about Irish and Temple’s first novel. It was published in Australia in 1996 and in the United States in 2013. Jack’s football team is on a losing streak and what was supposed to be a simple collections effort in Sydney turned into an armed confrontation. Jack is not happy. Jack returned to Melbourne to find a days-old message from Danny McKillop, a long-ago client. Jack called, only to be told that the client had been killed the night he phoned Jack.

Inquiries about why Danny wanted to talk to him steered Jack to look into the circumstances surrounding Danny’s death and that led him to a closed case that Jack unilaterally re-opened. A subplot involves Jack’s participation in elaborate betting schemes at the horse tracks. I found the detailed descriptions of the gambling process highly educational. I understand the science of bookmaking more than I did.

The book started with a wisecrack on every other page, reminiscent of the early Spenser books, but the humor dissipated as Jack delves into an investigation that is complex, layered, and intense. The scenes at the horse tracks are strategically placed to relieve what would otherwise be almost unbearable stress. As usual with books set in Australia, I kept Google open to look up the occasional regional reference. Smoothly flowing and polished writing. For fans of UK detective fiction. Highly recommended.

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.