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Jack Irish

by Peter Temple

4 books Started 1996 Latest 2004
Publication Reading Order

The Jack Irish is a Crime Fiction / Mystery series by Peter Temple, made up of 4 books published between 1996 and 2004. It begins with Bad Debts (1996), and is best read in publication order. The most recent entry is White Dog (2004), spanning 8 years of storytelling.

4books
8years active
2decades
~2.7yrs between books
2004latest release

Jack Irish series: frequently asked questions

What order should I read the Jack Irish series?

Start with Bad Debts (1996), the first book in the Jack Irish series by Peter Temple. Follow the books in publication order for the best reading experience.

How many books are in the Jack Irish series?

There are 4 books in the Jack Irish series by Peter Temple, published between 1996 and 2004.

What is the first book in the Jack Irish series?

The first book in the Jack Irish series is Bad Debts, published in 1996 by Peter Temple.

What is the latest book in the Jack Irish series?

The most recent book in the Jack Irish series is White Dog (2004) by Peter Temple.

Peter Temple (1946–2018) was an Australian crime writer born in South Africa. Widely regarded as the finest crime novelist Australia has produced, he won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger twice — for White Dog (2007) and In the Evil Day (2004) — and in 2010 became the first and only crime novelist to win the Miles Franklin Award, Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, for Truth. Temple lived in Ballarat, Victoria, and his fiction is steeped in Melbourne’s inner-city geography and working-class culture. His Jack Irish series — four novels featuring a Melbourne solicitor turned amateur investigator — was adapted by ABC Australia into a television series starring Guy Pearce. Temple died in March 2018.

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About the Jack Irish series

Peter Temple's Jack Irish novels are sharp, stylish Australian crime fiction. Jack is a Melbourne lawyer who, after personal tragedy, drifts into a patchwork life of debt-collecting, cabinet-making, horse-racing schemes and reluctant investigation, moving easily between the city's bars, courtrooms and criminal fringes.

Temple's writing is famous for its wit, its lean muscular prose and its deep love of Melbourne, and Jack is a wonderfully laconic, damaged guide to the city's underbelly. The books are as much character study as crime story.

The series begins with "Bad Debts"; reading in order follows Jack's tangled relationships, though each mystery stands alone.