Bad Debts

Meet Jack Irish, criminal lawyer, debt collector, football lover, turf watcher, trainee cabinetmaker, and one of the best crime characters ever created.

When Jack receives a puzzling message from a jailed ex-client he’s too deep in misery over his football team’s latest loss to take much notice. Next thing Jack knows, the ex-client’s dead and he’s been drawn into a life-threatening investigation involving high-level corruption, dark sexual secrets, shonky property deals, and murder. With hitmen after him, shady ex-policemen at every turn, and the body count rising, Jack needs to find out what’s going on—and fast.

The first novel in the iconic Jack Irish series, Bad Debts was first published in 1996 and won the Australia's crime writing prize, the Ned Kelly Award, for Best First Novel. Peter Temple went on to win Australia's highest literary honor, the Miles Franklin Award, in 2010 for Truth as well many other awards and accolades both in Australia and internationally.