Bad Debts

Bad Debts
	First edition
Author	Peter Temple
Language	English
Series	Jack Irish series
Genre	crime novel
Publisher	HarperCollins, Australia
Publication date	1996
Publication place	Australia
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	297 pp
ISBN	0-7322-5816-2
OCLC	38392026
Followed by	An Iron Rose

Last updated December 24, 2025

Bad Debts (1996) is a Ned Kelly Award-winning novel by Australian author Peter Temple.^[1] This is the first novel in the author's Jack Irish series.^[2]

Dedication

"For Anita and Nicholas : true believers."

Awards

Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best First Novel, 1997: joint winner^[3]

Publication history

Also published in USA (in 2005 by MacAdam/Cage), in Canada (in 2006 by Anchor Canada), in the UK (in 2007 by Quercus) and in the Netherlands, in a Dutch-language edition (in 2002 by De Boekerij) with a translation by Paul Witte.^[1]

Television adaptation

This novel was adapted into an Australian television movie Jack Irish: Bad Debts in 2016, which was directed by Jeffrey Walker, from a script by Peter Temple, and featuring Guy Pearce in the lead role.^[4]

Reviews

Publishers Weekly ^[5]
Reviewing the Evidence^[6]

References

1 2 "Bad Debts". Austlit. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
↑ "Jack Irish by Peter Temple". Austlit. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
↑ "Previous Winners: Best Fiction". Australian Crime Writers Association. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
↑ "Jack Irish Series 1". ABC. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
↑ "Bad Debts". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
↑ "Bad Debts". Reviewing the Evidence. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

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[Austlit-1] 1 2 "Bad Debts". Austlit. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[Austlit1-2] "Jack Irish by Peter Temple". Austlit. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[ACWA-3] "Previous Winners: Best Fiction". Australian Crime Writers Association. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[ABC-4] "Jack Irish Series 1". ABC. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[PW-5] "Bad Debts". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[RtE-6] "Bad Debts". Reviewing the Evidence. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

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v t e Ned Kelly Award – Best First Novel
1996–1999	Dark Angel by John Dale (1996) Bad Debts by Peter Temple (1997) Get Rich Quick by Peter Doyle (1997) No award (1998) The Last Days by Andrew Masterson (1999)
2000–2009	The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders by Marshall Browne (2000) Last Drinks by Andrew McGahan (2001) Apartment 255 by Bunty Avieson (2002) Who Killed Angelique? by Emma Darcy (2002) Blood Redemption by Alex Palmer (2003) The Walker by Jane R. Goodall (2004) Junkie Pilgrim by Wayne Grogan (2004) A Private Man by Malcolm Knox (2005) Out of the Silence by Wendy James (2006) Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland (2007) The Low Road by Chris Womersley Ghostlines by Nick Gadd (2009)
2010–2019	King of the Cross by Mark Dapin (2010) Prime Cut by Alan Carter (2011) The Cartographer by Peter Twohig (2012) The Midnight Promise by Zane Lovitt (2013) Hades by Candice Fox (2014) Quota by Jock Serong (2015) Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic (2016) The Dry by Jane Harper (2017) The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey (2018) The Rúin by Dervla McTiernan (2019)
2020–present	Present Tense by Natalie Conyer (2020) The Second Son by Loraine Peck (2021) Banjawarn by Josh Kemp (2022) Wake by Shelley Burr (2023) Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point by Matt Francis (2024) All You Took From Me by Lisa Kenway (2025)
Ned Kelly Award – Best Novel