An Iron Rose
Peter Temple
Text
Text Publishing is taking a second bite of the Australian literary cherry with its Australian Classics series – a reprint of 30 ‘‘forgotten’’ books.
Sure, there are some pretty good ones in the selection but, because I am a Peter Temple tragic, none come better than An Iron Rose.
In fact, if Temple had a crack at a scribble on the back of a supermarket docket, I’d read it.
An Iron Rose has Temple’s usual grizzled police veteran as the central character, a despicable and mystifying crime and a support crew of goodies and baddies – although as in most of Temple’s novels many make the switch to the dark side by the end of the book.
But don’t read it for the story line; read it for the language. Temple’s dry Australian vernacular and wit should be required reading for everyone above the age of 16. This edition is introduced by Les Carlyon, a better match for Temple’s writing I could not imagine.
– Jan Fisher
