The Australian literary world is mourning the loss of the internationally acclaimed crime writer Peter Temple, who died of cancer in Ballarat aged 71.
The South-African born author won the Miles Franklin book award in 2010 for his crime fiction novel, Truth — a book about police corruption, murder and politics.
Louise Thurtell was a young publisher at Harper Collins in 1995, when a manuscript in her favourite genre — crime fiction — came across her Sydney desk.
"I remember reading the first paragraph, and being electrified," Ms Thurtell said.
"They're the sort of manuscripts you go into publishing for; from the first paragraph you cannot stop reading, and you're just struck by the distinctiveness of the narrative voice and the strength."
Bad Debts was Peter Temple's first foray into crime writing and was later adapted into the ABC Television series, Jack Irish, based on the series' private investigator.
"When Jack's talking, you pay attention to everything he says — he's got that mordant wit," Ms Thurtell said.
"You don't even have to play with the dialogue for the screen, because he so captures people's natural way of speaking."
The character was played by Guy Pearce, who tweeted his condolences to Temple's family and friends today.
"Thank you for all the colourful characters you've introduced me to and the dark paths you've led me down. Respect and peace," wrote Pearce.
TV Producer Ian Collie worked with Temple to produce the series for television.
"Sometimes crime shows tend to get a little procedural, a bit formulaic," Collie said.
"What I love about Peter's [work] is there's a lot more energy and warmth and humour to it.
"He just gets into the Australian male psyche so well, and the colloquialisms, without ever feeling forced or laboured."
'Cop it sweet'
Temple was self-deprecatory in his acceptance of the Miles Franklin, and said he could not quite believe he was being counted among Australia's top writers.
"I'll thank the judges anyway," the crime writer told the Sydney audience.
"They'll have to take the flack for giving the Miles Franklin to a crime writer and all I can say, my advice to them is cop it sweet.
"You've done the crime, you do the time."
Temple previously told the ABC that Australia provided a unique backdrop for contemporary crime writing.
"In part, the cities are like cities everywhere," he said in a 2010 interview for AM.
"But the rest of Australia is not like anywhere else at all, you see.
"And there's a distinct Australian sensibility towards crime and all kinds of other things, which may in part be the convict origins in which there's a certain degree of admiration for the lawless, like Underbelly certainly showed that.
"That's not terribly apparent in other societies — that admiration.
"Australia in many ways has a sense of ordinariness, in fact that these things don't happen here, I think, so the best menace comes when you least expect it."
'A literary giant'
Friend and fellow crime fiction author Michael Robotham said he was "gutted" by Temple's death.
"A remarkable writer, a remarkable man," he said.
"It's going to be a huge loss and not just to the crime writing fraternity, but he was one of our great literary giants.
"He didn't fight against the term 'crime writer' but he just used crime as a vehicle to tell lots of other important stories about truth, justice, family, politics and the corruption of power," Mr Robotham said.
He said even though Temple was born in South Africa and didn't move to Australia until he was an adult, he was a great chronicler of Australian dialogue.
"The uniqueness of Peter's writing was this incredible beauty and taut sparseness of his prose," he said.
"Every sentence was polished, with an almost diamond-like sheen," Mr Robotham said.
The Australian Crime Writers Association praised Temple's "most acute writer's ear".
"He listened, analysed and loved Australian sensibility and wrote sparse, pointed, beautiful and profoundly Australian stories as a result," the association said.