An Iron Rose

by Peter Temple

When Mac Faraday's best friend is found hanging, the assumption is suicide. But Mac is far from convinced, and he's a man who knows not to accept things at face value.

A regular at the local pub, a mainstay of the footy team, Mac is living the quiet life of a country blacksmith - a life connected to a place, connected to its people.

But Mac carries a burden of fear and vigilance from his old life.

And as this past of secrets, corruption, abuse and murder begins to close in, he must turn to long-forgotten resources to hang on to everything he holds dear, including his own life.

Genres: Crime, Australia, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Book Club, Audiobook

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Peter Temple is an Australian crime fiction writer.

Formerly a journalist and journalism lecturer, Temple turned to fiction writing in the 1990s. His Jack Irish novels (Bad Debts, Black Tide, Dead Point, and White Dog) are set in Melbourne, Australia, and feature an unusual lawyer-gambler protagonist. He has also written three stand-alone novels: An Iron Rose, Shooting Star, In the Evil Day (Identity Theory in the US), as well as The Broken Shore and its sequel, Truth. He has won five Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction, the most recent in 2006 for The Broken Shore, which also won the Colin Roderick Award for best Australian book and the Australian Book Publishers' Award for best general fiction. The Broken Shore also won the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2007. Temple is the first Australian to win a Gold Dagger.

Reviews

[MaryG2E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Respected local farmer Ned Lowey is found hanging dead in his shed by his grandson Lew, who calls his friend Mac for help. A former Federal Police officer, Mac can’t believe that Ned would kill himself, and begins an unofficial investigation. Meanwhile the local cops suspect both Mac and Lew may have killed Ned for the inheritance.

Mac goes through Ned’s business records and finds that he had previous involvement with the nearby girls’ reform school, Kinross Hall, for some years until 1983. The various goings-on at Kinross Hall form a major sub-plot of the novel. Meantime, seedy elements emerge from Mac's former career in the Australian Federal Police, which had led to his resignation. It related to drug dealers and underworld murders in the 1990s. The corrupt police officers involved then have risen high in the ranks and one detective is in line to be the next deputy commissioner.

Mac is not sure who is straight and who is crooked among his cop contacts. Clearly the bad cops are right on his heels, desperate to ensure that the truth does not come out. Mac must draw on all his remaining physical strength, his mental toughness, plus his sharp intellect in order to pursue the challenge.

Peter Temple’s writing style is quite brilliant. He is economical with his words but manages to convey so much. He has a gift for producing the laconic, blokey language of so many Aussie bush men. He has great powers of description, and uses words with such finesse. There are clever, sometimes witty contrasts between the country folk and the city slickers.

The plot moves along nicely. There are lots of interesting encounters with a wide variety of characters, most of whom are quite unique and thus intriguing for the reader to work out. What these characters say may be highly relevant or totally useless, and we the readers have to keep guessing. All of these factors make for a truly excellent mystery/thriller novel, redolent of the Australian bush.
4.5 ★s

[Alex Cantone · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘So they say you looked the other way on Lefroy,’ he said, not looking at me.
‘Scully tell you?’
‘Nah. The offsider.’
‘Hill? Bianchi?’
‘Hill. Bianchi’s dead. Went to Queensland and drowned.’
‘Wonderful news,’ I said. ‘Saves me killing him.’

First published in 1998, the standalone thriller An Iron Rose has all the hallmarks of a Peter Temple classic: a slightly knocked-around MC in Mac Faraday, a former DS with the Australian Federal Police, who took the rap for a surveillance operation that went wrong. Now he lives in his father’s old house in rural Victoria, a stalwart on the local Aussie Rules Football team, working as a blacksmith and doing odd landscaping jobs with his mates on the side.

It opens with the apparent suicide of one of his father’s closest friends, Ned, the body discovered hanging from the rafters of a barn by Ned’s teenage grandson, Lew. The pair are interviewed by detectives, suspicious that the will leaves 60% to the grandson when he comes of age, and 40% to Mac, who Ned has appointed Lew’s guardian. All is not as it seems and when clearing the house Mac discovers some old newspaper reports in a desk of the murder of a teenage girl whose body was dropped down a mineshaft, back in 1985, with links to a girl’s reform school, where Ned did maintenance jobs over the years. Then a second suicide, that of the doctor at the same school, has Mac searching out the truth, taking him back to his AFP days and unfinished business.

As with the ‘Jack Irish’ novels, there’s humour aplenty, nasty villains with support in high places, brutal murders although Temple goes easy on the gore, enough love interest to give the ‘fifth limb’ plenty of practice, and homespun characters short on political correctness.

The book lacks chapter headings or numbers, each scene seguing into the next, (annoying for some readers) but does have punctuation. What is does is showcase the author’s incredible ear for dialogue – no male in rural Victoria uses “Saturday” when “Satdee” will suffice - and his ability to pare each sentence to the minimum yet fully describe a person or place.

Francis Keany was waiting for us in front of the dilapidated mansion called Harkness Park, sitting in his warm Discovery, smoking a panatella and listening to La Traviata on eight speakers. Stan Harrop cleared his nose and spat, a sound like a blow dart being fired. The missile hit the right front hubcap.

Or: Further out, on bigger blocks, windswept, treeless, beyond mowing, stand exhausted weatherboards, at the end of their histories, all hope gone, boards sprung, stumps rotten, roofs rusted.

The AFL lost me at times, but the denouement had me on the edge of my seat. A notebook is recommended to keep track of each character contributing to the story. Verdict: well worth a read.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Iron Rose is about friendship and loyalty. Mac Faraday through his life as an investigator until his friend was found hang in his shed. Mac Faraday did not believe that his friend committed suicide this started him to ask questions. Readers of An Iron Rose will follow the twist and turns of Mac Faraday investigation. Also, readers of An Iron Rose will be surprised with the ending of this book.

An Iron Rose is the first book I have read of Peter Temple, and I enjoy it. An Iron Rose will not be the last book I will read of Peter Temple. I like Peter Temple writing style, he makes the readers understand Australian culture and at times makes the readers laugh. Amazing the way Peter Temple portrays his characters. I did enjoy the way Peter Temple describe living in a rural community.

Readers of An Iron Rose will learn about police corruptions and how it affects everyone around them. Also, An Iron Rose highlights that you can never really hide from incidents in your past, something always turns up to bring it back. Reading An Iron Rose, you will learn how to run a small blacksmith business in a rural community.

I recommend this book.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Iron Rose was my first foray with Peter Temple

And it definitely won't be my last.

"When men in police uniforms came to execute me on the roadside, beside dark fields, it was a definite sign that my new life was over."

That was the promo sentence that drew me in.

When ex-Fed detective Mac Faraday's best friend Ned Lowey is found hanged, Mac - who has learned the hard way never to accept things at face value - isn't convinced he committed suicide, and starts asking questions. As Mac's search for answers pushes deeper into the past, it resurrects the terrifying spectre of what he calls his 'old life', forcing him to turn to long-discarded skills not only to discover why his best friend died, but also to save his own life.

Everything about the way Temple writes is typically Australian. His style is laid back, laconic, with a typically Australian sense of humour despite the book being a thriller.

There is very little superfluous writing in An Iron Rose. It moves along at a cracking pace, action from start to finish, yet Temple still manages not to skimp on character development, giving you an insight into the story's protagonist, how his past has shaped him and threatens him. But still there are no wasted words.

Who would have thought that a thriller that talks about gardening, blacksmithing and football would really draw a reader in? Yet everything had its time and place and simply added to the colour of the narrative.

This was a ripper of a ride and I can't wait to get my hands on more of Peter Temples work!

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must admit it did nothing for me, but others may enjoy the book.

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Temple's second novel after his first book which featured Jack Irish. Temple may have well then chosen to continue with Irish as this book's hero Mac Faraday seems to have killed off all his enemies of his previous life as a Federal policeman, won the heart of a woman and won a grand final.
There is a lot of similarities between the two characters - rogues, attractive to women, AFL, professionals who dabble in tradework (in this case as a blacksmith), horse racing, a willingness to work outside of the law and finding corruption and evil in the top levels of the police or government.
There was a lot of characters in this book, a lot of twists and turns and some sex which combined makes it an Australian crime thriller classic.

[Lily Mulholland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! This is exactly the type of book I would like to be able to write and fear I may never! Dry, acerbic, witty, droll, Mac is the kind of protagonist I enjoy reading about and I simply did not want this book to end. All too soon it did and didn't Peter Temple wrap up the story threads with such great skill? A very admirable Australian crime story. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

(Oh yes, and the best sex scene I've read in a very long time and it took a fella to write it!!)

[Nelly J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very predictable ending, character introduction description felt very odd. Did enjoy the main character but figured out the plot after 1/3 of the book, so it was hard to enjoy it after that. Just not my cup of tea.

[notgettingenough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, humour, story, characters all up to scratch.

p. 103

’Pure animal, some vets,’ I said.
She smiled at me. ‘This one comes on like he’s got a Rottweiler stuffed down the front of his jeans.’
‘Probably a Jack Russell thinks it’s a Rottweiler.’
‘It’s not the size of the bit that counts.’
‘What counts?’
‘How long they gnaw at you’

’

p.124

Flannery was in one of the sheds working under the hood of a Holden ute by the light of a portable hand lamp. The vehicle was covered in stickers saying things like Toot to Root and Emergency Sex Vehicle and Bulk Sperm Carrier.
‘My cousin’s boy’s,’ he said. ‘Virgin vehicle. Never had a girl in it.’
‘I can see he’s waiting for someone special,’ I said.

p. 183

She gave me the thumbs up, hand cocked forward. Three things went through my mind. One, she’d come to watch me play without being asked. Two, she’d come with another man. Three, don’t be a stupid prick.

pp. 252-3

Leon’s a charming person,’ she said. His problem is chronic envy. Non-specific envy. His greatest fear is that he’s missing something, that there’s something he should be doing, that there’s something he doesn’t know about or hasn’t got that will make him happy or complete. If he saw a man leading a duck down the road on a piece of string and looking at peace, Leon would send someone out to buy a duck and give it a try for fifteen minutes. Then he’s say fuck this duck, why’s that woman on the bicycle look so pleased?’

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ex-DS Mac Faraday is now working as a blacksmith when Ned, an old friend, ostensibly commits suicide and Ned’s mother asks Faraday to look into it. Discovering more than he wished to know, bodies begin to accumulate and it’s beginning to look like Ned was not whom Mac thought. Why did Ned keep press cuttings about the skeleton of a girl found in an old mine shaft? Who was the girl found naked beside a lonely road? And why were another girl and her boyfriend later found dead supposedly a murder-suicide. And what was the connection to the Kinross Juvenile Home for Girls.

Told in the first-person, we see only what Mac learns as the bits fall into place. Temple writes nice descriptive phrases. Take this phrase for example, “Alex looked around at the pub: yellow smoke-stained walls, plastic furniture, scratched and cigarette-burnt formica-topped bar, three customers who looked like stroke victims.”

Excellent narration by Marco Chiappi.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up An Iron Rose at about 11:30pm and wondered if I was too tired to be starting a new book, particularly when I had to get up early in the morning. But I thought, I can read the introduction at least or just look at the first pages.

It was 12:50am when I reluctantly put the book down to get some sleep.

And then, when I woke up, I picked it back up again. Put it down when I had to only to snatch it up when I could. I even ended up taking the book out with me in my handbag just so I could finish it.

Damn.

An Iron Rose is, obviously, seriously addictive. I loved the characters, I loved the world, and I loved its laconic prose that gave it so much character.

[Ystyn Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Temple is a cracking good read. I love the detailed nuances of small-town country life in Australia clashing with the horrible crime of the big cities as it leaks from the suburbs of Melbourne into the unassuming Victorian outback. It is dark, riveting stuff.

[Kerrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN IRON ROSE was Peter Temple's second novel, a stand alone that followed BAD DEBTS which was his first in the Jack Irish series. I thought that there were many similarities between Jack Irish and Mac Faraday.

Faraday is a former Federal policeman who was forced to resign and start a new life after a drugs job went horribly wrong. He never understood how things went so badly and always blamed himself, his own lack of concentration and intuition. Since leaving the police force he has managed to lead a private life, but when his neighbour and friend Ned dies he decides to call in some favours. He is not satisfied with the verdict of suicide for Ned's death. His actions alert those who believe he knows too much to where he is and sets the ball rolling.

This was a very good read and made me very aware of the fact that there are a number of Peter Temple novels that I have not caught up with.

[Joe Stamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Iron Rose won't be for everyone. Temple's stunted prose, use of slang, and quickfire dialogue can make things a little difficult to follow at times. Without going into a great deal of development, he manages to create fascinating characters that do the job of carrying the novel. A supposed suicide at the beginning of the novel unfolds into a complex plot that reaches into the past and opens old wounds. The story is told by the protagonist, Mac, and his limited view of things helps to keep the reader guessing. An Iron Rose is a dark and gritty Australian thriller that held my attention throughout... and also happens to contain a different take on the sex scene (it's not particular explicit, just... different). It also ends fairly abruptly, making me wonder whether my Kindle version was short a couple of pages.

[Trevor Kettlewell · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was writing the title I was going to add a subtitle saying this was part of a series – I assumed this main character had appeared elsewhere. Well, he pretty much has, just under the name ‘Jack Irish’. Mac Farraday has a different bio, I suppose, but he’s definitely proto-Irish, especially down to the trope of having a trade. Some detective fiction writers go for the shortcut of giving their heroes dogs (good guys are nice to their dogs, yeah – hah, actually Temple does this for Faraday too, although in this example it’s more about him understanding working dogs, commanding obedience: in this world a character who fawned over a pet would be at best contemptible, at worst this would indicate some dangerous psychosis). Temple leans into the particular thread of Australian self-image that probably goes back to the convict era, something of a noble savage myth. In this case it’s the idea that working with your hands is respectable, working with paper, words or in management disreputable. Partly because sustained physical work is hard, it reveals the virtues of being tough and persistent – white collar work has the stain of weakness. But more importantly, in this world (particularly skilled) manual labour indicates integrity; other professions are suspicious. So Jack Irish cleanses his soul by working in wood, Faraday in metal. Primo Levi touched on this elegantly in his delightful ‘The Wrench’, and I suspect Temple would have been sympathetic to Levi’s lead character linking the authentic with the tangible: “I tell you, doing things you can touch with your hands has an advantage: you can make comparisons and understand how much you are worth. You make a mistake, you correct it, and next time you don’t make it." Hence the manager of the landscaping job is a quintessential wanker: the guys he employs who actually do the landscaping make him look a complete fool. Another direct parallel between Mac and Irish is that their trade is marked by yearning and humility: they are openly aware that they will never have the gift at the level of their father or father-figure (also picking up on that classic ‘good ol’ days’ myth: like Tolkien’s elves, we can only hold remnants of the passing golden age).

Even though part of me was enjoying it, the crowd-pleasing nature of this book at some point diluted some of the pleasure for me. It’s a bit too mythical – characters are too archetypical. For all its apparently chipped, flawed and nuanced sheen, these salt of the earth, beer-drinking, AFL playing tradies are direct descendants of Banjo Patterson’s Clancy – the way we’d like to see ourselves more than who we are. For this Australian mindset a suit is a defect, an old singlet a merit – so Mac’s workmates are conforming to rather than challenging misleading stereotype. Particularly given that its overwhelmingly soft fingers writing and turning these pages. There is some self-awareness/vanity in the slight contradiction Temple allows in his otherwise calloused and unpretentious hero covered in honest dirt spending his nights reading *literature* and catching classical references (cf. Jack London’s ideal. I think Robert E. Howard kept this more clean with his elemental Conan).

I like that Temple’s books are generally stand alone – same universe (home workshops, tiny inner city pubs, Australian rural with visits to the city), but a different story in each. This is the earliest Temple book I’ve read – by The Broken Shore there was more nuanced, so I was more able to just enjoy the Australian virtue of understatement (sadly under attack in places like the Department of Education, my workplace where merely doing your job well and letting it speak for itself is no longer recognised as valuable; humility is penalised. Rather you must make constant ridiculous and empty claims in appalling meaningless corporate/faux-academia speak). Here the daydream stuff was what pushed this down from a B+ to a B for me. Hey, it’s very capable, Temple is the real deal, and here he’s putting together some solid ingredients. But, you know, every total stranger just opens up to this guy, not even a cop, answering his every question about decade old events in detail. And every girl being, you know, hot, and wanting to go to bed with him – when did James Bond become an Australian icon? I mean, Temple openly admits what he’s doing with the over-the-top feelgood finish (spoiler, but not really), as the dream girl watches the dream goal kicked after the final whistle.

Hey, I had a go at him for being too dark in Truth. Maybe the problem is mine – I just need to pick the right level of optimism/pessimism for my mood.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed that this is a stand alone story. I will be keeping an eye out for other Peter Temple novels.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha ha the joke is on me. Apparently I have read this book before in the distant past and didn’t recognize that fact until I was halfway through it. I did go through a rabid Peter Temple phase years ago so I will assume I have read them all by now. Nevertheless it was long ago and I truly enjoyed reading it again.

Peter Temple gets well deserved high praise for his terse writing style, but it does sometimes leave gaps in the plot on some details. Like wiping his prints from a gun in an apartment that he has just had rigorous sex in. Maybe DNA didn’t exist in those days down under. Wink wink.

But his hard-boiled characters and snarky Aussie dialogue makes up for it and he is a great read. I love his use of dogs in his plots and wish my dogs were as useful.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally entertaining with great characters, a really suspenseful plot, and a tight economical writing style which transported me to rural Australia. Listened to the audio version which was wonderfully read by Marco Chiappi.

[Stephen Kimber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this one almost as much as The Broken Shore. He's got parts of rural Victoria nailed; climatically, socially and in terms of its yearning for Melbourne. Great writer of naturalistic dialogue.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has a very Australian feel to it. I love Peter Temple's sense of humour.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why the publishing and binding information are missing on this edition. The book is a hardcover (used — a discard from Stoke-on-Trent Libraries) and was published in 2007 by Quercus. The book was originally published in 1998). I'm pretty sure this was Temple's first book.

Mac Faraday is a blacksmith, but he used to be the Australian Federal Police working drug cases. Something went wrong on an major case — the dealer killed and sizeable cache of drugs went missing — and Faraday left the force under a cloud of suspicion.

He went back home to a rural area near Melbourne and worked with his father as a smithy. Ned Lowey was his father's best friend, and after Mac's father died, Mac's best friend. When Ned is found dead hanging in his workshop, Mac isn't prepared to accept that the older man committed suicide.

Starting with newspaper clippings featuring a story about a girl's body found in an abandoned mine, Faraday follows a trail that leads back to Kinross Hall, a "home" for wayward girls that is still in operation in the area. Some very powerful and nasty individuals are watching, and they don't want Faraday on the trail.

Lots of players — we had to make a map with arrows and boxes to keep things straight. Good characters. The connection to the the blacksmith's trade is interesting. All in all a good read-aloud

This was book #15 on our 2019 Read-alouds List.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb multiple award winner by the author Peter Temple. As I creep closer and closer to reading all his books I really regret his relatively early demise at 71. This book as do many of his books involves gross police corruption and general authoritarian assholery. Yes I know that is not a word but if you read any of his books it is a constant theme. This book centers around a former Federal Australian Narcotics squad cop who left the force under a cloud of suspicion (unfounded it turns out) living a quiet live as a blacksmith in the countryside. The possible suicide of a close friend drags him back into the dirty world of corrupt police, and politician’s (with politicians are there any other kind?). Our protagonist finds himself going down the rabbit hole to determine if his close friend killed himself (spoiler alert! He did not) or not. His investigation results in a righteous body count and the bang on action set pieces Temple is known for. I highly recommend this book and every book Peter Temple has written. One hell of an author.

[Laraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Peter Temple is an Australian author who writes great thrillers/mysteries. This is a stand alone book and features Mac Faraday, a man with a past he has tried to leave behind him. Living in his Dad's old home, working as a blacksmith, Mac's life is quiet...work, the pub with his mates, and playing footy. But when his mate Ned is found hanged, Mac decided to investigate, using his past training and calling in favours from an old mate in the job. But the more he looks, the more he finds. Why does Mac have newspaper clippings about a young girl found dead in an old mine shaft? And why did he leave Kinrose Hall, a safe house for young girls? Was there something about Ned and young girls? And as he looks into Ned's past, more bodies keep on piling up and soon Mac feels like he is a target. A very good and rollicking read. I really enjoyed it.

[Sunil Kolangara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well constructed mystery - the harsh landscape and the tough lives in the small town form the back drop as the protagonist Mac Faraday returns to his home town for a funeral. He has his own demons to conquer - the two mysteries one in the past and one in the present run parallel; the characters are finely constructed and the "who" & the "why" are perfect surprises. Its a taut tale, bleakly told with no let up on tension and so very hard to put down till you finish!

[Jason McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts well before the simple case of an apparent suicide descends to the ridiculous with doctors, bent coppers, archbishops and the possible next PM of Australia all involved in a paedophilic sex ring. There was also a (consensual) sex scene that was so hilariously awful that the term "engorged penis" was used.

That said, if you can suspend your belief it's not that bad as a piece of entertainment, assuming you're okay with cheap ABC drama's that try hard to be Hollywood blockbusters.

[Bazz Sherwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Iron Rose is a an intelligent, sharp, and witty thriller. The main character Mac Faraday is an ex Federal cop living life as a blacksmith in a small rural community, looking to leave his past behind him. But that is never going to happen, and when his friend Ned is murdered a complex web of crime is revealed through all sorts of twists and turns. The setting, characters, and vernacular are very Australian. I am surprised Faraday has not featured in later Temple novels. Recommended.

[Nadja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nichts für mich

Das hat mir leider gar nicht gefallen.
Der Schreibstil war durchaus gut, aber es gab irgendwie keine Struktur.

Ich kann nicht mal zusammenfassen worum es überhaupt ging, da es zu viele einzelne Personen waren und nicht immer klar war aus wessen Sicht es jetzt erzählt wird. Gefühlt gab es 5 Handlungen die nicht zusammengepasst haben.

Habe die letzten Seiten dann nur noch überflogen, weil ich wissen wollte was noch so passiert, aber naja….
Hätte es auch lassen können🙊

[Louise Brazenor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read.
When his friend Ned is found hanged, Mac Faraday cannot accept the verdict of suicide.
In an attempt to prove Ned’s death was murder, Mac’s past as a retired cop goes into overdrive. He unearths a Huge mystery surrounding Kinross Hall supposedly a safe place for naughty girls, where Ned once worked.
Trying to get to the bottom of the connections drags him into a much bigger operation.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and a bit more stars. A defrocked cop turned blacksmith investigates a friend/surrogate uncle’s supposed suicide and uncovers twin, linked scandals in a care home and the police (including how he was framed by corrupt cops). A bit overly sentimental at times.

Also for the 99th time, revolvers do not have safeties! For crying out loud people!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery set in rural Victoria. Retired Federal policeman Mac Faraday is bewildered by the apparent suicide of his neighbour. He starts to poke around and the story develops as he follows his instincts and the clues he uncovers. His part comes back to haunt him and he is unsure who can be trusted.