Jack Irish Series by Peter Temple

Australian Jack Irish, ex-lawyer and sometime debt collector, cabinetmaker and barfly with a hard-drinking past and a sad back-story (his wife was murdered by one of his clients)gets a desperate message from Danny McKillop, whom he defended years before on a hit-and-run charge "at the beginning of the forgotten zone, the year or so I spent drunk." When he eventually calls, Danny - who was fresh out of prison - is dead. Jack's guilt fuels his ensuing search for the truth about Danny's murder.

Jack Irish—gambler, cook and cabinetmaker, finder of people who don’t want to be found—has a new job, hunting for evidence that might save the beautiful sculptor Sarah Longmore from a murder rap.Jack soon discovers there was nothing straightforward about Mickey Franklin’s death, and falls headlong into a world of shady deals, sexual secrets and country rednecks.