Max Allan Collins

[Jim]

Collins has written a lot of books & collaborated with Mickey Spillane on some. I'm not thrilled with a lot of his works, but really like his Quarry series. I can't seem to find a good chronology for the books, just the published order. Does anyone know?

1. Quarry (1976) aka The Broker
2. Quarry's List (1976) aka The Broker's Wife
3. Quarry's Deal (1976) aka The Dealer
4. Quarry's Cut (1977) aka The Slasher
5. Primary Target (1987) aka Quarry's Vote
6. Quarry's Greatest Hits (2003)
7. The Last Quarry (2006)
8. The First Quarry (2008)
9. Quarry in the Middle (2009)
10. Quarry's Ex (2010)
11. The Wrong Quarry (2014)
12. Quarry's Choice (2015)

[Gabbiadini]

check out website orderofbooks.com for info of this type , ifs ideal if you are reading about to start a series

[Jim]

Thank you, Mark. I found this site's entry already. They say, The chronology of the Quarry novels is vague. The First Quarry marks the beginning of his career (so it goes first), The Last Quarry goes at the end of his career (putting it last), and Quarry in the Middle goes somewhere in the middle. If you wish to read the novels in chronological order, you can put those first, last and in the middle, then read the remaining books in publication order."

"Quarry's Choice" takes place very early in the series, well before "Quarry's Ex", so that's why I was looking for a more definitive guide.

[Edmund]

I've read all the Quarry books more than once and consider them as good as the Parker series by Richard Stark (AKA Donald Westlake). I've read all the Parker books more than once also. Collins is an excellent writer and Quarry is an interesting character. A movie, The Last Lullaby, was made of Quarry. It was low budget but very well done. Tom Sizemore is excellent as Quarry, although he's called Price, and Sasha Alexander is perfect as the librarian Quarry is hired to kill. All noir movies should be this good.

[Jim]

Thanks, Edmund. I'll have to look for the movie. Do you have a definitive chronology for the Quarry books?

[Edmund]

I think the previous comment "The chronology of the Quarry novels is vague," to be right on, but it doesn't matter, because Collins didn't continue any stories from one book to the next. The advice given in message three is all you need. In the Parker series by Stark, there are some trilogies, or three book arcs, but they follow in order of publication. Collins didn't do that with Quarry.

[Jim]

Well, there are some references & I don't agree with the previous chronology completely. I'd prefer to get them in a better order for the next reread. Thanks anyway.

[Chris]

I've heard two pieces of news on Quarry recently. One is that Hard Case Crime is reprinting the early ones in October of this year: http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bi...

The second is that Cinemax will be airing a new series in February called Quarry, after these books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarry_...

[Jim]

That might be fun. Thanks, Chris.

[AndrewP]

Thanks for the info. I only have a couple of the Quarry books and love HCC editions with the amazing retro covers. A few of those will go on my Christmas wish list :)

Collin's disaster series are also pretty decent. He weaves a murder mystery against a famous disaster. The Hindenberg, the Titanic etc.

[Paul]

Just finished . Quite enjoyed it.

In my eBook copy, released in 2010, there is an afterword in which Collins says he wrote Quarry in 1971, but Quarry & the next 3 Quarry books weren't published until 1976.
I think i enjoyed the Parker series by Stark more. Collins is a big fan of Stark/Westlake. Collins wrote a book called , which he says, in the afterword i mentioned, was his homage to Parker. Haven't read it yet.

[Adam]

I read the two Nolan books published by Hard Case Crime as "Two for the Money." As a fan of the Parker series, I thought they were terrible. I love a good homage, but they were more like fan fiction.

[Paul]

Adam wrote: "I read the two Nolan books published by Hard Case Crime as "Two for the Money." As a fan of the Parker series, I thought they were terrible. I love a good homage, but they were more like fan fiction."

Good to know Adam. I've only read about 4 books by Collins & as much as i quite enjoyed them, they have all seemed pale imitations of other hard-boiled authors; Chandler & Stark/Westlake, in particular.

[Mohammed]

Adam wrote: "I read the two Nolan books published by Hard Case Crime as "Two for the Money." As a fan of the Parker series, I thought they were terrible. I love a good homage, but they were more like fan fiction."

Thats exactly like why i havent read them, they did sound fishy to me, like why would i read a lesser homage,fan fiction when Max Allan Collins has much better work in Quarry, Nate Heller series.

Quarry i see as very good series in similar vien to Parker but a hitman instead of a heist pro. Quarry is cold, emotionless, more sexual version of Parker. That is enough for me.

[Mohammed]

Paul wrote: "Adam wrote: "I read the two Nolan books published by Hard Case Crime as "Two for the Money." As a fan of the Parker series, I thought they were terrible. I love a good homage, but they were more li..."

Have you read Nate Heller series? Thats by far his best writing, the prose, the character, the historical PI story is original and high quality and no intimation of any one.

That series makes him almost as good as masters like Stark/Westlake, Hammett and co.

[Paul]

Mohammed wrote: "Paul wrote: "Adam wrote: "I read the two Nolan books published by Hard Case Crime as "Two for the Money." As a fan of the Parker series, I thought they were terrible. I love a good homage, but they..."

I've only read True Detective , the first in the 'Heller' series Mohammed & was underwhelmed. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. I thought it paled in comparison to other 'hard-boiled' authors & too derivative. Still, i have only read this first in the Heller series, so maybe the latter books in the series are better. Preferred 'Quarry' both the character & the book.

[Mohammed]

Paul wrote: "Mohammed wrote: "Paul wrote: "Adam wrote: "I read the two Nolan books published by Hard Case Crime as "Two for the Money." As a fan of the Parker series, I thought they were terrible. I love a good..."

It depends on what you mean by derivative because the PI Hardboiled genre has nothing new you can write when Nate Heller was written, the genre is old news to every fan then. Its well written and better series imo even if i also enjoy Quarry series which i have read 5-7 books of.

Someone few years ago told me reading Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest was too derivative nothing new since he has read many new books like it..... not knowing he was talking about the PI master, pioneer who made the hardboiled PI famous, acclaimed ;)

[AndrewP]

I read True Detective a fe months back and was impressed that it was a work of historical fiction and not just another PI story.

[Mohammed]

AndrewP wrote: "I read True Detective a fe months back and was impressed that it was a work of historical fiction and not just another PI story."

Yeah that was makes it unique in that its a real history PI story. A very good mix of well written PI story and a historical fiction novel that is well researched, about real figures, periods.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

I have a few of his to read but don't think I've actually read him yet.

Have: