Max Allan Collins - The Last Quarry (Hard Case Crime)

No one can twist you through a maze with as much intensity and suspense as Max Allan Collins.

Clive Cussler

Collins is a master.

Publishers Weekly

Collins has an outwardly artless style that conceals a great deal of art.

The New York Times Book Review

Max Allan Collins [is] like no other writer.

Andrew Vachss

Collins breaks out a really good one, knocking over the hard-boiled competition (Parker and Leonard for sure, maybe even Puzo) with a one-two punch: a feisty storyline told bittersweet and wry...nice and taut...the book is unputdownable. Never done better.

Kirkus Reviews

Entertaining...full of colorful characters...a stirring conclusion.

Detroit Free Press

Collins has a gift for creating low-life believable characters...a sharply focused action story that keeps the reader guessing till the slam-bang ending. A consummate thriller from one of the new masters of the genre.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

For fans of the hardboiled crime novel...this is powerful and highly enjoyable reading, fast moving and very, very tough.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Strong and compelling reading.

Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine

Intelligent, witty, and exciting.

Booklist

Masterful.

Jeffrey Deaver

Collins makes it sound as though it really happened.

New York Daily News

An exceptional storyteller.

San Diego Union Tribune

A gift for intricate plotting and cinematically effective action scenes.

Jon L. Breen, Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers

So vivid and colorful that its like watching a movie [and he] gives the reader a front-row seat.

Cozies, Capers & Crimes

A compelling talent.

Library Journal

Nobody does it better than Max Allan Collins.

John Lutz

The ex-gangster walked into the trees, heading toward the yawning white expanse of frozen water. I followed behind, nine millimeter in one hand, sawed-off in the other.

As we wound through the pines, the snow got deeper, ankle deep in places. Finally, at the snowy edge of the wooded shore, Harry came to a stop, and half turned.

Go on, Harry.

Harry frowned. Go on? What the fuck, go on?

Keep walking.

Where?

I gestured with the shotgun, toward the lake.

Harry followed the gesture, eyes tight, and it took a few seconds for him to absorb the meaning. Somehow, though, he couldnt turn his confusion and apprehension into words.

Harry looked at the lake, then at me; the lake, me.

His voice seemed even higher pitched than before, almost childish, his wide eyes buggy behind the lenses. What...what if the ice gives, under me? I mean...its gonna get thin, farther out I get....

Well keep the stress to a minimum.

How?

Ill stay put, I said...

SOME OTHER HARD CASE CRIME BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY:

GRIFTERS GAME by Lawrence Block

FADE TO BLONDE by Max Phillips

TOP OF THE HEAP by Erle Stanley Gardner

LITTLE GIRL LOST by Richard Aleas

TWO FOR THE MONEY by Max Allan Collins

THE CONFESSION by Domenic Stansberry

HOME IS THE SAILOR by Day Keene

KISS HER GOODBYE by Allan Guthrie

361 by Donald E. Westlake

PLUNDER OF THE SUN by David Dodge

BRANDED WOMAN by Wade Miller

DUTCH UNCLE by Peter Pavia

THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART by Lawrence Block

THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE by Ed McBain

NIGHT WALKER by Donald Hamilton

A TOUCH OF DEATH by Charles Williams

SAY IT WITH BULLETS by Richard Powell

WITNESS TO MYSELF by Seymour Shubin

BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

STRAIGHT CUT by Madison Smartt Bell

LEMONS NEVER LIE by Richard Stark

by Max Allan Collins

A HARD CASE CRIME BOOK

(HCC-023)

First Hard Case Crime edition: August 2006

Published by

Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark Street

London SE1 0UP

in collaboration with Winterfall LLC

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should know that it is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Copyright 2006 by Max Allan Collins. This novel draws and expands upon material originally published in the short stories A Matter of Principal, copyright 1989 by Max Allan Collins, and Guest Services, copyright 1995 by Max Allan Collins.

Cover painting copyright 2006 by Robert McGinnis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Print edition ISBN 978-0-85768-370-0

E-book ISBN 978-0-85768-641-1

Design direction by Max Phillips

www.maxphillips.net

The name Hard Case Crime and the Hard Case Crime logo are trademarks of Winterfall LLC. Hard Case Crime books are selected and edited by Charles Ardai.

Printed in the United States of America

Visit us on the web at www.HardCaseCrime.com

For Jeffrey Goodmanwho brought my killer to life

Any victim demands allegiance.

Graham Greene

It had been a long time since Id had any trouble sleeping.

Not since the fucking shelling was keeping me awake, a lifetime or two ago. Im not by nature an insomniac. You might think killing people for a living would give you some bad nights. Truth is, guys in the killing biz? Just arent the type to be bothered.