Killing Quarry

September 23, 2019
MWA Grand Master Collins’s irresistible 15th Quarry novel (after 2017’s Quarry’s Climax) finds the professional assassin with a target on his own back. But why? Quarry is operating Wilma’s Welcome Inn in Geneva, Wis., as his “straight” occupation. But once he narrowly escapes an attempt on his life, Quarry joins forces with another killer-for-hire, the beautiful Lu, whom he worked with 10 years earlier. It’s Lu’s presence, and the dash of romance she brings, that really energizes this entry. Every bit Quarry’s equal with a gun and a bit beyond him in the intellect department, Lu saves his bacon more than once. Collins maintains a tension between the two that’s resolved only on the final page. One of the book’s great pleasures is the humorless Quarry’s deadpan narration, whether he’s describing a pragmatic sexual encounter or exactly how a carefully planned hit can suddenly go off the rails. Newcomers and established fans alike will be happily drawn into Quarry’s cold-blooded criminal world.