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Max Allan Collins, who created the graphic novel
on which the Oscar-winning film Road to Perdition
was based, has been writing hard-boiled mysteries
since his college days in the Writers Workshop
at the University of Iowa. Besides the books
about killer-for-hire Quarry, he has written
a popular series of historical mysteries
featuring Nate Heller and many, many other novels.
At last count, Collins’s books and short stories
have been nominated for fifteen Shamus awards
by the Private Eye Writers of America,
winning for two Heller novels, True Detective
and Stolen Away. He lives in Muscatine, Iowa
with his wife, Barbara Collins, with whom
he has collaborated on several novels
and numerous short stories. The photo above
shows Max in 1971, when he created Quarry.
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A Q&A with Max Allan Collins
How does an author make a hired killer into a character readers
will stay with through nine novels? Max Allan Collins, who
has been writing about gun-for-hire Quarry since the
mid-Seventies, addresses that question and others.
Perfect Crime Books: You’ve said you modeled Quarry
somewhat on Don Westlake’s Parker. What did Westlake
think of the character?
Max Allan Collins: Actually, Quarry wasn't modeled
on Parker—my character Nolan* was. My first novel,
BAIT MONEY, was essentially a Richard Stark pastiche.
Westlake under his various personas was the last
writer to truly influence me—I was a freshman
in college—and I put all of the things I'd learned
from him to use in what became my first published
novel. It spawned a series, but only because
Don gave his blessing—I'd intended it to be a one-shot.
The Parker/Stark connection where Quarry is concerned
has to do with the "crook book" aspect—that the
protagonist was a criminal. I felt that Nolan—like Parker—
was a safe character for reader identification,
because he only stole from institutions or other criminals,
and he didn't kill civilians. In the late '60s and early '70s,
the anti-Establishment vibe in the air made anti-heroes
quite palatable, and I decided to challenge that.
The Parker novels—and for that matter my Nolan
character—had the distance of third-person narrative
to further shield readers. On some level, the first
Quarry novel was an attempt to see if I could notch it
up—not a thief, but a professional killer; not
third-person, but right inside-your-head first person.
I go out of my way in the Quarry novels to let readers know
in the very first chapter who they are preparing
to identify with. To give them a chance to get off
the bus right now, and just not take the ride.
Funny thing—I don't remember Don commenting
on Quarry. He gave me his blessing on Nolan,
saying the character was more human than Parker,
largely because Nolan had a father-and-son relationship
with the secondary lead, Jon, the comic book
collector. He probably did comment about Quarry,
because we were close in those days,
but I just don't remember. He wouldn't have been
afraid to say he didn't like the character.
And that I would remember.
PCB: Quarry is unusually ruthless for a focal
character. Do you hear from readers who have trouble
staying with a hired killer?
MAC: Rarely do I hear that readers have a problem
sticking with Quarry. There are a couple of reasons
for this. First, he's good company—he has a good if dark
sense of humor, and is not mean-spirited or sadistic
in any way. Pretty much a normal, regular guy
whose profession has some . . . negative aspects.
Second, and this is the major trick about writing
about criminal protagonists, he tends to be
the best man in his world. He is surrounded by people,
adversaries in particular, who are even less admirable
than he is. The exception is usually the love interest—
a woman who reminds Quarry, subconsciously
in most cases, of who he used to be before
he had the experiences that shaped him. The love
interest tends to be a positive human being.
PCB: What do you think makes the character
as durable as he’s proven to be?
MAC: I think he was an original creation. He seems
to be the first hitman to helm a series.
That gives him a certain weight, a kind of pedigree.
Some fairly bigtime writers—Larry Block, Loren Estleman,
among others—have followed my lead, and that's
very satisfying. Larry Block read the first Quarry when
Don Westlake loaned him the manuscript, well before
it was published. So maybe Don did find Quarry
worthwhile at that.
Also, the books are fast, sexy, and violent. I believe
these are qualities I can impart to them without
seeming too conceited, because a book can be all
of those things and still not be very good. I do think
the books are very funny, if you like dark humor.
They are fun to write and apparently fun to read.
PCB: You’ve been writing about Quarry for more
than thirty years—getting close to forty, isn’t it?
Has the character evolved?
MAC: The character had a specific reference in a friend
of mine who was a career Marine. A really funny, sweet guy
who went to Vietnam and became a killer. He returned just
as funny and sweet, but he was definitely damaged.
Carried a gun with him. Seriously considered shooting up
a wedding involving an ex-girl friend (my wife and I
left town that weekend). That conduct, or threat of it
anyway, made an impression on me—on the surface
he was the same normal guy, but beneath, he was
capable of homicide.
Vietnam is an important aspect of these novels,
well beyond its use in Quarry's backstory. I felt that
the American public had become numb to violence
by witnessing that war over their TV dinners on TV trays
in front of the nightly news–body bags, pass the sugar.
Quarry was meant to be a comment on how screwed up
that war had made us all. It's still the core of his character.
PCB: Do you have trouble getting back into the
perspective you brought to the books in your twenties?
MAC: When I've returned to Quarry, as I did in the
mid-'80s for QUARRY'S VOTE (original title: PRIMARY
TARGET), and later for a few short stories and finally in the
screenplay that begat the novel THE LAST QUARRY, which
launched the recent round of novels, I've never had any trouble
at all finding the voice and the attitude. Mickey Spillane
used to say Mike Hammer was a state of mind. So is Quarry.
When I began doing stories set in the '70s and '80s,
I did go back and re-read the first novel. Just to
remind myself. And of course I have the weird task
of researching eras I lived through—something that first
happened when I wrote ROAD TO PARADISE,
set in the '70s. It's really tough to say, oh, 1976,
I was on the planet then . . . I'll just write it. No.
You have to go back and see what the hit songs were, what
was on TV that season, what the fashions were like.
After the first four novels, when Berkley Books failed
to offer me another contract—this was around 1977—
I wasn't sorry. It seemed to me that with every book,
Quarry was required to do something even more violent
and warped than in the previous novel. The books
could have become black comedies, self-parodies, not
crime novels with blackly comic elements. And I
was afraid I might write the same book over and
over again, a crime even some of the greatest mystery
writers have committed. So I was content to walk away
from the character. But then the letters started, and
over the years, it was clear Quarry had a cult
following. Of course, as Don Westlake said, "A cult
following is seven readers short of the author
being able to make a living."
PCB: Hard Case has been publishing new books in
the series. Can fans expect to see Quarry go on for a while?
MAC: These new Quarry novels have been extremely
well-received by both reviewers and readers. It's very
gratifying, and while I think the writing is fairly consistent
between the early books and the new ones, where
I have improved is in being able to find different and
more interesting ways of doing novels about him.
To avoid that problem of just writing the same book
over and over. QUARRY'S EX comes out in 2011,
and I have another in mind after that. That might do it,
but you never know. I won't do a Quarry just to
do one—it has to be an idea, a concept, that excites me.
PCB: Are we going to see the character
on the screen again?
MAC: There's been interest—quite a bit actually.
THE LAST LULLABY, which derives from
THE LAST QUARRY, did very well on the festival
circuit and has been enormously well-reviewed.
It had a short theatrical release, too. Tom Sizemore
made a great Quarry (called Price in the film).
I co-wrote the screenplay, and Jeffrey Goodman
directed it, very well I think. It hasn't shown up
on cable yet, but I trust it will.
PCB: When you created Quarry, did you have an actor
in mind to portray him? Is there someone today
you’d like to see take on the role?
MAC: I didn't have an actor in mind. Sizemore was
fine as the older Quarry, Quarry at the end of his career.
Whoever does it needs to seem normal. Not an overt
tough guy. A leading man, but not a stunningly
handsome leading man. Probably a relative unknown.
PCB: What else is coming from Max Collins?
MAC: The first Nate Heller in a decade comes out in 2011
from TOR—BYE BYE, BABY. It's about Marilyn Monroe's
murder, and I'm researching a JFK Heller right now.
My wife Barb and I have another antiques
mystery coming out in 2011, under the "Barbara Allan" byline
—ANTIQUES KNOCK-OFF, from Kensington.
Also in 2011 are KISS HER GOODBYE , the third
Mike Hammer I've completed from Mickey Spillane's
unfinished, unpublished manuscripts, and NO ONE
WILL HEAR YOU, a serial killer thriller, also from
Kensington, written with Matthew Clemens.
Blackstone Audio will be bringing out
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIKE HAMMER:
ENCORE FOR MURDER, a full cast audio novel
starring Stacy Keach . . . not sure when that comes out,
but we've recorded it. Right now I'm working on
RETURN TO PERDITION, a graphic novel for
DC Vertigo that wraps up the ROAD TO PERDITION
saga, chronologically at least.
As Quarry indicates, I'm always capable of going back
and filling in the blank spots in a series with a new novel.
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