Read A Sample Chapter

Order Now

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS

Crime fiction readers know Quarry, the ruthless killer-for-hire, from Max Allan Collins’ acclaimed novels—most recently THE LAST QUARRY, which told the story of the assassin’s final assignment (and was the basis for the feature film The Last Lullaby).

But where did Quarry’s story start? For the first time ever, the best-selling author of ROAD TO PERDITION takes us back to the beginning, revealing the never-before-told story of Quarry’s first job: infiltrating a college town and eliminating a professor whose affair with one of his beautiful, young students is the least of his sins...

• First publication ever!
• Prequel to one of Hard Case Crime’s most popular books, THE LAST QUARRY, basis for the feature film "THE LAST LULLABY"
• Quarry was the first hit man to star in his own series of crime novels
• Chicago Tribune on THE FIRST QUARRY: "Crime fiction aficionados are in for a treat...a neo-pulp noir classic."

"Violent and volatile and packed with sexuality...classic pulp fiction."

— USA Today

"Collins’ witty, hard-boiled prose would make Raymond Chandler proud."

— Entertainment Weekly

"As cool as an Eskimo Pie on a hot summer day and as sharp as a Ginsu knife."

— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel