I have ten advance copies of Quarry’s Reunion to offer. The first ten of you to respond will receive a signed copy, in exchange for your promise to write a review at Amazon and or Barnes & Noble (if you have a blog, even better). Be sure to include your snail mail address! One thing: you can’t submit Amazon reviews until the book is out – publication day is Nov. 10. So hold up sending your review in till then. Write me at macphilms@hotmail.com to request the book. [All copies have been claimed! Thank you for your support! –Nate] If you don’t like the book, you are released from any obligation to review it. [Open to U.S. addresses only, due to shipping costs. Sorry! –Nate]
As this is the 50th anniversary of Quarry (the first novel, The Broker which is now known as Quarry) was published in 1976. I’ll be doing some interviews (a good one with Andrew Sumner of Titan Books is linked below) and with luck there’ll be some fuss. Turns out Quarry is the longest-running character in American mystery fiction, and world-wide second only Agatha Christie’s Poirot.
Now Quarry’s long run is deceiving. I’ve told this story in various ways, but here it is again, with a few details not previously shared.
Quarry developed out of my desire, after writing the first few Nolan books and being an acolyte of Donald E. Westlake in his Richard Stark persona, to see if the third-person approach enjoyed by both Nolan and Parker could be replaced with a first-person narrator. My notion was that professional thieves Parker and Nolan did not kill civilians, which protected and distanced the reader. I wanted to see if readers could identify with a hired killer. Specifically, I would show Quarry’s killing ways in the early chapters and then he would ease into a sort of detective role, solving the murder he committed, and would have a relationship with a woman that seemed to stir his more human and humane side. We’d forgot who we were identifying with.
Then, toward the end of the book, I would pull the rug out from under the reader and remind them what a naughty boy Quarry really was.
So it was a kind of literary experiment. Hey, I was in college. I wrote the first two chapters. In chapter one, Quarry killed a priest (apparent priest) and chapter two, he has meaningless sex with a pick-up at a motel. The idea was: bang bang.
At the University of Iowa we would share our latest work with the class (and the Writers Workshop instructor), and it would be discussed. With the exception of one bright young man who loved it, everybody hated what I’d written. The instructor, William Price Fox, was not impressed, either. About two weeks later, my first novel Bait Money, sold, and Fox reevaluated me, as I was the only student in the Workshop that year to sell a novel.
I worked on the first Quarry book until I was given the opportunity to write Nolan sequels (and Mallory, as the first one of those, No Cure for Death, sold a week after Bait Money). So Quarry was put aside, as I recall, until I’d delivered those sequels. I did use what I’d written of that book as part of what I called my Port City Trilogy, which was my thesis.
The Port City Trilogy was designed to show hardboiled crime novels could be written not about New York or Los Angeles but using a small Midwestern town as the setting. Bait Money takes place in Port City, as does No Cure For Death and also Quarry.
Somewhere along the line I finished Quarry and my agent began trying to market it. My Nolan and Mallory contracts for multiple books were all delivered, and luckily Quarry sold not long after. And Berkley Books wanted three more Quarry novels, and I was glad to comply.
The Quarry character, who’d first reared his head at the University of Iowa Workshop in 1972, finally saw print in 1976 as The Broker (a title I still despise). Hence the 50th anniversary occurring in 2026, my math skills being second to none.
But the story almost ends there. Berkley Books did not request more Quarry novels, which disappointed me (of course) because I really thought I had something with the character, something unique that my generation could relate to where an old-fashioned private eye might not. So I put Quarry behind me and was involved with Dick Tracy and various other projects, including Nolan relaunching by Pinnacle in the early ‘80s.
One of those projects was True Detective, in which I found a way to write a private eye novel by going the historical route. Chinatown and Stuart Kaminsky had demonstrated doing a period private eye story was a workable path, and to that I added doing actual historical crimes – after True Detective unintentionally launched another series, my PI would solve just about every damn real mystery of the 20th Century.
True Detective was a success and that led to me having the opportunity to write anything I wanted to for a change, and I chose to do another Quarry. A surprising amount of fan mail had come in during the ten years since the series began, after its apparent demise in 1977. The first four books were reprinted (with the books receiving my preferred titles) and Primary Target (later retitled Quarry’s Vote) a new novel, appeared. These were well-received but did not lead, immediately, to more.
In the ‘90s I wrote occasional Quarry short stories, one of which attracted the attention of young filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman. Jeffrey wanted to do a short film based on “A Matter of Principal,” the most anthologized of the Quarry short stories. I resisted his efforts but he ground me down, and I agreed to let him make the film as long as I was the writer.
That film came out and did well on the festival circuit. After Road to Perdition put me briefly on the map, the idea of doing a Quarry feature followed. Simultaneously (more or less) publisher/editor Charles Ardai – after Hard Case Crime had done a combined reprint of the first two Nolan novels as Two for the Money – gave me the opportunity to do an original novel. I chose to do a Quarry – specifically to end the series with The Last Quarry. I felt the hardcore fans deserved that.
Shockingly, that book did very well. Finally a Quarry novel was a success! Nice sales and great reviews. In a buffet line at a Bouchercon, Charles said, “It’s too bad you wrote The Last Quarry and ended the series.” And, a plate in my hand, I said, “How about doing The First Quarry?”
Now Quarry’s Reunion is eleven novels later, adding up to 18 books.
Here is that interview with Andrew Sumner, my favorite interviewer.
A big part of the 50th anniversary celebration is the release on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber of The Last Lullaby, the feature film based on The Last Quarry. The bonus features will include the award-winning short, “A Matter of Principal,” directed by Jeffrey and written by me from my short story. My buddy Heath Holland of Cereal at Midnight moderated the director and myself in a commentary for this release – in December!
Death By Fruitcake is still available at Amazon at a sale price of $5.68! Our little micro-budget feature based on the ANTIQUES series by Barbara Allan (Barb and me) is the perfect stocking-stuffer or just as an addition to your shelf. It had been listed at over $22, so this is a great buy if you’re at all interested.
Back in the ‘70s when I was young and beautiful (well, young) I was on a popular game show. Check it out.
This weekend, a reading of a play by Barb’s sister is being performed in Amana, IA:
Amana Heritage Society and TKM Theatrical Productions present Kathe Mull’s gentle, two-act comedy about friendship, community, and the heart of Iowa
DATE/TIME:
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Doors will open at 2:30 p.m., with the performance beginning at 3:00 p.m.
LOCATION:
The Amana Performing Arts Center
39 38th Ave, Amana, IA
ABOUT THE SHOW:
What happens when an Iowa-born theatre artist spends a lifetime on and behind the stage, makes New York City her home, and then turns back to Iowa for inspiration? The result is The Iowa Play—a gentle comedy in two acts by playwright Kathe Mull, receiving its first public reading.
FEATURING:
Tom Milligan, Marty Norton, & Adam Burnham
Presented by:
Amana Heritage Society and
TKM Theatrical Productions.
Tickets $25 per person
Admission includes an intermission menu featuring an “Amana-rite” sandwich, Amana’s playful homage to Iowa’s famous Maid-Rite sandwich.
Kathe Mull was born and raised in Muscatine, Iowa, where she graduated from Muscatine High School. She went on to attend Muscatine Community College on a drama scholarship.
Following college, Kathe joined The Old Creamery Theatre Company, where she performed as an actress for several seasons. Later, she also directed On Golden Pond, starring Tom Milligan and Deb Kennedy.
Kathe later became a member of the resident acting company at Charlie’s Showplace in Des Moines, Iowa, where she performed for eight years before relocating to New York City.
More than 45 years later, Kathe continues to call Manhattan home, where she has enjoyed a diverse and rewarding career in the theatre. Her work has included acting, directing, serving as a Broadway star dresser, and, most recently, playwrighting. Drawing on decades of experience both onstage and behind the scenes, she brings authenticity, wit, and a deep love of theatre to her writing.
Kathe is thrilled to join TKM Productions and the Amana Heritage Society in presenting The Iowa Plays in its first public reading. It is a special privilege to share these stories—celebrating the people, history, humor, and heart of Iowa—with audiences for the very first time. She hopes audiences find a little of themselves in these Iowa stories.
She is especially looking forward to enjoying her first Maid-Rite (without ketchup, of course) since 1974.
More Quarry Anniversary stuff next week!
M.A.C.
