Quarry's Greatest Hits is basically Quarry's Vote (entitled Primary Target here) and several short pieces to round out the collection. The first selection A Matter of Principal is a great little piece about a pair of gay mobsters who have kidnapped a young teenager and what happens when Quarry runs into them. For those of us who have already read The Last Quarry, it is a familiar story since it eventually became the first chapter of that book.

In Quarry's Vote, originally published as Primary Target, Quarry is retired and running a small motel/resort on a small lake in rural Wisconsin. He lets himself drink and get pudgy over the long winters and has even married a sweet young blonde girl, who he originally had shacked up with as a one-night stand, but it morphed into something else after her parents were killed in a car wreck. It is an idyllic life and, in his early thirties, Quarry is embarking on a calm life. Only, and you knew this was coming, someone from his old life looks him up and proposes a job, the job of a lifetime, really. One million dollars for one hit. It's a political hit on a third-party presidential fringe presidential candidate. Quarry ponders the money, but decides he is retired from that life and turns it down. Quarry also explains that, with a political hit, like Oswald, you are never safe. You are a loose end that someone has to deal with.

Seeing a car parked nearby with a lone man sitting in it, Quarry realizes that he may have turned the job done, but he is now a loose end that must be dealt with. He is now being hunted by those who would have hired him.

Quarry then puts the clues together and heads to the Quad Cities area of Iowa/Illinois to find out who has put the hit on him.

Although the idea of Quarry doing a political hit makes the book sound hokey, it is actually another great work in the Quarry line with Quarry playing detective to find out who is behind it in the complicated political world of third-party politics.

Along the way, the story is told with typical Quarry dead-pan humor that makes it an absolute pleasure to read.

Quarry is like a one-man army invading a political war camp. No one is who they seem in the Quad Cities and they are all inter-connected.

Primary Target (Quarry's Vote) is followed by short pieces. One of these pieces involves Quarry, retired, hanging in a bar with a old buddy from Vietnam, who jokes that they are now in the same business. Quarry, who had been drinking a bit, starts at that, wondering if his buddy is also an assassin, but his buddy merely meant the motel business. This piece is so familiar that I think Collins incorporated it into a later Quarry novel. I just can't remember which one.

All of the pieces in this collection are worthwhile. Highly recommended. Indeed, I recommend each and every book in the Quarry series. ( )

I really like Quarry!!! These tales, 3 short stories and 1 full length novel, do nothing to dilute that like! He is just so fun to read about! This collection is all in the time period that finds Quarry "retired", living lake side, and managing/running resorts. Then tragedy strikes him, and he finds himself un-retired! Great tales in this book, and I especially liked the revenge motivation in "Primary Target"! My only regret is that I read "The Last Quarry" before I read this, and the first short story, "A Matter of Principal" is sort of the beginning of that book! Oh well, there are far worse things than re-reading any adventure of Quarry's! ( )

I really like Quarry!!! These tales, 3 short stories and 1 full length novel, do nothing to dilute that like! He is just so fun to read about! This collection is all in the time period that finds Quarry "retired", living lake side, and managing/running resorts. Then tragedy strikes him, and he finds himself un-retired! Great tales in this book, and I especially liked the revenge motivation in "Primary Target"! My only regret is that I read "The Last Quarry" before I read this, and the first short story, "A Matter of Principal" is sort of the beginning of that book! Oh well, there are far worse things than re-reading any adventure of Quarry's! ( )

The book starts with one short story that is about the first chapter of one of "The Last Quarry", a book by HCC that I read. It's great as a short story & would be wonderful for an intro to Quarry. He does a good deed, but gets paid for it.

Next comes a novel "Primary Target". Quarry is retired, but forced to go back to work. Great story with some wonderful twists & a great ending, which I've come to expect.

Then there are two more short stories, both excellent. It was a great, quick read & I'm tickled I got it. Lots of fun. ( )