Amuse Bouche

Russell Quant #1

by Anthony Bidulka

A gay wedding gone bad. A missing groom. An unsullied reputation at risk. Enter Russell Quant - cute, gay, and a rookie private detective. With a nose for good wine and bad lies, Quant is off to France on his first big case. From the smudgy streets of Paris, he cajoles and sleuths his way to the pastel-colored promenade of Sanary-sur-Mer. Back in Saskatoon, Quant comes face-to-face with a client who may be the bad guy, a quarry who turns up in the most unexpected place, and a cast of colorful suspects: the vile sister, the best friend, the colleague, the ex-lover, the lawyer, the priest, the snoopy neighbor - are they involved? Or is someone else lurking in the shadows? As he works through his case, Quant juggles his detective gig with the responsibilities of a personal life full of captivating personalities.

Genres: Mystery, M M Romance, Gay, Fiction, LGBT, Canada, Romance

268 pages, ebook

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Anthony Bidulka is the author of the long-running Russell Quant mystery series, two thrillers featuring Disaster Recovery Agent Adam Saint, a stand-alone suspense novel, Set Free, and a stand alone mystery novel, Going to Beautiful (2023 Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novel) and the Merry Bell trilogy mystery series. The third and final book in the Merry Bell trilogy, Home Fires Burn, will be released June 2025.

Praise for Anthony Bidulka's books:

“…promises to become one of those that we look forward to each year and put on our shopping lists without waiting for the reviews.”

Reviewing the Evidence:

...Anthony Bidulka has created a whole new genre: Saskatchewan Gothic, which will both chill and warm your heart. Simply wonderful!

Alan Bradley, author of the Flavia de Luce series including The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Going to Beautiful...is a testament not only to Bidulka’s skill in plotting and other novelistic stratagems, but even more to the unique setting and the wonderfully textured characters...

Felice Picano, author of Like People in History and Pursued: Lillian's Story, companion to Pursuit: A Victorian Entertainment

...poignant, often funny, always wise…the quiet joy and hopefulness of this novel are gifts readers will value for years to come.
Gail Bowen, author of the Joanne Kilbourn Shreve mystery series including An Image in the Lake

Anthony Bidulka has pulled off a literary coup in Going to Beautiful. Deftly balancing humour and heart...Bidulka hits it out of the park.
Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour


Anthony Bidulka has dedicated his career to writing traditional genre novels in an untraditional way, developing a body of work that often features his Saskatchewan roots and underrepresented, diverse main characters. He tells serious stories in accessible, entertaining, often humorous ways.

Bidulka’s novel Going to Beautiful is the 2023 winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novel. His books have been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence (three times), the Lambda Literary Award (three times), the Saskatchewan Book Award (five times). Flight of Aquavit was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery, making Bidulka the first Canadian to win in that category. Going to Beautiful, about a gay man rising from the depths of despair in search of joy on the Saskatchewan prairie, also won the Independent Publisher Book Award as the Canada West Best Fiction Gold Medalist.

In his free time Bidulka loves to travel the world, collect art, walk his dogs, obsess over decorating Christmas trees (it’s a thing) and throw a good party.


Anthony's Books:

The Merry Bell trilogy:
Livingsky (2023)
From Sweetgrass Bridge (2024)
Homefires Burn (2025)

Going to Beautiful (2022)

Set Free (2016)

The Adam Saint books:
When The Saints Go Marching In (2013)
The Women of Skawa Island (2014)

The Russell Quant books:
Amuse Bouche (2003)
Flight of Aquavit (2004)
Tapas on the Ramblas (2005)
Stain of the Berry (2006)
Sundowner Ubuntu (2007)
Aloha, Candy Hearts (2009)
Date With a Sheesha (2010)
Dos Equis (2012).

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Report: Harold Chevell, an A-list Saskatoonian gay man, has decided to marry his lover Tom in a private ceremony at their beautiful McMansion near the South Saskatchewan River. Trouble is, Tom's disappeared, and no one who knows the couple can resist speculating as to why. Enter gay ex-Saskatoon cop Russell Quant, whose late uncle left him a legacy that has enabled him to start his own PI business.

Harold's instructions to Russell are specific and vague: Find Tom. Find out what happened. Go wherever you need to go. Money doesn't matter, Tom does. And Russell, being no one's fool, takes the job, the money, and the next flight out of small-prairie-city Saskatoon to the fleshpots of Paris!

Russell chases lead after lead, goes to the many and various places that Harold and Tom were to have gone on their honeymoon, and in the end, solves the mystery, though no one can claim to be happy about that.

My Review: Well well well! What have we here? A sexy-but-doesn't-know-it PI who is a) gay and 2) financially stable plus c) a dog-lover?! Sign me up! I'll be getting married just as soon as I can figure out how to liberate him from being fictional.

This is a first novel, and there are things that show that fact up. I don't think any of them, like small plot points that don't add up, or characters developed but not used much, are fatal to the pleasure of reading the book. The small Canadian prairie city of Saskatoon was, until this book hit my eyes, merely a snicker-inducing name on a map. Thanks to Bidulka's very amusing Irish-Ukrainian Russell, I now want to book a trip there (in the fall, winter sounds too cold and I hate summer no matter where I am) to view the fleshpots of Saskatchewan's second city. (There's a sentence I'd've bet you money I'd never have cause to write.)

What's next? A series of mysteries set in Skookumchuk, British Columbia? I hope not...I need *some* hilarious names to giggle at, and that's one of my all-time favorites.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard of Anthony Bidulka's Russell Quant series on one of the author groups where I hang out. When I did a little investigating and discovered that Mr Bidulka is a Canadian author whose character, Russell Quant, lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan I went on the hunt. When I was looking for Amuse Bouche, Mr Bidulka's first book, it was a bit of a treasure hunt. And I use that deliberately because a treasure is indeed what I found.

I'm a mystery fan from way back and I've read mysteries since what seems forever. I was intrigued to discover a mystery series that's set in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a beautiful and very charming mid-size prairie city with which I've become passing familiar since my marriage. The fact that I live in another of the prairie provinces further piqued my interest.

Not only are we, the readers, treated to the sights of the city as Russell goes through his days, but we are tantalised as well as viscerally and mentally engaged in the mystery from the beginning.The story is told in Russell's point-of-view and while I know that many people are not overly fond of first person, it's one that I enjoy, especially when done as well as Bidulka has done it. There's no dearth of information on what Russell sees, learns and experiences–in many ways the texture of the story seems to be even richer than one would expect. Russell's observations of those with whom he comes in contact plays a big part in that experience.

As Amuse Bouche unfolded I found myself ever more captivated; the case of the missing groom covers the gamut from intrigue and adventure to uncertainty and all sorts of emotional reactions. By the end of the book I was emotionally invested in the outcome. I'm not going to say anything more than that because, while I can, and do, enjoy knowing the outcome of a story, most people do not feel the same.

Suffice it to say that Russell's first case appealed to me so much that I shortly thereafter headed to the nearest big box book store and ordered the rest of the books in Anthony Bidulka's Russell Quant Mystery series.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Ok gay mystery about a PI who's hired by a jilted groom to find his missing boyfriend. Pretty sure this is the only book I've read that was set in Saskatoon.

[LibraryCin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russell Quant is a gay man and a private detective in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A wealthy man, Harold, comes to Russell to find Harold’s runaway fiancee, Tom, who left Harold at the alter. It appears Tom went on their honeymoon to France without Harold. So Russell heads to France; later things become much more complex.

I really liked this. It might have helped that I grew up in Saskatchewan and my brother lives in Saskatoon, so at least some of the names of places are familiar, as were some of the descriptions. There were bits of humour spread throughout that had me laughing out loud. I’m happy to see this is a series and I plan to continue. Note that I listened to this book, though not the official audio book, but even with the computerized-sounding voice, the story (and setting) kept me very interested.

[Emanuela ~plastic duck~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

I love mysteries. Russell Quant is a private investigator and he quit his job as a policeman to pursue his dream as PI, thanks to the inheritance from a wealthy uncle.

He's pretty new in the business and the cases his working on are not very thrilling until he is hired by a rich man, Harold Chavell, whose groom, Tom Osborn, seems to have got cold feet the day of their wedding, standing him up at the altar and going to France with the tickets of his honeymoon. Harold sends Russell to France to find Tom and to understand why he abandoned him. Tom seems to be always a step ahead of Russell and lets him know through a messenger that he doesn't want to go back to Harold anymore. Back to Canada, Russell is not able to forget the case and he snoops around on his own, until something unexpected happens.

I loved Russell's voice, his light humor and his internal banter. He doesn't hide much from the reader and he is very grounded, he doesn't put himself in unnecessary dangers. The people around him are very nice and funny. He is an attractive man, but his love life seems pretty non-existent and he develops this hopeless attraction to Tom Osborn's brother, who is a Catholic priest.

There is almost no romance in this book and I kept waiting for the Right Man to appear in Russell's life, but I was also happy that it didn't happen because Russell doesn't seem the kind of guy that is easily carried away or maybe that's what he successfully keeps hidden from the reader. And this also gives me the incentive to read all the other books in the series to see if he finds someone for him.

This didn't really blow me away like some first books of a series did, but it did keep me awake until 1 a.m. to read the last 50 pages. The writing is very good, my eyes flew on the page and there wasn't anything particularly dark and nasty. It's a light genre of mystery but it's really good. It's a perfect book to keep you company when you're trying to relax.

[Carol Balawyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Amuse Bouche left me with a taste for more Russell Quant mysteries. Anthony Bidulka’s writing style is fast paced, humorous and entertaining. All what I look for in a mystery. Quant is, In Anthony Biduka’s own words, “world-travelling, wise-cracking, wine-guzzling, gay, prairie private eye.”
Set in Saskatoon and Paris, Bidulka does setting very well - whether in the streets of Saskatoon and its countryside lakes or in a small cramped room in a Paris hotel to a luxurious Chateaux in a wooded farmland going from the Loire valley to the Rhone.
This is a whodunit that kept me wondering up till the end who the perpetrator was. An interesting thing which Bidilka does is he has Quant ask many questions which serve as clues and red herrings which he nicely and neatly ties together at the end.
Amuse Bouche is the first novel I read by Anthony Bidulka. It won’t be my last.

For more on Bidulka you can visit my blog at:
http://carolbalawyder.com/2015/01/09/...

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved a good mystery story and this definitely fits the bill. I liked ex cop turned PI Russell Quant. He does mainly small cases like finding a stolen casserole dish then he is called and asked to take on a case, find a groom who didn't turn up for his wedding. Russell heads off to France to try and find him.

The mystery is well written and keeps you thinking. I liked the writing style and there is a good cast of supporting characters. There is no romance in this one other Russell's lust for a priest. I am intrigued by this and I enjoyed the story enough to read on with the series.

[Jo-anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a refreshing new detective series for me and I look forward to reading more of the series. I was intrigued by the characters and the plot line kept me interested to the end without a lot of gory crime details. Love that it is set in Saskatoon, not a city one usually finds in novels. I was fascinated by the way Bidulka described his experience in France; rich with detail, I felt like I was strolling the laneways and eating the fab French cuisine with him. Homosexual or heterosexual, the inclusion of the sexual encounter at the end of the book was unnecessary for me.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Bidulka creates a very engaging character in Russel Quant, the private detective living in a small Canadian prairie city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This first book takes Russel to France tracking a missing groom. I find the cute gay detective to be funny and lovable. The mystery is wrapped out nicely. I wish to see more action in Russel's personal life but there are more books to this series :p

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great series for light reading. It is a mystery series written by an author from Saskatoon and set in Saskatoon. Amuse Bouche is the first in the series. There are now 5 of them, and I have read them all. It is fun to follow the antics of this gay detective, with many local references, and when you're in Saskatoon, you don't often get to see that!

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, I wanted to like this so bad. Anyone who finishes a novel, not to mention publishes one, deserves praise for sticking to it and getting the story they wanted to tell out there. But this was just not good.
In a way I’m not sure I can explain, I got the sense that the author isn’t much of a reader. The prose was so clunky and arrhythmic, I kept thinking to myself that surely this was written by someone who wanted to have written a book rather than someone who has loved their own reading experiences so much that they want to take someone else along for the same ride. Which is so judgmental and probably untrue, but I’ve never had that impression with a book before and it kept popping into my head.
I don’t believe for a second the author has ever been to France or even Saskatoon, for that matter. Which is absurd because he lives there. But none of the atmospheres were effectively rendered in any way and instead focused on weird details that did nothing to place me in the scene.
The side characters all ran together and lacked individuality to the point that I couldn’t remember which main character they were attached to. And after their initial introductions, there was no reminder of how Russell knew them when they reappeared, which, if the characterization is strong enough, isn’t always necessary. But it helps, and it’s not hard to work into the narrative flow.
Mysteries must be incredibly difficult to write. They’ve got to be complex but believable and entertaining, and I don’t know how to articulate why some work so well and others don’t. But this one didn’t. The plot moved almost too fast and too slow. He’d find a clue, and then nothing else would happen until the plot or page count was ready for him to find the next clue. The story didn’t progress naturally at all.
The biggest shame is that I really liked the main character. Sure, his jokes were stale and he was a little judgmental himself, but he was the one character who felt like a real person. Not to mention, a gay character who is comfortable in his own skin? Sign me up. But the writing, plotting, and characterization of nearly every other element of this was just too rough for me to keep going.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recall exactly where I heard of the author, Anthony Bidulka. Probably a special deal on Amazon where I get all my books. I've had this book on my shelf for a couple of years and never got around to reading it. When I finished my last book, for some reason, this book came to mind. I wanted something lighthearted after reading about the two world wars in Germany.

Amuse Bouche is the first volume in the Russell Quant series. I had no real expectations in reading it since I had never heard of the author. But, imagine my surprise when I started reading and was very impressed by how the story flowed. Not only that, the main character is a rather ordinary guy. No dark secrets that haunt his actions. He's just a private investigator trying to solve the case. But, as the story progressed, the atmosphere of the book maintained a feeling of coincidence and normality. That is not easy for an author to achieve in a market that craves the insanely weird. The mystery itself was intriguing. Not until the closing pages of the book did I know who the murderer was.

Bidulka is very good at creating little scenes that have the ring of everyday truths about them. As Russel Quant explores the cabin the soon-to-be-married couple shared with each other, seeing the photos of them being themselves, happy and in love, he realizes how, for gay men in the early years of the twenty-first century, they had to hide their private lives and their love away from the public. Reading this small part of the book made the murder victim and his partner more than characters in a book. The story resonated on a deeper level. Yet, even with that, the tone of Amuse Bouche never gets too serious or too lighthearted. The tone is perfect and maintained throughout the book.

This was a surprise of a novel. It was just what I needed after the seriousness of the book I read prior to this one. I highly recommend Amuse Bouche and I will definitely be reading more books by Anthony Bidulka.

[Neet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! It took me long enough to read this series. I had the first book in this series in both paperback and kindle and couldn't get past the first chapter. It wasn't because it was badly written either. It was because I wasn't ready to read this mystery. Now I'm ready, and boy am I glad. We meet the MC, Russell Quant who is a PI in the city of Saskatoon which is in the province of Saskatchewan ( believe me I won't be writing that again). Russell is 31 years old and a former constable in Sakatoon. Thanks to an uncle, who saw a lot of himself in a young Russell he was able to quit his job, purchase a house and become a PI. His uncle who died too young left young Russell money in his will. Russell finds himself doing run in the mill cases until he gets a call from a man who wants him to find his fiancee. The man actually explains that the man of his dreams stood him up at the wedding they planned and invited family and friends to. The client, who is both rich and closeted, wants closure if anything, he wants to know why the man he loved left him. He thinks that his wayward ex is still going through the plans for their honeymoon. Russell finds himself hopping on a plane to France, traveling to small villages, in search for a man that doesn't seem to want to be found. Oh, there is more, much more. Things aren't what they seem. Sit back and enjoy the mystery. This is certainly a good read!

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the story and to like the main character. The whole time Rusell was in France I was doubting about keep reading.

Yes, the idea was interesting, but the pace was too slow and I was getting bored. Then, he was back in town and things got really interesting. The mystery was really well done, the clues sparse and sometimes not really helpful, and it was easy to understand Rusell's frustration. And I was really surprised when the culprit was unmasked.

I enjoyed a lot all the secondary characters, all of them: Tom's friends and Russell's. And I felt so sorry about Tom's death! Such a waste... I usually don't feel this way about the victims. Yeah, I'm sorry they are dead in a general way but here it felt different. I think it was because Rusell was so determined to understand him and his relationship with Harold Chavell that he became a real character in the story, not simply 'the victim'.

What I didn't like was that last bit with Father Len. It came from nowhere, and it was utterly senseless, but oh, well!

All in all, a really good mystery :)

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debut book by this author. Russell Quant is a gay man and a private detective who lives in Saskatoon, Canada. He has been in practice for one year with only small cases when he gets a new client who hires him to find his missing fiancée. The fiancée apparently skipped out on their wedding day and went on their planned honeymoon to France. Quant is hired to find the fleeing groom and find out why he skipped out on the wedding. He flies to France and follows the groom around the country without actually physically catching up to him, just interacting through a series of notes left for him. The case is then called off by the client but Quant decides to continue the investigation on his own when a body is suddenly found back in Saskatoon .... Good, solid writing with a likable protagonist. Glad there are several further books in the series to read.

[Lana Kamennof-sine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Bidulka is one talented writer. Each character seems fully alive from first glimpse, things are grounded in reality, it's set in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, ( Can't say that about many mysteries ;-) ) and it's a fascinating read.

The plot line is contemporary. Russell Quant, ex police officer, now Private Investigator, is asked to look into the disappearance, on their wedding day, of one of the gay couple meant to be getting married in a private ceremony attended only by close friends and family.

There is international travel, many moments of missed opportunities, a final resolution, and yes a well written surprise ending. (I will say no more as it's a surprise to savour)

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this guy, but I just don't. He actively picks on people for having bad hair? That's a lot of nerve from a guy who walks around in polyester pants.

The internal monologue wastes way too much of my time on the unimportant and superficial. Pretty sure we all already knew that French food is pretty darn good. It is, however, statistically unlikely that every man he meets would be either astonishingly beautiful or brilliantly successful, and usually both. And why does he care so, so much about that? He's reasonably smart, and his education is probably above average, so how is he so boring?

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars: I really wanted to love this and hoped I'd found the first of a series I would keep reading. But, alas, I won't. It's well written (except for some misusage of words, i.e. "most unique" a professional writer should be able to avoid) but not satisfying.

This is the first in the series, and I suppose the investigator is meant to not be all that astute, but I found that annoying. One big plus was the setting of Saskatoon -- not a city many books are set in.

I was disappointed.

[Sharon Bidwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light amusing read with a likeable protagonist in the form of Russell Quant, private eye. There seem to be complaints that this isn’t a gay romance, but I never thought it was or should be, least not in the first book. Fast-paced entertainment. The ending for me, unfortunately, didn’t come as a surprise.

[Cindy.Sherban · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this book long ago (the whole series actually), likely when it first came out (and all his books since) Esp enjoyed reading and encountering familiar places, landmarks/ I think this was the first book I read with an openly queer person in it. I think it added to appreciating some of the prejudices encountered by some who are 'othered.'

[El W · Rating 4 out of 5]

İlk defa eşcinsel polisiye kitabı okudum sanırım. Genel olarak sıkmayan, keyifli bi kitaptı gelişmelerin tatsızlığına rağmen. Fransada geçen bölümler biraz heyecandan yoksundu. Russel iyi bir dedektif, inş hayatının aşkını da bulur.


Ben Tom'un ikinci bir aşığı falan vardır diye düşünmüştüm, yanılmışım. Keşke ölmesi yerine öyle olsaydı ahahhaha

[KENNETH HAYS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simplistic plot. No character development. Sophomoric and repetitive prose. The author explains characters and settings in such superficial and stereotypic terms that one doesn't believe he's been to Saskatoon let alone the south of France. While merely the sketch of a novel, it's not unreadable and, strangely, enjoyable as a mindless weekend diversion.

[David Wickham · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a re-read for me. Attempted re-read. Not as good as I remembered.

[Martin Denton]

I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. But it's a long book and halfway in hadn't managed to capture my interest sufficiently to continue. Who knows: I may return to it sometime.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautifully written with hilarious dialogue and a pretty tightly constructed mystery for a first book. Gotta get the next one!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Anthony Bidulka book - and it just happened to be the first book he wrote, too. Provocative, amusing and it was a hoot to read about real - and fictitious - places in Saskatoon. The last chapter about private investigator Russell Quant getting it off with a new man in his life was a little over the top, but what I shouldn't have expected any less.... Will definitely read more of his books. Great vacation fare!

[Alexander Inglis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Bidulka has created a funny, engaging mystery series featuring Russell Quant, a gay private eye based in Saskatoon but whose work takes him globe trotting. In this opening title, Quant is hired to track down a missing bridegroom who missed his own wedding. The other bridegroom, a local Saskatoon philanthropist, sends Quant to Europe where he believes the missing lover has gone ... on the honeymoon, sans husband. But it's not long before the tale returns to home base and corporate intrigue comes to the fore. It's a great start to the series which is heading into it's eighth title this year.

The seventh in the series, Date with a Sheesha, takes place in Saskatoon and the Middle East. Published by Insomniac Press, hopefully the whole series can come to Kobo. You can listen to a delightful interview with Bidulka on CBC at this link starting at about 30 minutes: http://www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter/2010...

[Kay Sachse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Russell Quant, a private investigator, gets his first bigger assignment: tracking down the lover of a wealthy man who failed to show up to their wedding ceremony. Apparently the man fled to France, so off Russell goes. But instead of describing the search the readers gets a lot of chitchat about food, clichés about France, off-the-topic description. No wonder, that Russell looses track of Tom Osborn, the reader looses track of the story do, and that doesn´t change after his return home. There are still too much sideline descriptions and nearly fascinating discounters. In the end you are just glad to get it over with so that I couldn´t care who the killer was (logical but still far-fetched plot). And why does Russell have to be attracted to other men who are unreachable?? I got the impression as if Bidulka didn´t dare to dive into a real story. What a shame!!

[Diana Sandberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, in a fairly predictable way. The tec is a gay ex-cop in Saskatoon and I did like the way his sexuality is a largish part of who he is and how he sees things, but still is not any kind of Political Statement in the context of the book. It’s just him. I imagine gay readers would be additionally charmed that the noir-ish style includes sexy bits. On the down side, there were quite a few of the kind of errors that a proofreader ought to have caught, sigh: “stationery bike”, “under his own terms”, “sneak a peak”, “expresso”, “the gig was up”, “…[an event happened] before I wanted it too”. Sigh again. Anyhow, the tec has a suitably wry style (and I liked his dog), the Saskatoon setting is different and kind of fun, the story fairly mysterious. Not bad, not outstanding.

[Writerlibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3 1/2 stars. Canadian writer. Story is set in Saskatoon of all places. Russell Quant, ex cop, is working as a PI. Bidulka paints vivid images of his city and the people. So Russell is gay, big deal. The strength of the novel is the plot and clues the reader is given along the way. I liked Russell, I liked his friends and how he goes doing his business. I liked how Bidulka built up the suspense and finally had Russell put two and two together. A very nice surprise. Will read the next novel in this series.