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Quant: Russell Quant Mystery #9
Not yet published
Expected 30 Sep 26304 pages, Paperback
Expected publication September 30, 2026
About the author
Anthony Bidulka
34 books252 followersAnthony 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).
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).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
In this Russell Quant mystery, a grieving son returns to his mother’s Saskatchewan farmhouse while trying to face the painful realities of her dementia, only to be pulled into a case involving a suspicious death, a poisoned greenhouse, and a small town whose secrets travel faster than dust on a prairie road. What begins as CeeCee Toth’s desperate insistence that her husband Clem did not die by suicide grows into a sharp, winding investigation that reaches from Howell to Turks and Caicos and back again, tying land development, greed, loyalty, and family grief into one satisfyingly tangled knot.
I was immediately taken by the novel’s voice. Russell is funny without feeling polished to a synthetic shine; his wit has elbows. The narration can swing from a joke about lawn tractors or old Ukrainian food habits into an ache about aging parents, and that tonal dexterity gives the book its best texture. The mystery is engaging, but the emotional ballast comes from Kay Quant, her cooking, her stubbornness, her slipping memory, and the fierce maternal spark that still flashes when it matters most.
What I liked most was how the book lets comedy and sorrow occupy the same room without either one apologizing. The prairie setting feels lived-in rather than decorative, full of small-town rhythms, grudges, gossip, and that peculiar intimacy where everyone knows your truck before they know your sins. The middle section’s travel detour adds a breezy, caper-like expansion, but the heart of the story remains at home: a son learning that love sometimes means making decisions no one wants, and a detective realizing that the past is never as neatly boxed up as old photographs in a farmhouse cupboard.
This book is ideal for readers who enjoy cozy mystery, private investigator fiction, LGBTQ+ fiction, and character-driven crime novels with humor and heart. Fans of Louise Penny’s community-rich mysteries may enjoy the way this novel blends murder with emotional weather, though Russell Quant brings a saucier, more irreverent sensibility than Armand Gamache. Beneath its humor and homicide, this novel understands that family secrets don't stay buried, they grow.
I was immediately taken by the novel’s voice. Russell is funny without feeling polished to a synthetic shine; his wit has elbows. The narration can swing from a joke about lawn tractors or old Ukrainian food habits into an ache about aging parents, and that tonal dexterity gives the book its best texture. The mystery is engaging, but the emotional ballast comes from Kay Quant, her cooking, her stubbornness, her slipping memory, and the fierce maternal spark that still flashes when it matters most.
What I liked most was how the book lets comedy and sorrow occupy the same room without either one apologizing. The prairie setting feels lived-in rather than decorative, full of small-town rhythms, grudges, gossip, and that peculiar intimacy where everyone knows your truck before they know your sins. The middle section’s travel detour adds a breezy, caper-like expansion, but the heart of the story remains at home: a son learning that love sometimes means making decisions no one wants, and a detective realizing that the past is never as neatly boxed up as old photographs in a farmhouse cupboard.
This book is ideal for readers who enjoy cozy mystery, private investigator fiction, LGBTQ+ fiction, and character-driven crime novels with humor and heart. Fans of Louise Penny’s community-rich mysteries may enjoy the way this novel blends murder with emotional weather, though Russell Quant brings a saucier, more irreverent sensibility than Armand Gamache. Beneath its humor and homicide, this novel understands that family secrets don't stay buried, they grow.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Russell Quant is my favorite private investigator by far. In this episode, Quant travels back to his childhood hometown where he is driven to investigate for his mothers friend whose spouse has been murdered. This is also a poignant view at the changing of roles between a mother and her son, as he realizes that his aging mother needs more care and may be struggling with the onset of dementia.
Bidulka's writing captivates! You will be smelling the grass, tasting the fresh buns, then realizing the past no longer exists. It will get caught in the back of your throat and it will validate the axiom, 'You can never go home again'.
Bidulka's writing captivates! You will be smelling the grass, tasting the fresh buns, then realizing the past no longer exists. It will get caught in the back of your throat and it will validate the axiom, 'You can never go home again'.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews