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Russell Quant #7
Date with a Sheesha
Neil Gupta went to the Middle East looking for antique carpets. He found something equally timeless: murder. When Neil is found stabbed to death in Dubai's spice souk, his distraught father wants revenge. He hires private investigator Russell Quant to catch the killer. In his greatest case to date, Quant goes undercover to match wits with a wily museum curator, shifty souk merchants, corrupt carpet experts, and the denizens of an underground club for "fabulous" men. From the flamboyant glitz of Dubai to the scorching sand dunes of Saudi Arabia, Quant risks his life as he wades further and further into the shadows cast by the desert sun. As Russell's spicy international adventure heats up, he learns a valuable lesson about love, life, and learning to seize the moment...before it's gone. On the verge of making the biggest personal decision of his life, Russell discovers that endings sometimes come before beginnings.
262 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Bidulka
32 books248 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 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 3, 2012
Rating: 4* of five
I truly do not know how I will fill the next year or so of my life, waiting for book eight in the Russell Quant, Prairie PI, series. It bodes ill that I am already casting feverishly about for possible plot lines that mend the hideous damage done to my beloved Russell in this book. I'm the sort of a boy whose brain needs chew-toys, as my younger brother said once, or it turns on the furniture and tears the place up.
I really loved Aloha, Candy Hearts, and felt that the decidedly substandard Sundowner Ubuntu was partially made up for with the new installment's spiffy pace and beautiful ending. I approached the newest book with a high heart and buoyant hopes.
And then Bidulka goes and exceeds them. Bar none, this is the best book in the series. The mystery is far and away the most accomplished and polished, pulling a suspect switcheroo successfully twice and marginally once. The ending, in fact the last three chapters, are so exciting I was pacing the floor as I read them. (The dog was most confused, poor little love, pacing along with me, looking worried at my exclamations of surprise and excitement.)
The story picks up with Russell happily ensconced in a relationship, seemingly one that's riding on rails it's going so smoothly and directly to Couplesville. He's happy, really truly happy, and the cherry on the sundae of his life lands with a plop in the form of a challenging, extremely remunerative job: Investigate the gay-bashing death of a world-renowned ancient carpet expert in glitzy, ritzy Dubai, all at the expense of a megarich Indian engineer and his wife. It's the engineer's son who's dead. Now...what to tell Mr. Man? "Honey, I'm going away for a few weeks, my life's going to be in danger, kiss kiss!"
Clouds gather, shadows lengthen, and once in Dubai, Russell enters the hyper-closeted world of gay Arabia, and the hyper-competitive world of ancient carpet buying and selling. What happens there leads Russell from a hot Arabian sandstorm back to frigid, January-blasted Saskatoon, a chase scene featuring Mr. Man's property's frozen pond, bullets, a dead body, and a Big Reveal that is really a Big Reveal!
I love being surprised, especially when I've come to the conclusion that a series is fun but no great shakes, worth reading because it's just entertaining. And now I'm awake and alert again, eager for the next book, agog to see what the author will do to fix a certain giant chasm he's ripped in Russell's life.
2011 can't come fast enough. I need my fix!!
I truly do not know how I will fill the next year or so of my life, waiting for book eight in the Russell Quant, Prairie PI, series. It bodes ill that I am already casting feverishly about for possible plot lines that mend the hideous damage done to my beloved Russell in this book. I'm the sort of a boy whose brain needs chew-toys, as my younger brother said once, or it turns on the furniture and tears the place up.
I really loved Aloha, Candy Hearts, and felt that the decidedly substandard Sundowner Ubuntu was partially made up for with the new installment's spiffy pace and beautiful ending. I approached the newest book with a high heart and buoyant hopes.
And then Bidulka goes and exceeds them. Bar none, this is the best book in the series. The mystery is far and away the most accomplished and polished, pulling a suspect switcheroo successfully twice and marginally once. The ending, in fact the last three chapters, are so exciting I was pacing the floor as I read them. (The dog was most confused, poor little love, pacing along with me, looking worried at my exclamations of surprise and excitement.)
The story picks up with Russell happily ensconced in a relationship, seemingly one that's riding on rails it's going so smoothly and directly to Couplesville. He's happy, really truly happy, and the cherry on the sundae of his life lands with a plop in the form of a challenging, extremely remunerative job: Investigate the gay-bashing death of a world-renowned ancient carpet expert in glitzy, ritzy Dubai, all at the expense of a megarich Indian engineer and his wife. It's the engineer's son who's dead. Now...what to tell Mr. Man? "Honey, I'm going away for a few weeks, my life's going to be in danger, kiss kiss!"
Clouds gather, shadows lengthen, and once in Dubai, Russell enters the hyper-closeted world of gay Arabia, and the hyper-competitive world of ancient carpet buying and selling. What happens there leads Russell from a hot Arabian sandstorm back to frigid, January-blasted Saskatoon, a chase scene featuring Mr. Man's property's frozen pond, bullets, a dead body, and a Big Reveal that is really a Big Reveal!
I love being surprised, especially when I've come to the conclusion that a series is fun but no great shakes, worth reading because it's just entertaining. And now I'm awake and alert again, eager for the next book, agog to see what the author will do to fix a certain giant chasm he's ripped in Russell's life.
2011 can't come fast enough. I need my fix!!
October 13, 2010
Made it to 3 stars because the last 100 pages were what the whole book should have been like. It took 152 pages for the story to start and not be a boring travel log. Once the plot got underway and Russell started being the smart detective he usually is and not a soporific travel guide it got better. Show don't tell. That usually works.
October 18, 2021
Travels to the Middle East, tracking a murderer, or is the murdere tracking Russell?
April 11, 2020
The book opens with private investigator Russell Quant receiving a macabre invitation in the mail to witness/attend the death of one Nayan Gupta at the Saskatoon Airport. Shades of Agatha Christie! The plot progressively thickens as the author skilfully takes readers alongside a determined Quant to investigate the demise of a young South Asian gay man.
As with many of Bidulka’s previous titles in his Quant Mysteries series – the scene locales are foreign and exotic, the characters sometimes larger than life, the plot action frenetic and driving. Side-stepping foreboding messages that attempt to warn him off the investigation, Russell finds himself trading in a frozen Saskatchewan wintry landscape for the blinding heat and glamorous buildings of modern day Dubai (and other Arabian/emirates cities). Russell’s family and friends are understandably concerned for his safety and well-being as he heads into a DADT society/culture where being gay can and do indeed lead to brutal violence, incarceration, flogging and death.
Will danger, death and deceit come from an assassin’s knife lurking within a dark alleyway of a spice market, from money-hungry double crossing carpet merchants or from the slow suffocation from a sudden sandstorm? How far can Russell trust his newfound middle-eastern Friends of Dorothy and which of these many ex-lovers of the deceased Nayan are complicit in his death? Bidulka weaves a secondary theme through the aforementioned suspected murder of a gay man with that of sourcing and acquiring precious and antique carpets for a permanent display at the University of Saskatoon; I learnt a lot more about precious carpets than I imagined I would!
The author brings back all the familiar Quant series characters I so love … acerbic hotshot lawyer Errall, wacky psychic Alberta, men-about-town and debonair A-List gays Anthony and Jared, the alluring and divine world-travelling Sereena Orion Smith, lesbian café owners Mary and Maroushka and of course the one and only irrepressible food-bearing mama-Quant (Kay). The courses of Russell’s love-lives have never run simple in previous books and this book stays true to course … our PI is just not sure he’s ready to settle down to a contented domestic existence even when his dreamy boyfriend Ethan Ash is more than willing to do so. Karma can be a bitch and she comes back with a big bite this time for Russell – especially in light of how things ended with the previous book in the series (Aloha Candy Hearts).
Readers should be warned there is no sex-content in this book – it falls firmly within the gay mystery/sleuth/whodunnit trope. I have not yet been disappointed by a Bidulka title to date I’m pleased to say – this book has all the ingredients that appeal to me – fabulous food references, funny repartee and dialogue, highly amusing mother-son interactions between Russell and Kay (that scene where mama-Quant was picking up gay books entitled ‘Big Beef’ and ‘Hot Buns’ thinking they were cookery titles had me rolling on the floor in tears), travelogue passages that take me to faraway exotic places that I can only dream of going in person. References are even made in the storyline to works by Michael Thomas Ford and Greg Herren. And whilst this title may not be my favourite title in the series – that would be a tie between Sundowner Ubuntu and Stain of the Berry – this was still a thoroughly rewarding read.
As with many of Bidulka’s previous titles in his Quant Mysteries series – the scene locales are foreign and exotic, the characters sometimes larger than life, the plot action frenetic and driving. Side-stepping foreboding messages that attempt to warn him off the investigation, Russell finds himself trading in a frozen Saskatchewan wintry landscape for the blinding heat and glamorous buildings of modern day Dubai (and other Arabian/emirates cities). Russell’s family and friends are understandably concerned for his safety and well-being as he heads into a DADT society/culture where being gay can and do indeed lead to brutal violence, incarceration, flogging and death.
Will danger, death and deceit come from an assassin’s knife lurking within a dark alleyway of a spice market, from money-hungry double crossing carpet merchants or from the slow suffocation from a sudden sandstorm? How far can Russell trust his newfound middle-eastern Friends of Dorothy and which of these many ex-lovers of the deceased Nayan are complicit in his death? Bidulka weaves a secondary theme through the aforementioned suspected murder of a gay man with that of sourcing and acquiring precious and antique carpets for a permanent display at the University of Saskatoon; I learnt a lot more about precious carpets than I imagined I would!
The author brings back all the familiar Quant series characters I so love … acerbic hotshot lawyer Errall, wacky psychic Alberta, men-about-town and debonair A-List gays Anthony and Jared, the alluring and divine world-travelling Sereena Orion Smith, lesbian café owners Mary and Maroushka and of course the one and only irrepressible food-bearing mama-Quant (Kay). The courses of Russell’s love-lives have never run simple in previous books and this book stays true to course … our PI is just not sure he’s ready to settle down to a contented domestic existence even when his dreamy boyfriend Ethan Ash is more than willing to do so. Karma can be a bitch and she comes back with a big bite this time for Russell – especially in light of how things ended with the previous book in the series (Aloha Candy Hearts).
Readers should be warned there is no sex-content in this book – it falls firmly within the gay mystery/sleuth/whodunnit trope. I have not yet been disappointed by a Bidulka title to date I’m pleased to say – this book has all the ingredients that appeal to me – fabulous food references, funny repartee and dialogue, highly amusing mother-son interactions between Russell and Kay (that scene where mama-Quant was picking up gay books entitled ‘Big Beef’ and ‘Hot Buns’ thinking they were cookery titles had me rolling on the floor in tears), travelogue passages that take me to faraway exotic places that I can only dream of going in person. References are even made in the storyline to works by Michael Thomas Ford and Greg Herren. And whilst this title may not be my favourite title in the series – that would be a tie between Sundowner Ubuntu and Stain of the Berry – this was still a thoroughly rewarding read.
December 17, 2013
Thank god there is only one more Russell Quant novel to go. I seriously considered not reading the 8th but I have suffered through 7 books so far so and one of them was quite good (Flight of Aquavit #2); maybe the last one will not be so bad, but I am not going to hold my breath. I thought alternating Bidulka's novels with books in other genres would keep them fresh, but Quant is really getting on my nerves. At least the 'bad guy' is realistically unknown until the end. It felt like almost every other situation in the novel is preposterous.
The novel starts with Quant being invited, via an otherwise blank white card, to the death of Nayan Gupta at a certain time that day at the airport. No other information. Really?! Someone is going to hire a PI in this manner? Shortly after Quant arrives after hours at an open, unguarded, museum of (we learn later fake) antiquities at the U of S where someone shouts from the dark "get him". Quant runs off and Bidulka describes the subsequent chase as Scooby-Doo like. Really?! Eight pages of Scooby-Doo believability? No museum quality object can obtain the necessary export licences in a two week period. Quant finds out the dead man has told someone to contact his father/Quant's client if he does not show up to a meeting, and say the word saffron. Does Quant phone the father right away? No, not until days later does he call, and then he does not ask the father about saffron who he has learned is a person. What?! The Dubai driver is killed. Why? By whom? Why does Sereena suddenly show up? Oh, her driver rescues our hapless PI after a camel chase and double cross. What was the motive for the double cross exactly? Sereena is let into Quant's Hilton hotel room to surprise him? Never happen. Not even the village woman from Sundowner Ubuntu would allow that. An academic conference in February, during the school term when professors are teaching? I do not think so. Every one of them has brought a spouse. Laughable. A pond is not safely frozen over after two weeks of -20C weather. Good god, Lake Superior is frozen solid in February!!! Quant buys a one way ticket to somewhere warm and arranges to have all potential clients turned away. He also trades in his minivan for a two seat roadster and drives it to the airport with his friend Anthony driving his luggage. Who buys a car when they may never come back home? Is he going to pay parking at the airport until....? An established, respected, and rich academic is suddenly driven to murder two family members over money? Money obtained by selling the very thing she researches? I suspend my belief less often in a summer blockbuster move.
Quant's many, many character flaws aside, I have to comment on this one: He is afraid to ride a glass wall elevator, but complains the glass wall in the restaurant at the top has no view at night. WTF?!
The novel starts with Quant being invited, via an otherwise blank white card, to the death of Nayan Gupta at a certain time that day at the airport. No other information. Really?! Someone is going to hire a PI in this manner? Shortly after Quant arrives after hours at an open, unguarded, museum of (we learn later fake) antiquities at the U of S where someone shouts from the dark "get him". Quant runs off and Bidulka describes the subsequent chase as Scooby-Doo like. Really?! Eight pages of Scooby-Doo believability? No museum quality object can obtain the necessary export licences in a two week period. Quant finds out the dead man has told someone to contact his father/Quant's client if he does not show up to a meeting, and say the word saffron. Does Quant phone the father right away? No, not until days later does he call, and then he does not ask the father about saffron who he has learned is a person. What?! The Dubai driver is killed. Why? By whom? Why does Sereena suddenly show up? Oh, her driver rescues our hapless PI after a camel chase and double cross. What was the motive for the double cross exactly? Sereena is let into Quant's Hilton hotel room to surprise him? Never happen. Not even the village woman from Sundowner Ubuntu would allow that. An academic conference in February, during the school term when professors are teaching? I do not think so. Every one of them has brought a spouse. Laughable. A pond is not safely frozen over after two weeks of -20C weather. Good god, Lake Superior is frozen solid in February!!! Quant buys a one way ticket to somewhere warm and arranges to have all potential clients turned away. He also trades in his minivan for a two seat roadster and drives it to the airport with his friend Anthony driving his luggage. Who buys a car when they may never come back home? Is he going to pay parking at the airport until....? An established, respected, and rich academic is suddenly driven to murder two family members over money? Money obtained by selling the very thing she researches? I suspend my belief less often in a summer blockbuster move.
Quant's many, many character flaws aside, I have to comment on this one: He is afraid to ride a glass wall elevator, but complains the glass wall in the restaurant at the top has no view at night. WTF?!
October 28, 2012
3.5 stars.
The book was a bit discontinuous. The very beginning was good, tight story line and it had me curious and eager. The central part sometimes read a bit too much like a travel guide, I didn't really have a sense of place. I was expecting more about the smells and chaos of the souk, the endless trading. I also had the impression the whole plot was a bit predictable, and when Sereena appeared instead of being thrilled, I was a bit bored. The ending was very good. A lot of action, twists, the unexpected collaboration between Russell and Kirsch. The very ending was great. I liked how Anthony put it: Russell took a chance on love, finally. What will happen now?
The book was a bit discontinuous. The very beginning was good, tight story line and it had me curious and eager. The central part sometimes read a bit too much like a travel guide, I didn't really have a sense of place. I was expecting more about the smells and chaos of the souk, the endless trading. I also had the impression the whole plot was a bit predictable, and when Sereena appeared instead of being thrilled, I was a bit bored. The ending was very good. A lot of action, twists, the unexpected collaboration between Russell and Kirsch. The very ending was great. I liked how Anthony put it: Russell took a chance on love, finally. What will happen now?
October 5, 2011
I read this out of order, so that may be why I didn't think it was as good as some of the others, but the ending seemed kind of quick, once you knew who did it and there seemed to be a part that was never followed up on (who what shooting at him on the ice?) I think you can guess, but maybe I just wanted to finish it, because I realized it was out of order. I love this author and his sexy PI. I'm interested in the next one becasue I want to know what happens to Russell next!
January 21, 2012
A quick mystery read from a Saskatchewan author. I love that it is set in Saskatoon (with travels around the world, of course), and certain things, like the "Babamobile", only a Saskatchewanite might understand.
December 28, 2024
I read this because of Caarianna's rec and quite liked it. It had a lively, energetic style, a nice mystery, and interesting characters. Sadly, the DC library only owns the one. I've been looking at interlibrary loan for others. 3 stars
July 1, 2014
I loved this one!! I took a break from Russell's adventures and I'm happy I did it. I think I've enjoyed this one more after giving Russell some space... the end it's bittersweet but perfect, sadly life happens while you wait for the right momment...
January 2, 2015
This Russell Quant trek takes us to Dubai and area. This one deals with the ups and downs of Russell's personal life. Nice to see real human struggles developed in this series. http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1...
November 22, 2010
Love these books, love another truly SK murder attempt too.
June 23, 2011
Wow! What an ending. It's not a cliffhanger but yet it feels like it might as well be. I'm dying to find out what is in store for Russell now. The next book can't come out fast enough!
October 25, 2015
2010 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
June 3, 2013
I love Russell Quant an d the people in his life. There are not nearly enough stories out there like this.
November 2, 2013
Good mystery. No point in even complaining about the between the books character development anymore, I suppose.
November 25, 2014
Anthony's sophisticated writing style is like a chilled ice wine with a piece of dark chocolate. You come away completely satisfied and craving more.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews