Customer Reviews

Stain of the Berry: A Russell Quant Mystery (Russell Quant Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anthony Bidulka is back with the fourth installment in the Russell Quant series and returns to the simpler form of the first two mysteries, eschewing the over-the-top style of the third, Tapas on the Ramblas. With one exception. In the middle of Stain, Bidulka takes a sharp left turn and devotes a chapter to not one, but two fantastically unbelievable yarns, one involving friend Sereena's background and the other involving Russell's uncle. Unnecessary. Otherwise, this is a good story about PI Quant's efforts to solve the death of a young woman: suicide or murder and how does this relate to strange happenings elsewhere in western Canada? The characters, recurring and new, are engaging and the descriptions of Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Vancouver and elsewhere greatly add to the enjoyment of the book. Bidulka leaves two dangling questions at the end: one about Jared and another about Russell and Alex and this reader hopes that he will be back with installment number five to answer them.

I just finished this fourth book I've read in the series. They have all been different and this one was another step in the author's growth as a writer. I was enthralled. and sometimes disturbed. But I can't wait for his next one to be published, (in October) even though he has said on his website that the next book he is working on will not be a Russell Quant mystery. I hope that doesn't mean the end of the series. I know Russell and want to continue getting to know him in future books. Whatever, I will read any of Anthony's books.

Stain of the Berry is an excellent mystery that is really about the mystery of Russell Quant - his life, loves, career. And, it is wholly enchanting. From the beginnings that lead us into a case that involve the Boogeyman, the Pink Gopher Choir, a tragedy in Delhi, an Artic hideaway, a Grace Jones lookalike and a Shakespearean actor...yes, all in one book...one can barely imagine all these parts making a wonderful whole. But that they most certainly do. In spadess. Highly recommended.

Stain of the Berry is not your typical mystery. Many readers might say that the most unique thing about it is that the protagonist is a gay man. In my view, this is the least unique attribute amongst many unique attributes of this Anthony Bidulka book.

Stain of the Berry finds Russell Quant trying to make ends meet as he pursues a career as a private eye in the sultry heat of a Saskatchewan summer. Where? Los Angeles? Nah. New York? Nope. London. No way. Boston? Not even close. Not even Toronto or Vancouver. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Believe it. And believe you'll want to read more about Bidulka and Quant's hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewanand the people who live there.

Quant's case at first seems pretty pedestrian. Girl kills herself. Girl's family doesn't buy it. Quant investigates. But what he quickly uncovers is a smorgasbord of quirky characters, the Pink Gopher Choir, and everyone's nemesis: The BOOgeyman. And it's how Quant pursues his clues that I loved. He's no Jason Bourne, closer to a prairie Magnum PI. Always room for a bit of dancing and sex and good food and time with family and friends and his dogs. He's a real, full person.

Intertwined with the above tale, Bidulka deftly inserts another story line that by the time I realized was only minimally tied to his ongoing case, I was so drawn in I wanted a separate book just for those characters and storylines. Maybe that's coming?

After reading Stain of the Berry, I was surprised - and thrilled - to find three other Quant books on the market. For this fly girl, with lots of hotel hours to read in, it was a real gift to have something fresh, new and entertaining to sink my teeth into. I give this a 5/5 for sure.

This installment of the Russell Quant series is full of pieces for every emotion. You'll even find answers to some questions you've been asking since the first book in the series.

Anthony Bidulka just keeps getting better and better and I look forward to every novel. I couldn't wait till this was released in the states so I ordered as soon as it was released in Canada. I was not disappointed.

This, to me, is a much more personal Russell Quant story. He doesn't do as much world travel as in the other novels, but he does finally find the answers to several mysteries that have tantalized us since the very first novel. The ending is bittersweet and I look forward to seeing how Russell and his friends handle what life has handed to them in this story.

Since there are excellent reviews of the story and the characters there is no need to rehash what has already been said. Mr. Bidulka's continuing development of his Russell Quant character is just brilliant. The main character's growth and struggle to learn who he really is has been carefully parcelled to the reader throughout the previous three books, and this fourth story continues the character's maturing and development in what I call a "mid-life coming-of-age" plot. "Stain of the Berry" contains two separate stories whose plots are interestingly and creatively interwoven. Are they believable stories? In "real life" no, not really, but this is fiction and to the characters this is happening so it is believable at some level. Reading is partly about escapism, isn't it? So, I recommend you escape with Russell Quant and his friends on another entertaining adventure by picking up "Stain of the Berry"; it is very satisying.

In Stain of the Berry, Anthony Bidulka's fourth Russell Quant mystery, yet again, our favorite gay detective is on a rollicking adventure taking him from his Canadian hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Vancouver, British Columbia to the Arctic Circle of all places and even a city called Moose Jaw. Only with a Bidulka novel does the reader really get taken to places you've likely never been before (but just might like to visit!)

Russell Quant is called in by the parents of a young woman who is found dead at the bottom of her apartment building. She jumped. But, unlike the police, they don't believe it's suicide. Russell digs into the woman's past finding the oddest of characters, involving the aforementioned most curious of locales, and unveiling one of the most devious and dark bad guys so far in the series (and there have been some baddies). Along the way, Russell takes a high action/high emotion/high suspense side trip to put to rest a personal matter that has been an engaging ongoing mystery throughout most of this unique series.

To read an Anthony Bidulka novel is to be surprised and entertained and titillated and even a bit scared. Bring it on!

Russell Quant, prairie-living, world-traveling, witty, clever, life-loving, cute-guy detective, finds himself with an empty bank account and living in a city where the bad guys and gals seem to have taken the summer months off to enjoy the weather.

But alas, our protagonist is saved from selling the family jewels (a pair of cufflinks his father never wore and a green-tinged bracelet a faux high school boyfriend once gave him)to bankroll his next meal. Quant is drawn into a curious case when his name and phone number are found in the apartment of a young woman who just jumped off her 8th floor balcony.

At first Quant can find no connection - he's never met the woman - but that means nothing when he suddenly finds himself on the eerie trail of - none other than everyone's childhood nemesis - THE BOOGEYMAN.

Did the woman commit suicide or was she pushed off that balcony? Who is responsible? All clues point to The Boogeyman. Could he actually be real?

What's terrific about this storyline, as incredible as it seems, is that the author knows very well that most of us have had dealings with the boogeyman (even if it was years ago when we were six...or just last night when I thought I saw a shadow in my parking garage....heebie jeebies!) He is counting on the fact that those same familiar, creepy feelings we once knew, are not deeply hidden. In a way, it was easy for me to believe that the boogeyman could be real, and living on the pages of Stain of the Berry. Maybe I was so easily scared in my parking garage BECAUSE I've been reading this book? Who cares, I'm just impressed that there were certain pages I turned, not wanting to, but knowing I would. Spooky fun.

And then there is so much more. This is a writer who knows how to balance the spook factor with warmth and humor and he most certainly knows how to get a gal to cry.

There are many scenes I recall vividly, from a family in Moose Jaw (cute name for a city) mourning a loss, to Russell attempting to elude a Grace Jones-like character in Vancouver, to spectacular imagery in the Arctic (I said he was a world-traveler, right? Pay attention to the lovely huge apple in a small boy's hand bit - you'll miss it if you read too fast - but it's beautiful).

I was surprised and ever so glad when I found out this was the fourth book in a series. I've already devoured the first, with the great title: Amuse Bouche, and was so happy to find that this writer always delivers. I get the feeling he loves to write. He has fun with it. It shows.

Stain of the Berry is a mystery novel with a lot to offer. There are spooky bits, funny bits, mysterious bits, sad bits. There are bursts of action just where we need 'em, clever characterizations, some James Bond with a prairie flair (if you can imagine that), and just a good story being told with a ultra likeable small "h" heroic protagonist with a pretty cool life. And it is not only Russell Quant (the said hero detective) that keeps the heart in this book, but the people around him.

I was given this book to read by a friend who thought I just might like it. I loved it. I'll buy the others.