I met Anthony Bidulka quite unexpectedly during a business trip to Toronto earlier this year. While perusing a bookstore, I found out that he had a book signing later that day just a few blocks away. I had seen Mr. Bidulka’s works in many places but this was the first chance to meet him. I purchased Flight of Aquavit, the follow-up to his debut novel, Amuse Bouche and enjoyed it very much.
His sleuth Russell Quant, like the author, lives in Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. The novel opens with Quant nearly being killed in an ambush in an attempt to scare him off of a case that he hasn’t even been contacted for. Intrigued rather than frightened, Quant is soon after hired by a local business who is being blackmailed by an anonymous ‘Loverboy’. His client is convinced that Loverboy is a one-night stand from his recent past. To find the blackmailer, Quant searches on-line dating sites, does some late night bar-hopping and makes a trip to the New York City gay scene. For a thirty-two year old, ex-cop, out, single private investigator, Quant seems a little naïve about some aspects of twenty-first century gay life and lacks the street-smarts that should’ve sent up alarms in his head to prevent him from walking directly into his own kidnapping scheme.
Written in first person, Flight of Aquavit is told through the viewpoint of Quant but some of the secondary characters that make up his circle of family and friends often threaten to hijack the story. His Ukranian mother, who faces every crisis by cooking huge amounts of food, drops by to spend Christmas with him. His neighbor Sereena Smith travels with him to New York City and he begins to suspect a secret side of her, based on the fawning reaction of people around her.
Mr. Bidulka keeps his sleuth busy during the course of events form the opening ambush to the final climax, but the pace of the book never overwhelms the reader. There are enough twists and turns in the plot that the book is difficult to put down. Just how I like it. The ending may be a bit predictable but it is a satisfying solution if not particularly happy.
Although the action kept the story moving at an exciting pace, another feature of Bidulka’s writing made reading Flight of Aquavit enjoyable. Quant’s narrative is laced with snarky side comments, parenthetical phrases and pop culture references that make the reader laugh out loud.
The title refers to a drink Flight of Aquavit that Quant’s friend Sereena introduces him to during their brief trip to New York City. The only other mention of it during the novel is the final page, so it’s unclear what the connection was between drink and mystery.
Even though I started with the second novel in the Quant mysteries, I didn’t feel as if I was out of the loop or needed to have read the first to get to know the characters or setting. I plant to read his debut novel because I want to.
His sleuth Russell Quant, like the author, lives in Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. The novel opens with Quant nearly being killed in an ambush in an attempt to scare him off of a case that he hasn’t even been contacted for. Intrigued rather than frightened, Quant is soon after hired by a local business who is being blackmailed by an anonymous ‘Loverboy’. His client is convinced that Loverboy is a one-night stand from his recent past. To find the blackmailer, Quant searches on-line dating sites, does some late night bar-hopping and makes a trip to the New York City gay scene. For a thirty-two year old, ex-cop, out, single private investigator, Quant seems a little naïve about some aspects of twenty-first century gay life and lacks the street-smarts that should’ve sent up alarms in his head to prevent him from walking directly into his own kidnapping scheme.
Written in first person, Flight of Aquavit is told through the viewpoint of Quant but some of the secondary characters that make up his circle of family and friends often threaten to hijack the story. His Ukranian mother, who faces every crisis by cooking huge amounts of food, drops by to spend Christmas with him. His neighbor Sereena Smith travels with him to New York City and he begins to suspect a secret side of her, based on the fawning reaction of people around her.
Mr. Bidulka keeps his sleuth busy during the course of events form the opening ambush to the final climax, but the pace of the book never overwhelms the reader. There are enough twists and turns in the plot that the book is difficult to put down. Just how I like it. The ending may be a bit predictable but it is a satisfying solution if not particularly happy.
Although the action kept the story moving at an exciting pace, another feature of Bidulka’s writing made reading Flight of Aquavit enjoyable. Quant’s narrative is laced with snarky side comments, parenthetical phrases and pop culture references that make the reader laugh out loud.
The title refers to a drink Flight of Aquavit that Quant’s friend Sereena introduces him to during their brief trip to New York City. The only other mention of it during the novel is the final page, so it’s unclear what the connection was between drink and mystery.
Even though I started with the second novel in the Quant mysteries, I didn’t feel as if I was out of the loop or needed to have read the first to get to know the characters or setting. I plant to read his debut novel because I want to.
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