Sundowner Ubuntu: A Russell Quant Mystery
by Anthony Bidulka
Summary
A mother’s pain. A million dollars. A missing son. Desperate to right old wrongs, a new client hires Russell Quant to locate her son, Matthew, lost to her for twenty years. Russell peels away the layers of a carefully-concealed life, grown from seeds of traumatic childhood and violence. Tracking Matthew’s life from the schoolyard drug culture of a pleasant prairie city’s underbelly to the stunning vistas, vibrant townships and tinderbox safaris of Africa, Russell faces a difficult question: What happens when the prodigal son resists the return?
Excerpt
Murder.
There are many reasons to commit it.
Mine? My mother asked me to.
The snow was crunchy underfoot as I approached the weathered house where he lived. Although in my head I knew it was impossible, I had a feeling in my sour gut that he knew I was coming for him. As I hesitated outside the door, I passed the knife from hand to hand, feeling its unfamiliar heft in my sweating palms, then tested the glistening blade’s sharpness against my thumb.
My eyes crinkled against bright morning sun. “Quant,” I muttered under frosty breath, “what the hell are you doing?”
But, disgusted as I was, I could not turn away.
The door shuddered, then made a scraping noise as I slowly pulled it open, throwing in vain my hope for silence so as not to announce my arrival to Mr. Crow—or anyone else—inside. Not that it mattered much; my course was set. I poked my head inside and was instantly assaulted by an acrid scent; eau de ammonia. Cloying warmth encircled me. As my pupils adjusted to the darkness, I heard sounds of burbling disturbance and discontent. Our eyes met. And so it began.
I quickly circled behind him, grabbing him and locking him in my arms. Surprisingly, he barely struggled as I took him outside. He knew. I splayed him on the white ground beneath my greater bulk, my knees and thighs keeping him in place, and shivered at the thought of what I was about to do. I began to entertain wild thoughts of what alternatives might be open to me.
It was too late to turn back now.
I pulled back his head, revealing his vulnerable neck to the nippy air. Only then did he make gurgling sounds of protest. Maybe he hadn’t really believed I’d be capable of this until right then, that last, defining moment of his life. But it was too late for Mr. Crow. Way too late. It had to be done.
Tightening my grip around the wooden handle of the knife, knuckles white, I pressed the sharp cutting edge of the instrument against his throat. I was surprised by the ease with which the knife did its evil duty. I was even more surprised by the amount of blood that followed and how it spurted and spewed. The body underneath me shook with a death fury that unhinged me with its intensity. Although he was no match for me in size, I felt myself being bucked off; I fell back, slipping on an ice patch as I attempted to get purchase with Timberland boot grip and pull myself up.
Dumped on my ass, the first thing I noticed was the knife, still in my hand. It looked perfectly clean, as if I’d wiped it off, yet I hadn’t. The steel had been cold, the blood hot, the two did not stick together.
The second thing I noticed was the headless body of my victim as he rose to his feet.
Reviews
"Bidulka’s Russell Quant novels offer an engaging variation upon the pattern ….” – GLR Worldwide (Boston)
"Bidulka’s books are almost giddily charming...” – Calgary Herald (Calgary)
"This witty series is…very smart.” – The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Author's Biography
Anthony Bidulka’s mystery series tells the story of a half-Ukrainian, half-Irish, gay, ex-farm boy, ex-cop, Canadian, prairie, world-travelling, private detective living a big life in a small city.
The Russell Quant series is a multi award nominee and was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery.