Tapas on the Ramblas: A Russell Quant Mystery
by Anthony Bidulka
Summary
Charity Wiser, matriarch of the Wiser clan is an indomitable provocateur…and Russell Quant’s newest employer. There is more than a single rotten apple on this family tree, and Quant has been hired to discover which one is intent on murdering his client. To help him sleuth out the evil culprit, Charity arranges a family reunion aboard the opulent Friends of Dorothy Cruiseliner as it tours the exotic Mediterranean. Come aboard a sensual journey of sun and sea brine, caviar and champagne on a cruise replete with the luxury of murder.
Excerpt
It was late on a mid-August afternoon. Through south-facing windows, slanted spears of gilded sunshine pierced my office. At the sound of Lilly’s songbird voice I gazed up from where I was slouched behind my desk lazily studying the fleeting marvel. “Flora Wiser is here to see you,” she told me, a wide smile on her sunny-side-up face.
As I dutifully rose to greet my four o’clock, Lilly moved aside to let the woman through my office door. Flora Wiser, although younger than I’d imagined—in her early twenties—presented herself as a much older woman. But not in any of the positive ways. She lacked the energy and exuberance I generally equate with her age group. Rather, she moved with a nervous hesitance, reminding me of a brown rabbit in a brown field, sniffing the air for danger, not sure if she should dash or stand perfectly still in the hope of remaining unseen. Her face was an oval of colourless skin untouched by sun or cosmetics, highlighted by…well, by nothing. It was a wholly unremarkable face; greenish eyes dulled by the unreflective lenses of wire frame glasses, a nondescript nose, a line for a mouth. Her dun coloured hair, woven into a thick, bristly braid, hung heavy down her back like jute rope. She was medium height and slender, with bony shoulders permanently clenched forward in the manner of someone who is much taller but doesn’t want to be. That was about all I could surmise about her body, well hidden beneath baggy layers of grey-tone clothing; a long-sleeved, man’s shirt beneath a vest-like tunic and a thick skirt that swung sluggishly about her ankles. At her waist was a bulky macramé purse and on her size ten feet she wore all-purpose, all-weather, slip-on Birkenstocks.
I held out my hand and readied myself for a limp fish or the dreaded fingers-only shake. The unexpected strength and substance of her grasp and full palm-to-palm contact surprised me as her wiry fingers firmly encircled my hand. I offered her a seat in front of my desk and returned to my own. The beams of sunlight I’d been admiring earlier had dissipated, as if they’d been disturbed by our sudden movements and decided to move on to more tranquil realms.
“Can I get you more huckleberry herb tea, Ms. Wiser?” Lilly asked from her spot in the doorway.
Huckleberry? We had huckleberry tea? What is a huckleberry?
Reviews
“… most enjoyable aspects is its lively descriptions of foreign places ….” – Altar Magazine (NY)
"… briskly paced mystery with requisite elements of detecting and menace...” – Quill & Quire (Toronto)
“...enough intrigue to keep the reader gripped and turning the pages.” –Outlooks (Calgary)
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.