A bit slow going at first, but once it picked up speed, it read fairly quickly. I like Russell Quant and now I want to visit Saskatoon. ( )

A light amusing read with a likeable protagonist in the form of Russell Quant, private eye. There seem to be complaints that this isn’t a gay romance, but I never thought it was or should be, least not in the first book. Fast-paced entertainment. The ending for me, unfortunately, didn’t come as a surprise. ( )

When a groom doesn't turn up for the wedding but appears to have gone off on the honeymoon in France by himself, PI Russell Quant is hired to track him down and demand an explanation.

I love Russell's first person narrative voice in this one even though I have no real reference points for the clothes, food, and wines he talks about. ( )

I read Flight of Aquavit by Bidulka earlier this year but as it was the second book in his Russell Quant series I am delighted to have read the first installment. I thought this wasn't quite as good but it was certainly a fine read. Bidulka captures Saskatoon very well but I also enjoyed his descriptions of France where this case took him. I especially liked the sounds of Cliousclat situated in the Rhone Valley. Yet another spot for my bucket list!

Russell has just celebrated his first year in business by wrapping up "The Case of the Missing Casserole" (neighbours to a Saskatoon woman in an Arizona RV park had taken her favourite casserole dish when they left and the woman hired Russell to track them down). It wasn't long though before his first really big case came along. He was hired by a prominent Saskatoon businessman to find his missing partner (and I don't mean business partner) who had left the man standing at the altar. This entailed following the missing groom to France where the one groom was taking the honeymoon that both of them were supposed to be on. Although Russell doesn't manage to find the missing man he does have some great meals, including his first encounter with amuse bouche, and visits some lovely spots. When he receives a message from the missing person that makes it clear he doesn't want to be found his client calls him off the case. Russell isn't quite done with his sleuthing and keeps on talking to people back in Saskatoon. Then when the missing man's body shows up in a vacation spot south of the city Russell is hired again to find out who killed him. There are plenty of red herrings but Quant has an epiphany that leads him to the murderer.

I hope that Quant finds a steady guy for himself. I was really hoping that Father Len, a Ukrainian Catholic priest and brother to the victim, was going to be the one but they are maintaining a platonic friendship in this book. I guess I'll just have to track down some of the other books to find out more about Quant's love life. ( )

I love a good mystery, and this is just that. ( )