Anthony Bidulka Books in Order
Browse Anthony Bidulka books in order, with Russell Quant, Adam Saint, and Merry Bell reading lists, short summaries, series background, and where to start.
Last updated: July 11, 2026
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Anthony Bidulka books in publication order
16 books
Amuse Bouche
by Anthony Bidulka
2003
On his first big case, rookie PI Russell Quant is hired to find a missing groom who vanished before a wedding. The search takes him from Saskatoon to France and into a lively crowd of suspects, lies, and bad timing.
Flight of Aquavit
by Anthony Bidulka
2004
Russell Quant takes on a blackmailer known as Loverboy and gets pulled into the dangerous world of online dating and secret encounters. From Saskatoon to New York, the case becomes a fast-moving mix of deceit, threats, and personal risk.
Tapas on the Ramblas
by Anthony Bidulka
2005
Wealthy matriarch Charity Wiser hires Russell Quant to learn which family member wants her dead. Trapped on a Mediterranean cruise with a boatload of suspects, Russell must sort greed, grudges, and murder before the reunion turns lethal.
Stain of the Berry
by Anthony Bidulka
2006
Hired after an apparent suicide, Russell Quant finds himself chasing a case fueled by fear, rumour, and a shadowy Boogeyman. As the death count rises and his friend Sereena vanishes, the trail stretches from Saskatchewan to the Arctic.
Sundowner Ubuntu
by Anthony Bidulka
2007
A remorseful mother hires Russell Quant to find the son she lost two decades earlier. The search leads from Saskatoon's rougher corners to southern Africa, where old violence and fresh danger make the case far more personal than it first appears.
Aloha Candy Hearts
by Anthony Bidulka
2009
A dead man's final gift sends Russell Quant on a puzzle that runs from Hawaii to Saskatchewan's darker past. Treasure hunt fun quickly turns serious as blackmail, murder, and painful goodbyes close in.
Date with a Sheesha
by Anthony Bidulka
2010
When a carpet buyer is found dead in a Middle Eastern spice market, Russell Quant follows the trail through Dubai, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and back to Saskatchewan. The case is dangerous enough on its own, but Russell is also forced toward a life-changing personal choice.
Dos Equis
by Anthony Bidulka
2012
A cryptic call drags Russell Quant out of self-imposed exile and into the heat of Zihuatanejo. What looks like a chance to reset his life becomes a tangle of old enemies, fresh danger, romance, and murder.
When the Saints Go Marching in
by Anthony Bidulka
2013
When a plane crash in subarctic Russia and a murdered Canadian agent point to something bigger, Adam Saint is sent to investigate. His mission soon collides with devastating personal news, turning a globe-spanning thriller into a test of nerve and survival.
The Women of Skawa Island
by Anthony Bidulka
2014
Former Disaster Recovery agent Adam Saint is pulled to a remote Polynesian island after three shipwreck survivors are found alive. What begins as a rescue mission turns into a dangerous fight over secrets powerful people will do anything to keep buried.
Set Free
by Anthony Bidulka
2016
Renowned author Jaspar Wills is kidnapped in Marrakech while still reeling from his daughter's abduction months earlier. As journalist Katie Edwards digs into his story, the case twists into a suspenseful reckoning with grief, fame, and the slippery nature of truth.
Going to Beautiful
by Anthony Bidulka
2022
Celebrity chef Jake Hardy, shattered by his husband's death, heads to the prairie town of Beautiful searching for answers about a past Eddie never shared. There he and his elderly transgender neighbour get pulled into old murders, buried secrets, and the slow work of healing.
Livingsky
by Anthony Bidulka
2023
Merry Bell flees Vancouver and returns to her Saskatchewan hometown to start over and launch a PI business. Broke, guarded, and carrying secrets, she lands a first case that soon tangles with murder, power, and the past she hoped to escape.
From Sweetgrass Bridge
by Anthony Bidulka
2024
When beloved Saskatchewan quarterback Dustin Thomson disappears, his family hires Merry Bell to find him after the police come up empty. Her search leads from prairie celebrity to deeper community wounds, while her own life in Livingsky keeps fraying at the edges.
Home Fires Burn
by Anthony Bidulka
2025
A prominent philanthropist is found frozen to death by the road, and Merry Bell is hired by his country singer son to look closer. The investigation opens old scars in the community and forces Merry to face painful parts of her own past.
Quant
by Anthony Bidulka
2026
Fifteen years after his last case, Russell Quant returns to his Saskatchewan hometown to help with family troubles and a suspicious death. What looks like suicide begins to smell wrong, pulling him into small-town secrets, greed, and questions of legacy.
Where to start with Anthony Bidulka
If you want his signature Saskatoon PI series: Amuse Bouche → Flight of Aquavit → Tapas on the Ramblas → Stain of the Berry
If you want the newer prairie mysteries first: Livingsky → From Sweetgrass Bridge → Home Fires Burn
If you want a standalone with grief, humour, and hope: Going to Beautiful
If you want the globe-trotting thrillers: When the Saints Go Marching in → The Women of Skawa Island
Anthony Bidulka sub-series and character series
Adam Saint Mystery books in order
Explore this seriesMerry Bell Mystery books in order
Explore this seriesRussell Quant books in order
Explore this series
Amuse Bouche
by Anthony Bidulka
2003Russell Quant, Book 1
Flight of Aquavit
by Anthony Bidulka
2004Russell Quant, Book 2
Tapas on the Ramblas
by Anthony Bidulka
2005Russell Quant, Book 3
Stain of the Berry
by Anthony Bidulka
2006Russell Quant, Book 4
Sundowner Ubuntu
by Anthony Bidulka
2007Russell Quant, Book 5
Aloha Candy Hearts
by Anthony Bidulka
2009Russell Quant, Book 6
Date with a Sheesha
by Anthony Bidulka
2010Russell Quant, Book 7
Dos Equis
by Anthony Bidulka
2012Russell Quant, Book 8
Quant
by Anthony Bidulka
2026Russell Quant, Book 9
Russell Quant books in chronological order

Amuse Bouche
by Anthony Bidulka
2003Russell Quant, Book 1
Flight of Aquavit
by Anthony Bidulka
2004Russell Quant, Book 2
Tapas on the Ramblas
by Anthony Bidulka
2005Russell Quant, Book 3
Stain of the Berry
by Anthony Bidulka
2006Russell Quant, Book 4
Sundowner Ubuntu
by Anthony Bidulka
2007Russell Quant, Book 5
Aloha Candy Hearts
by Anthony Bidulka
2009Russell Quant, Book 6
Date with a Sheesha
by Anthony Bidulka
2010Russell Quant, Book 7
Dos Equis
by Anthony Bidulka
2012Russell Quant, Book 8
Quant
by Anthony Bidulka
2026Russell Quant, Book 9
Standalone Anthony Bidulka books
Author bio
Anthony Bidulka grew up on a farm near Prud'homme, Saskatchewan, and the prairie has never really left his work. He later earned three degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, made Saskatoon his home, and built a career that would turn that part of Canada into one of the most recognizable landscapes in his fiction.
That sense of place is one of his signatures.
Before books became his full-time job, Bidulka spent years in accounting. In 1999 he left a decade-long career as a Chartered Accountant and moved toward writing full time, turning a long-held ambition into a real second act. His debut novel, Amuse Bouche, appeared in 2003 and introduced Russell Quant, a gay private investigator whose cases mix wit, travel, food, danger, and a very prairie point of view.
Readers stuck with Quant for a reason. The series, which includes Flight of Aquavit, Tapas on the Ramblas, Stain of the Berry, and later Dos Equis and Quant, blends traditional mystery plotting with humour, friendship, and an unusually strong sense of Saskatoon as a lived-in city. Flight of Aquavit also made history when it won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men's Mystery, making Bidulka the first Canadian to win in that category.
He likes to stretch.
After the long Quant run, Bidulka tried something different with Adam Saint, a disaster recovery agent who moves through a more international, high-stakes thriller world in When the Saints Go Marching in and The Women of Skawa Island. Then came the standalones. Set Free heads to Morocco for a twisting kidnapping story, while Going to Beautiful turns back toward Saskatchewan with a mystery shaped by grief, love, and the stubborn possibility of joy. That novel later won the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Crime Novel for 2023.
More recently, Bidulka began the Merry Bell books, starting with Livingsky and continuing with From Sweetgrass Bridge and Home Fires Burn. The series follows a transgender private investigator starting over in Saskatchewan, and it shows the same qualities that run through much of his work: underrepresented characters, underused settings, emotional honesty, and plots that keep moving.
Across all these books, Bidulka returns again and again to a few things: people who do not always get the center of the stage in crime fiction, prairie communities that are more layered than outsiders expect, and the push and pull between reinvention and home. Even when his stories travel to Paris, New York, the Middle East, Africa, or Polynesia, there is usually a Saskatchewan heartbeat under the surface.
Off the page, he has stayed closely tied to Saskatoon and to community work. He has served on a range of boards, co-founded Camp fYrefly Saskatchewan with his husband Herb McFaull, and was named Saskatoon Citizen of the Year alongside McFaull. He still lives in Saskatoon, and when he is not writing he is known for travel, art, dogs, and, by his own telling, a serious interest in throwing a good party.
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