When the police decide a young woman's death was suicide, her family ask Russell Quant to investigate.

This was rather darker than the earlier instalments apart from a very odd wish fulfilment fantasy/fairy tale section (I'm really not sure how to describe it - it just doesnt fit the mystery genre) in the middle. ( )

Fourth book in the Russell Quant Mystery series. Creepier and darker than the first three. The main story deals with people from a choir being harassed and ultimately killed by a mystery boogeyman. Russell follows the clues as the killer becomes more and more bold and dangerous. That plot is interesting and Russell shines throughout resolution. It's also creepy, dark and doesn't end all in roses and joy.

The secondary plot wraps up the whole Seerena's disappearance. It's a little boring and predictable with two minor twists one I hope we will see again.

Overall an entertaining addition to the series. ( )

Russell Quant tackles a puzzling case that starts out with the apparent suicide of a fragile girl but on closer examination reveals that even on the idyllic plains of Canada in the midsummer more than waves of golden grain are spreading out and causing people to sit up and take notice and shiver on the warmest of July days. ( )

While not my favorite thus far of the Russell Quant series, I did like the unraveling of the mystery of Sereena Orion Smith, and I was touchingly pleased that Russell got to be with his beloved Uncle Lawrence again, albeit for a brief and secretive visit.

A group of singers, calling themselves the Pink Gophers, are being harassed and frightened by a bogeyman who leaves, as his calling card, one simple word 'BOO' on various mediums, in spots to be found by his increasingly frantic victims. Russell is called to investigate the apparent suicide of one of the women, and his search for clues and answers lead him to uncover more mysterious deaths and attacks on other members of the group who have scattered across Saskatchewan.

There is a disturbing violent rape scene in the book, which, although not graphic, left an uncomfortable pit in my stomach. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without a strong constitution, although I don't think this detracted from the overall tone of the book, which still carries waves of joy, fun, wonder, excitement and love.

And I've learned a new drinking game - Tequila Pigs! ( )

This is by way of being the fourth Russell Quant mystery...and this time set in gay metropolitan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada almost exclusively! W00T!

The most interesting thread from the previous Russell Quant book, "Tapas on the Ramblas", comes in for its full-bore resolution here. Like Russell, I really really wanted to know what was what with Sereena Orion Smith by the end of that book.

Be careful what you wish for. You'd think we'd have all learned that by the time we're (mumble)five. Buuut nooo! Laddies and gentlewomen, chapters 13 and 14 resolve this plot thread.

I cried **buckets**.

And I must inform you that those chapters contain material that is extremely disturbing. It's not graphic and it's not gratuitous, but it's very hard to read. While integral to the plot, it required me to take some breathers. I do not expect others to be quite so sensitive to this (mysteriously talked around) issue, and I certainly don't want to put anyone off reading the book, but forewarned is forearmed.

As with the previous book, the central hired-to-solve mystery wasn't exactly the same high-stakes riveting stuff as the Russell/Sereena plot...until the end, when it most certainly becomes super-high stakes, and deeply deeply scary. Bidulka gives away the identity of the perp of some really stupid-sounding crimes fairly early on, but the "why" remains elusive and is, in the end, pretty damned unnerving when revealed. It's very commonplace, seemingly harmlessly defused, and in fact the catalyst for a series of terrible events. Terrible. Cringe-inducingly awful events. These are graphically presented. They are not in any way gratuitous. They are, I am so sad to say, things that really do happen in the world, and so are in our newspapers, effectively sanitized by their tidily removed-from-life presence in black ink on newsprint.

I will never look at these crimes in quite the same callous way again. My inurement to them is breached. Damn that Bidulka! Couldn't he have chosen to send Russell, who is after all my future husband once we resolve the whole fictional-versus-actual thing, on the Mystery of the Fluffy Bundy Rabbix That Got Losted or something?!

For readers of the series...highly recommended. For newcomers to Saskatoon...start at the beginning, "Amuse Bouche" but be patient, because the rewards get more satisfying the longer you stick with the books. ( )