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The Adam Saint Suspense Novels #1
When the Saints Go Marching In: An Adam Saint Novel
Your best friend is killed. Your wife is leaving you. Your son hates you. Then comes the bad news. A Sukhoi Superjet carrying a Very Important Person, plunges from the sky over subarctic Russia. A Canadian Disaster Recovery Agent inspecting the crash site is murdered. CDRA sends in their best to investigate. Man-of-the-world adventurer, Adam Saint, lives a fast-paced, often dangerous, always exciting life. When a passenger train crashes in Detroit, terrorists blow up a public building in Belfast, a cyclone ravages Bangladesh, or Angola descends into civil war, if Canadians are there, so is the CDRA. And so is Adam Saint. Saint’s Russian investigation is derailed when he receives devastating personal news. Suddenly, the ultimate man of action is thrown into emotional and physical turmoil that tests his moral fortitude to the limit. Thrust into a fight for his life, Saint embarks on a thrilling journey of danger and deceit from the bucolic prairies of Saskatchewan and high rise hotspots of corporate Toronto, through London’s outer boroughs, to steamy Southeast Asia and Sin City itself, Las Vegas. Failure is not an option. Until it is.
400 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2013
1 person is currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Bidulka
32 books246 followersAnthony Bidulka is the author of the long-running Russell Quant mystery series, two thrillers featuring Disaster Recovery Agent Adam Saint, a stand-alone suspense novel, Set Free, and a stand alone mystery novel, Going to Beautiful (2023 Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novel) and the Merry Bell trilogy mystery series. The third and final book in the Merry Bell trilogy, Home Fires Burn, will be released June 2025.
Praise for Anthony Bidulka's books:
“…promises to become one of those that we look forward to each year and put on our shopping lists without waiting for the reviews.”
Reviewing the Evidence:
...Anthony Bidulka has created a whole new genre: Saskatchewan Gothic, which will both chill and warm your heart. Simply wonderful!
Alan Bradley, author of the Flavia de Luce series including The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Going to Beautiful...is a testament not only to Bidulka’s skill in plotting and other novelistic stratagems, but even more to the unique setting and the wonderfully textured characters...
Felice Picano, author of Like People in History and Pursued: Lillian's Story, companion to Pursuit: A Victorian Entertainment
...poignant, often funny, always wise…the quiet joy and hopefulness of this novel are gifts readers will value for years to come.
Gail Bowen, author of the Joanne Kilbourn Shreve mystery series including An Image in the Lake
Anthony Bidulka has pulled off a literary coup in Going to Beautiful. Deftly balancing humour and heart...Bidulka hits it out of the park.
Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
Anthony Bidulka has dedicated his career to writing traditional genre novels in an untraditional way, developing a body of work that often features his Saskatchewan roots and underrepresented, diverse main characters. He tells serious stories in accessible, entertaining, often humorous ways.
Bidulka’s novel Going to Beautiful is the 2023 winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novel. His books have been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence (three times), the Lambda Literary Award (three times), the Saskatchewan Book Award (five times). Flight of Aquavit was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery, making Bidulka the first Canadian to win in that category. Going to Beautiful, about a gay man rising from the depths of despair in search of joy on the Saskatchewan prairie, also won the Independent Publisher Book Award as the Canada West Best Fiction Gold Medalist.
In his free time Bidulka loves to travel the world, collect art, walk his dogs, obsess over decorating Christmas trees (it’s a thing) and throw a good party.
Anthony's Books:
The Merry Bell trilogy:
Livingsky (2023)
From Sweetgrass Bridge (2024)
Homefires Burn (2025)
Going to Beautiful (2022)
Set Free (2016)
The Adam Saint books:
When The Saints Go Marching In (2013)
The Women of Skawa Island (2014)
The Russell Quant books:
Amuse Bouche (2003)
Flight of Aquavit (2004)
Tapas on the Ramblas (2005)
Stain of the Berry (2006)
Sundowner Ubuntu (2007)
Aloha, Candy Hearts (2009)
Date With a Sheesha (2010)
Dos Equis (2012).
Praise for Anthony Bidulka's books:
“…promises to become one of those that we look forward to each year and put on our shopping lists without waiting for the reviews.”
Reviewing the Evidence:
...Anthony Bidulka has created a whole new genre: Saskatchewan Gothic, which will both chill and warm your heart. Simply wonderful!
Alan Bradley, author of the Flavia de Luce series including The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Going to Beautiful...is a testament not only to Bidulka’s skill in plotting and other novelistic stratagems, but even more to the unique setting and the wonderfully textured characters...
Felice Picano, author of Like People in History and Pursued: Lillian's Story, companion to Pursuit: A Victorian Entertainment
...poignant, often funny, always wise…the quiet joy and hopefulness of this novel are gifts readers will value for years to come.
Gail Bowen, author of the Joanne Kilbourn Shreve mystery series including An Image in the Lake
Anthony Bidulka has pulled off a literary coup in Going to Beautiful. Deftly balancing humour and heart...Bidulka hits it out of the park.
Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
Anthony Bidulka has dedicated his career to writing traditional genre novels in an untraditional way, developing a body of work that often features his Saskatchewan roots and underrepresented, diverse main characters. He tells serious stories in accessible, entertaining, often humorous ways.
Bidulka’s novel Going to Beautiful is the 2023 winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novel. His books have been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence (three times), the Lambda Literary Award (three times), the Saskatchewan Book Award (five times). Flight of Aquavit was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery, making Bidulka the first Canadian to win in that category. Going to Beautiful, about a gay man rising from the depths of despair in search of joy on the Saskatchewan prairie, also won the Independent Publisher Book Award as the Canada West Best Fiction Gold Medalist.
In his free time Bidulka loves to travel the world, collect art, walk his dogs, obsess over decorating Christmas trees (it’s a thing) and throw a good party.
Anthony's Books:
The Merry Bell trilogy:
Livingsky (2023)
From Sweetgrass Bridge (2024)
Homefires Burn (2025)
Going to Beautiful (2022)
Set Free (2016)
The Adam Saint books:
When The Saints Go Marching In (2013)
The Women of Skawa Island (2014)
The Russell Quant books:
Amuse Bouche (2003)
Flight of Aquavit (2004)
Tapas on the Ramblas (2005)
Stain of the Berry (2006)
Sundowner Ubuntu (2007)
Aloha, Candy Hearts (2009)
Date With a Sheesha (2010)
Dos Equis (2012).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 4, 2013
Once again Mr. Bidulka comes through with a winner. This new book (series?) starts out a little darker than the Quant books, but does have all the nail biting action and the twists and turns I expected. My only hope (or is it a dream or is it lust) would be to have Adam Saint become partners with Russell Quant. Of course i would then want Saint to have an epiphany, come out of the closet and then he and Quant can have steamy, sweaty, monkey Sex on top of the......... Oops, I think am getting carried away here. Sorry.
The book was great and i look forward to anything Mr. Bidulka chooses to write.
Tim
The book was great and i look forward to anything Mr. Bidulka chooses to write.
Tim
July 10, 2013
This is the first in a new series by award-wining author Anthony Bidulka, who made his name in mystery by writing about a gay detective living a big life in a small Canadian city. Adam Saint’s first outing has an explosive opening: a Russian plane crashes, killing the Canadian governor-general. The action jumps back to Canada, where a young mother is on the run with her son, running low on cash and hope. Weaving these two stories together is Adam Saint, a field investigator for a mysterious Canadian agency with international tentacles. The plane crash investigation flips from routine to deadly in the blink of his jet-lagged eye.
From then on Adam stretches all his skills and stamina to stay ahead of pursuit that ranges from the heights of Asian luxury hotels to the bare Saskatchewan prairie. Can he discover who betrayed whom, and why, before time runs out for himself and for the innocents he has staked his life on protecting?
When the Saints Go Marching In is a high-stakes international thriller with down-on-the-farm community spirit.
From then on Adam stretches all his skills and stamina to stay ahead of pursuit that ranges from the heights of Asian luxury hotels to the bare Saskatchewan prairie. Can he discover who betrayed whom, and why, before time runs out for himself and for the innocents he has staked his life on protecting?
When the Saints Go Marching In is a high-stakes international thriller with down-on-the-farm community spirit.
June 1, 2013
Bidulka has definitely amped the tension and action for this new series. I hope the whole Saints clan will be involved for the next book; they are an interesting bunch!
November 7, 2013
Loved it, loved the new cast of characters, can't wait for the 2nd book!
July 17, 2025
This is the last of the only 2 titles I could source at the library from this series, which is due to be re-released in May 2026, so I may have more luck then.
The story was good, in keeping with the times certainly.
Shady government characters from a virtually unknown government agency are keeping the cure for cancer under wraps for some mysterious reason.
Of course, many others are interested in owning this for themselves - governments, criminal organisations and one of the employees of said shady agency who has discovered that he has cancer.
I had a couple problems with the book. It could use a good edit as it's just too long and gets confusing. And the fact that, though the information on my library page said it was in e-pub form, it turned out to actually be pdf which is darned hard to read on my e-reader. Took me two weeks to read a book that should have taken 2 or 3 days.
I'll be interested to see the rest of the series - and hopefully his standalones too as only Beautiful seems to be available at the library and I loved that one.
The story was good, in keeping with the times certainly.
Shady government characters from a virtually unknown government agency are keeping the cure for cancer under wraps for some mysterious reason.
Of course, many others are interested in owning this for themselves - governments, criminal organisations and one of the employees of said shady agency who has discovered that he has cancer.
I had a couple problems with the book. It could use a good edit as it's just too long and gets confusing. And the fact that, though the information on my library page said it was in e-pub form, it turned out to actually be pdf which is darned hard to read on my e-reader. Took me two weeks to read a book that should have taken 2 or 3 days.
I'll be interested to see the rest of the series - and hopefully his standalones too as only Beautiful seems to be available at the library and I loved that one.
September 2, 2024
The one thing that left me a bit befuddled when reading this book was the initial structure/un linked characters/seemingly vague timelines. OK, maybe that's three things
But really, if you can stick with it, this is possibly the most complex novel Anthony Bidulka has written, and thus the most intreaguing. It has an interesting storyline, interesting characters and a satisfying ending. I haven't checked yet but hopefully there's a few more books with the same protagonist.
But really, if you can stick with it, this is possibly the most complex novel Anthony Bidulka has written, and thus the most intreaguing. It has an interesting storyline, interesting characters and a satisfying ending. I haven't checked yet but hopefully there's a few more books with the same protagonist.
May 30, 2017
This was really not very good, but I enjoyed it anyway.
Sweeping plot exposition, everyone being part of a different but equally implausible secret organization....
Bidulka's straight persona (as opposed to Russell Quant) is not exactly nuanced in his perception of women -- and why is it an insult to describe a woman as having hair like Margaret Atwood?
Sweeping plot exposition, everyone being part of a different but equally implausible secret organization....
Bidulka's straight persona (as opposed to Russell Quant) is not exactly nuanced in his perception of women -- and why is it an insult to describe a woman as having hair like Margaret Atwood?
Read
August 9, 2023I think this was among the first of Anthony Bidulka's books I read, having started with his Russell Quant series. I enjoyed reading all the books in this series, and all the books in his Russell Quant series. I see there are a few more recent books, mostly stand-alones, which I have missed, although some sound like they are based on some characters that appeared in one of the series.
May 17, 2019
Not as good as the Russell Quant series. Sorry.
December 7, 2024
enjoyed the 2 books in this series as they were released. Wonder if he'll continue on with the series given he's released a 3rd series. the good thing is, he is still writing, yay!
July 8, 2013
I really enjoyed the Russell Quant series from Anthony Bidulka so I was looking forward to starting the new series.
The pace of the book is totally different from the last series and this is something that I did not particularly enjoy. I felt at times that there was too much action and not enough story. There were parts of the said story that I found totally implausible and so I couldn't really accept what was happening. The book certainly started out well and I wanted to know why the plane went down and why the assassination occurred but, as the book progressed, I started to lose interest. I like my thrillers to be realistic and thrilling but this book did not do this for me.
I am wondering too how long before the next book appears and how quickly in that book before the main character finds out the true status of his medical condition. This part of the story certainly can't be dragged out. You will have to read the story to understand what I mean by this.
That all being said, I will definitely be reading the next book and I am hoping that a bit of familiarity will make it that much better.
I certainly enjoyed the characters in 'When the Saints go marching in' and I hope that they will all reappear. Family dynamics will certainly make the book that much more appealing.
Definitely not the best book available right now but I think worth checking out.
The pace of the book is totally different from the last series and this is something that I did not particularly enjoy. I felt at times that there was too much action and not enough story. There were parts of the said story that I found totally implausible and so I couldn't really accept what was happening. The book certainly started out well and I wanted to know why the plane went down and why the assassination occurred but, as the book progressed, I started to lose interest. I like my thrillers to be realistic and thrilling but this book did not do this for me.
I am wondering too how long before the next book appears and how quickly in that book before the main character finds out the true status of his medical condition. This part of the story certainly can't be dragged out. You will have to read the story to understand what I mean by this.
That all being said, I will definitely be reading the next book and I am hoping that a bit of familiarity will make it that much better.
I certainly enjoyed the characters in 'When the Saints go marching in' and I hope that they will all reappear. Family dynamics will certainly make the book that much more appealing.
Definitely not the best book available right now but I think worth checking out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2013
This is a well constructed spy thriller. It has all the right elements - intrigue, mystery, international chases, brawls, shoot-outs, unscrupulous villains and all the other good stuff. It also has great characters and character development. Personally, having the brand names of e expensive items didn't really add much to the story but I understand the reasoning behind it. All in all this was a great read and a fun thriller. It is definitely different from the Russell Quant series but Bidulka's voice is clear so I still felt like I was listening to an old friend tell me his story. If you like the genre you'll enjoy this book. If you liked Bidulka's last series you'll enjoy this, too.
December 15, 2014
I read this for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives to assess the book's gay content and it see if it should be added to our permanent collection. There is very little content, about a page in total with two incidental characters. Most of the book is espionage/spy stuff which didn't really interest me. Lots of guns and car chases, not my thing. The main character was likable enough.
The plot is outlandish, like invisible car from James Bond over-the-top and unbelievable. The story moved quickly enough.
The plot is outlandish, like invisible car from James Bond over-the-top and unbelievable. The story moved quickly enough.
December 17, 2017
He started a new series with this book. Adam Saint is a Disaster Recovery specialist for the Canadian government. It's very different from the Russell Quant series. Somewhat bleaker and told in a different way. I did guess the McGuffin pretty quickly but I didn't figure out the bad guy until I was well into the book. I liked the settings. All in all, nicely done. I'll definitely get the next one when it comes out.
March 4, 2014
I liked the Russel Quandt books and was looking forward to this new series. And I have to say that I am quite disappointed.
This was a really confusing story with the varying POVs (Adam Saint is telling the story in 1st person, but in between we have other POV in 3rd omniscent person). Also, the story-line is confusing and at the end there were still things I did not get.
And why it ended in the glbt section beats me. Adam is straight as an arrow.
This was a really confusing story with the varying POVs (Adam Saint is telling the story in 1st person, but in between we have other POV in 3rd omniscent person). Also, the story-line is confusing and at the end there were still things I did not get.
And why it ended in the glbt section beats me. Adam is straight as an arrow.
April 4, 2014
I am a big fan of the Russell Quant books, but this disappointed me. It has a darker tone, but mostly it seems disjointed, with its moving from first to third person unexpectedly. One of the main plot points is totally unbelievable and the ending is somewhat nebulous. I would probably give the next book, if there is one, another chance, but based on this, I think Bidulka should stick with Quant.
July 28, 2013
Quite a departure, in many ways, from Bidulka's other books. This is a straight-up thriller, with all the requisite violence, twisty plot and inventiveness that you'd expect from a modern thriller. What makes this one different is the characters and relationships. I can't say more without giving away plot details. I quite enjoyed it.
July 29, 2013
This is only my second novel by Bidulka, the first being Amuse Bouche, the first Russell Quant mystery. The author has improved quite a lot technically between the two, but this latest is less interesting. It's a fairly standard wham bam implausible international conspiracy. I may read more of the Russell Quant series, but I think I've read enough of Adam Smith.
July 19, 2015
I love Anthony Bidulka's books in general but did not expect to enjoy this one at all. Not only did I enjoy it, I loved it. The characters were great, interesting, engaging and enjoyable. I did have some trouble with the sequence in which events were relayed sometimes, but in the end I found it to be a very satisfactory read.
June 16, 2013
The plot was way too implausible even for a thriller. The writing was sub-par. I had no interest in anything that was happening with the characters and ended up skipping half the book. I would not suggest it to anyone.
January 2, 2018
Easy read, quickly down, fun, but in the end easily forgotten. Great summer read. Here and there, a touch of heart that makes you go ah.
Bidulka can be a heartbreaker, as well as an experienced and enjoyable writer. Read him.
Bidulka can be a heartbreaker, as well as an experienced and enjoyable writer. Read him.
October 12, 2014
It seems difficult for me to get past Russell Quant and learn to appreciate Adam Saint. The book sure had the action and intrigue Bidulka-style. Hopefully there will be more coming down the pipe soon *hint hint*
October 21, 2014
The first book in Bidulka's second series starring a grittier darker version of Russell Quant. This book is obviously fleshing out the characters for future mysteries starring all the interesting people in Adam's life.
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July 23, 2015
I enjoyed this introduction of the new character, Adam Saint. The plot jumped back and forth amongst many different scenarios that I found a bit confusing at first. Bidulka pulled them all together eventually and managed to leave me anxiously waiting to read the second book in the series.
July 1, 2013
A good story is hidden among 100 extra pages of filler.
October 6, 2013
good story
December 26, 2013
I really liked this author on the panels at the mystery writers convention in Indianapolis. The book was clever, but just not my style.
February 1, 2014
Not sure if I am going to be that interested in the new character.
March 29, 2014
Great mystery. Will read more of Anthony Bidulka's books.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews