In Quant, a grieving son trying to face the realities of his mother’s dementia returns to her home and finds himself pulled into the case of a suspicious death and small-town secrets. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

In many ways, this is a very personal story for me. I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, near a small town very much like the one portrayed in the book. For several decades, a notable change has been occurring in Saskatchewan, particularly in farming communities. The province’s rural population has decreased significantly. Many young people migrate to larger cities seeking adventure and opportunities, and those who wish to stay find it increasingly challenging. Rising input costs and the corporatization of farming threaten to obliterate small family farm operations and their communities. I understand and accept changing times, modernization, and progress. Still, there is a cost, and a loss of a way of life. Nostalgia and blurry, sweet memories create a yearning and mourning within me and a desire to reflect that disappearing world in my work, and perhaps suggest a hopeful future.

The novel treats dementia with both realism and tenderness. How important was it to portray Kay as more than simply a tragic figure?

Like Russell’s mother, Kay, my own mother suffered from dementia in her final years. As anyone who has gone through it knows, it is a cruel disease, not only for the sufferer, but for the caretakers who share in what can be a long, drawn-out period of mounting loss. That being said, as with most things in life, dementia isn’t simply black or white, good or evil, ease or disease. There are spaces in between where resilience, strength, and familiarity exist. If you remain open to them, those moments can bring joy, hope, and comfort. With this book, I hope I’ve communicated some of that.

The novel explores how family secrets evolve over time rather than disappear. What fascinates you about buried histories?

I find history of any kind – whether it’s in a book or home movies – fascinating. They are honest, blemished, imperfect reflections of reality, and very important. I don’t know if history is so much buried as simply obscured by time. Often, all it takes is someone with keen interest and motivation to reveal it. Without that someone, history can become altered or fade away and remain unknown forever. Family secrets are different. You are correct. They don’t disappear, they evolve. Especially the kind that are truly and intentionally buried for one reason or another. These kinds of secrets rarely vanish forever. Sometimes they germinate like a seed, awaiting the right mixture of soil, water, and sun to reveal themselves. Other times (and considerably more interesting for mystery writers like me), they’re like a disease or bit of rot that festers and grows until they can’t remain hidden any longer. It just takes someone like Russell Quant to show everyone what was there all along.

Where will the next Russell Quant Mystery take readers?

I’ve been asked whether QUANT is a return to the series or a one-time reunion. My answer is that it is neither. I’m someone who never says never, but for now there is no immediate plan to have a follow-up 10th book. When I write a series, my goal is that every book in the series adds something to the collection, progresses the story, presents something new and interesting, and moves our characters along on their personal journeys. When I feel that is no longer the case, I end the series. It wasn’t until I came to realize it had been almost 15 years since we’d last visited the world of Russell Quant that I became excited about returning to the series. When we started the series, Russell was a young man in his thirties, struggling to open a PI agency in a small prairie city. Today, he’s a man in his fifties. I loved the idea of finding out who he is today. Where is he in his career, marriage, and relationships? Whereas QUANT is a reunion of Russell and his friends and family, is it a one-time reunion? Who knows? Wouldn’t it be interesting to revisit them in another 15 years, when Russell is a 70-year-old man? That’s the kind of thing I find fascinating. Throw in a good mystery, and hopefully it all makes for a rip-roaring good read.

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