Inspiration – Date With a Sheesha
Date With a Sheesha: A Russell Quant Mystery #7
2010 Rainbow Award for Best Gay Mystery/Thriller 2011 American Library Association GLBT Round Table Over The Rainbow Top Mystery McNally Robinson Saskatoon #1 Fiction Bestseller for 2010 ISBN 13: 978-1-897178-90-4 Neil Gupta travelled to the Middle East to buy carpets. Instead, in a dim corner of an exotic spice market, his lifeless body is found wrapped up in one. From the glitzy, flamboyant, mega-high rises of Dubai, to the frankincense fields of Oman and scorching sand dunes of Saudi Arabia, PI Russell Quant is on one heckuva magical carpet ride; one that skids to a deadly halt on the frozen surface of a Saskatchewan pond. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Russell prepares to face the killing heat, choking sand storms, and pungent, dead-black nights of Arabia. Attempting to find out why Neil Gupta was killed, Quant embarks upon a perilous journey that pits him against a deceitful Bedouin sheikh, shifty souk merchants, a snooty museum curator, quirky antique carpet enthusiasts, and an underground club for “fabulous men”. As Russell’s spicy foreign adventure heats up, he learns valuable lessons about love, life, and learning to seize the moment…before it all disappears like smoke from a genie’s lamp. On the verge of solving his sizzling mystery, Russell finds himself making the biggest personal decision of his life, and discovering that sometimes, bitter endings pave the way for new beginnings.
Chapter 1
John G. Diefenbaker Airport “Saskatoon’s John G. Diefenbaker Airport is named for the thirteenth Prime Minister of Canada who grew up in our city.”
Chapter 1
Attending an invitation to death. “I searched the plane and the surrounding area all over again. Big metal tube. Two wings. Sitting on a wide, flat, frigid-looking expanse of runway. All looked standard to me. But there had to be something…something…”
Chapter 3
“The College Building, a national historic site, is one of six buildings surrounding a popular campus green area known as The Bowl.”
Chapter 3
Museum of Antiquities – “I stepped inside and, for a moment, was astonished by what I saw. Immediately before me were full-scale Greek and Roman sculptures, friezes of the Parthenon, and groupings of pottery and weapons and other interesting items…”
Chapter 6
Souleio – “I’d scored a tasty take out sandwich from Souleio Foods, a culinary natural food market and eatery relatively new to the south downtown landscape.”
Chapter 7
Flight to Paris – “But our seats in the new Boeing 777 were worth the wait. Actually, these weren’t so much seats as they were mini, individual apartments.”
Chapter 7
Maple Leaf Club – “The place was an oasis in the middle of the busy Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.”
Chapter 7
Arriving in Dubai – “…about a million cranes at the ready to build more of the same.”
Chapter 7
Russell stays at the Dubai Marina – “…inspired by and designed to look much like your Concord Pacific Place development along False Creek in your Vancouver, British Columbia.”
Chapter 7
Hema Gupta stays at the Madinat Jumeirah Al Qasr Hotel – “…the idea behind the hotel was to recreate life as it used to be for residents along Dubai Creek, complete with waterways, abras, wind towers and its own bustling souq.’
Chapter 8
Meeting Hema for Breakfast – “…a beautiful outdoor spot, with umbrella-shaded tables and oversized, cushioned rattan chairs, and an outstanding view of the famous Burj Al Arab Hotel…”
Chapter 9
Seeing Dubai Creek – “The water was incredibly bright, a vivid turquoise I thought impossible in nature. Dancing across the surface were small whitecaps of white and gold, reflecting off the sheet glass of spectacular high rises…”
Chapter 9
The dhows of Dubai Creek – “The boats seemed to carry everything under the sun; from cartons of Pepsi, to couches and air conditioners, to sacks brimming over with who knows what.”
Chapter 9
Crossing Dubai Creek in an abra – “Before long, I found myself mesmerized by the beauty surrounding me. Turquoise water, azure sky, soft, balmy breeze in my face…”
Chapter 9
New and Old – “…a landscape of ancient world mixed with modern on either shore.”
Chapter 9
English Hallwood introduces Russell to the souqs of Diera – “There are souqs for perfume, gold, electronics. All jolly fun places.”
Chapter 9
Searching for clues in the Spice Souq with English Hallwood – “It’s small, maybe only three hundred or so shops, but terribly atmospheric. It’s lovely. One of the oldest in the city I believe.”
Chapter 9
Dining with Hema – “She’d booked us an outdoor table at Zheng He’s, which promised (and delivered) “new Chinese” cooking – a blend of Western tastes and Far Eastern ambiance.”
Chapter 9
Approaching Burj Al Arab at night – “As we approached, the light of day long gone, I saw that the hump side of the grand hotel was lit up.”
Chapter 9
Being ferried along the causeway to Burj Al Arab, the world’s only seven star hotel – a golf cart “…carried me down the bridge to the massive front entrance hall of the hotel. I felt like Cinderella in her carriage.”
Chapter 9
The Skyview Bar atop the Burj Al Arab, to meet the mysterious Aashiq “…I giddily stepped out onto the cantilever which hangs off the top of the building where…the Sky View Bar resides.”
Chapter 11
Driving to Fujairah – “…mile after mile of strangely desolate sand dune landscape.”
Chapter 11
Preparing to sail out of the Port of Fujairah – “Port of Fujairah, on the Gulf of Oman, is simply unattractive. Dirty. Industrial. Generally yucky.”
Chapter 12
Discovering the Frankincense Tree in Oman – “A small amber tear of resin had popped up where Hema had touched the tree.”
Chapter 12
Waylaid on the highway to Mughsail – “According to Ali our driver, many camels in Oman, and the rest of Arabia for that matter, were free to roam at their will.”
Chapter 12
Walking the Omani coastline – “Mile after mile, soft-sand beaches sat deserted below glittering azure skies, against water so sparkling blue it almost hurt my eyes to look at it for too long.”
Chapter 12
An afternoon with Hema at the blowholes of Mughsail – “We got soaked at the blowholes near the shore that intermittently shoot up plumes of ocean water through vents.”
Chapter 12
View of Salalah on the way to Job’s tomb – “Although I’m not fond of narrow winding roads, the view of the sun coming to rest over the plains outside of Salalah was stunning.”
Chapter 12
On the path to Job’s tomb – “A curving pathway, sloping gently upwards as I went, led past serene and holy looking places.”
Chapter 12
Job’s footprint – “And low and behold, in a square about eighteen inches long and wide and deep, was an imprint of a very large foot. Job’s footprint.”
Chapter 12
Job’s tomb – “In the centre of the room was a tomb, close to the ground. It was covered with some kind of thick material, gold, burgundy and light green woven into the fabric, creating symbolic designs.”
Chapter 12
Incense at the tomb – “At one end, was a small sandbox. Buried in the sand, were several small, colourful, pottery vessels smoking with incense. The odour was intense, but not unpleasant.”
Chapter 13
Staying in Saudi Arabia – “The Jeddah Hilton was a strikingly modern building, with a unique triangular design and views of the Red Sea and an attractive stretch of North Corniche Road.”
Chapter 13
Rendezvous in Souq al-Alawi in Al-Balad (Old Jeddah) – “As the four of us traversed the darkened, aged streets, lined with near-dilapidated buildings towering above crammed market stalls, the wailing call to evening prayer followed our every step.”
Chapter 13
Meeting Shadee at Nassif House – “Nassif House is an ancient mansion, now restored, and used as a museum and cultural centre.”
Chapter 13
Spotting a spy near Nassif House.- “…standing behind a power box, under the partial cover of shade from an overhead awning belonging to a rather modern looking store.”
Chapter 13
Night falling on Old Jeddah – “I glanced about. It was getting darker in the souq. People were scurrying about, completing their tasks before going home or to prayer.”
Chapter 14
Heading into the sand dunes outside Jeddah. – “The relentless ups and downs, ups with curves, and downs with greater curves, came at us without warning.”
Chapter 14
In the desert at night – “I was heartened when, having humped over one last doozy of a sand dune, I saw a muted light in the foreground.”
Chapter 14
Chasing clues at sunset – “I wasn’t convinced that heading out into the Saudi Arabian desert at night to meet a carpet salesman was such a good idea any more.”
Chapter 14
Mounting a camel – “I swore I saw Shadee’s mute father crack a smile as I tried to maneuver my bulk atop the camel. It wasn’t pretty. But finally I made it.”
Chapter 14
Riding into the Bedouin camp – “But something about the purple night, the starry skies above us, the faint shushing noise as breaths of wind kissed the sand dunes, made it seem only right.”
Chapter 14
Arriving at the Bedouin camp – “The men, dressed in variations of the same theme—shirt dresses and head scarves—helped us off our camels.”
Chapter 14
The Bedouin camp – “Inside, the camp was faintly lit by burning torches, their acrid pitch smell cloying the air.”
Chapter 14
Smoking a Sheesha with English and Sereena – “When the man had left, English reached for the sheesha’s mouthpiece and helped himself to a long pull.”
Chapter 16
The pond near Ash House – “It was taken at the property’s own pond, just on the other side of the hill from the residence.”
Chapter 16
Meeting at the frozen-over pond – “I searched the area. Even through sunglasses, the sun was blindingly bright against an immaculately white landscape.”
Chapter 18
Attending the World Carpet Antiquities Symposium – “We were attending the World Carpet Antiquities Symposium’s opening night banquet, being held that evening at TCUP.”
Chapter 18
Facing suspects at TCUP – “The upper hall of TCUP with its spectacular floor to ceiling glass walls facing 22nd Street, was done up as best as a room that size (huge) can be done up.”