In Anthony Bidulka’s third Russell Quant mystery, Tapas on the Ramblas, the gay former Saskatoon cop turned private investigator gets off the prairie and takes a case that involves a cruise from Barcelona to Rome, before finally reaching a denouement at a villa in the Tuscan hills.

Charity Wiser, an 80-year-old lesbian spitfire who rescued her family’s smoked-meat business from the brink of bankruptcy, hires Quant. Accompanied by her lover Dottie, Charity takes her extended family on a “Charity Event” organized primarily to torment her heirs. Much to the discomfort of her relatives, they embark upon the Dorothy, pride of the Friends of Dorothy, a gay cruise line. The family comprises three generations who have lived high on the hog and are now in need of a cash transfusion to maintain themselves in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Bidulka writes: “Charity Wiser was in love with the dramatic. She was in love with power. She was in love with control. She was in love with making her relatives squirm.” Charity becomes her own worst enemy by announcing to her relatives that when she arrives in Rome she plans to rewrite her will. At a previous event, Charity’s cat Morris died after lapping up a cup of poisoned tea meant for Charity. So Charity plans, with Quant’s help, to use this cruise to flush out her attempted killer.

Bidulka weaves together a campy but briskly paced mystery with the requisite elements of detecting and menace. Many of Quant’s friends from Saskatoon are coincidentally visiting foreign climates and appear just in time to lend a hand when he lands in a spot of trouble.

The best thing about Bidulka’s mysteries is the cast of by now well-developed, endearing characters. Tapas on the Ramblas is a solid follow-up to his Lambda Literary Award-winning Flight of the Aquavit.