Stain of the Berry Paperback - 2012

Everyone has their Boogeyman. But who-or what-is scaring Saskatoon locals to death? Private detective Russell Quant is roused from sleep by a midnight call for help only to fall into a nightmare when a dead woman's family hires him to find her killer. But what is true and what is imaginary? Quant works to narrow his list of suspects but the number of victims keeps growing. He is mystified as the trail of fear connects him to a vast landscape of people, including an elegant potash miner, dubious trailer park denizens, reticent farm folk, the Pink Gopher choir, and a gaseous psychiatrist. Compounding Quant's bewilderment is the complete and perfect disappearance of his once very real friend, Sereena, who has become a ghost he simply can't find. With the Boogeyman always a few paces ahead, Quant struggles to keep the hounds of failure from baying. Travelling from Saskatchewan's summer storms to Vancouver's bright lights, he finally touches down in the Canadian Arctic, where tragic hope resides. Back home, a desperate chase through midnight woods leads to a sadistic abduction. As Quant penetrates the truth of the Boogeyman, he finds himself on a perilous suspension bridge between idyllic childhood and grown-up violence.