Job: - Author and Strategic Alliance Director at University College London
Website: - https://vaseemkhan.com
X:- @VaseemKhanUK
Instagram: - @Vaseemkhanwriter
Facebook:- - @VaseemKhanOfficial
Introduction
Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India, and the Q Mysteries, beginning with Quantum of Menace, the first in a murder mystery series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise. In 2026 it was shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.
His debut, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020, and is translated into 17 languages. In 2017 The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown won the Shamus Award for the Best Original Private Investigator Paperback. Vaseem Khan was awarded the 2018 Eastern Eye ACTA (Arts, Culture, Theatre Award) for Literature.
In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay, and introducing India’s first female police detective, won the CWA Historical Dagger. The fifth novel in the series City of Destruction won the Fingerprint Award.
Vaseem is a former Chair of the Crime Writers Association and also co-hosts the popular crime fiction podcast, Murder Junction. When he’s not writing, he works at University College London’s Dept of Security and Crime Science
Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing or both)
I’m currently putting the final proof edits to The Man with the Golden Compass, the second in the Q mysteries, featuring Q from the Bond franchise, out in October 2026. Fresh from successfully reinvestigating his childhood friend's mysterious death, Q is hired as a civilian contractor by the police in his sleepy hometown to look into the unsolved murder of tech millionaire turned online antique dealer, Lawrence Noble. Noble was tortured and killed, a circular object made of gold and inscribed with mysterious runes found in his pocket… And, yes, Commander James Bond gets to make an appearance in the novel. These books are essentially Q playing amateur detective in a small English town. The first, Quantum of Menace, was shortlisted for two major awards.
Why do you think anti-heroes are so interesting to readers
No one likes a smarmy nice guy, always following the rules and being a goody two-shoes. I’d rather have some maverick who doesn’t mind punching some old lady in the face if that’s what it takes to get the job done. Anti-heroes have a magical quality of cool about them; they’re magnetic and unpredictable, which means you never know what to expect. Isn’t that what we want from fiction?
Which two anti-heroes or enemies would you invite to dinner and why?
I’d love to have Sauron from The Lord of the Rings over – I always thought he was misunderstood and just needed an arm around the shoulder and a friendly ear – if Gandalf had been more sympathetic there would have been no war for Middle Earth. And I’d also have Lady Macbeth over. Everyone’s always ‘oh, but it was Lady M’s fault’. As far as I’m concerned Macbeth was a grown-ass man who could have said no. Mrs Macbeth was just ambitious. Nothing wrong with that.
How do you relax?
Relax??? What’s that? I think I last relaxed in 1987 when I ran my bicycle into a lamppost and banged my head and was knocked out for a while… I play a lot of cricket which is supposed to be relaxing, but when some snotty sixteen-year-old is bowling very fast with a very hard cricket ball at your head it doesn’t seem that chilled out.
Which anti hero would you like to be on your side in a difficult situation.
Dirty Harry as played by Clint Eastwood. I mean who’s going to mess with a man holding a gun bigger than most rocket launchers?
If you were to write a book involving an anti-hero where would you set it and why?
I already did! The Malabar House novels are set in 1950s India, just after Indian independence, and feature India’s first and only female police detective, Inspector Persis Wadia, working with English criminalist, Archie Blackfinch. Persis doesn’t mind breaking the rules – because it’s the only way to prove that she’s as good as any man on the force. In the latest, The Edge of Darkness, she is banished from Bombay to the northeastern jungles of India, a place called the Naga Hills, where headhunting tribals continue to operate. When she discovers the headless corpse of the local governor inside a locked room at the Hotel Victoria, she is tasked to investigate before the region explodes in all out political war… These books are for those who enjoy award-winning historical mysteries.
How would you describe your latest published book?
The Girl in Cell A came out in paperback recently with a beautiful new cover. This is my first psychological thriller, set in small town America. Orianna is sent to prison aged 17 for the murder of the heir to the wealthy Wyclerc mining dynasty. She claims she cannot remember what happened. The book is told by two narrators: Orianna’s therapist in prison, trying to open the black box of her memories, and Orianna herself, eighteen years later, having served her prison term, returning to her forested home town to investigate. It’s a murder mystery, a big family saga, with unreliable narrators, small town secrets, and lots of shocking twists and turns. Check it out!
With Bad Apples: crime fiction’s enemies and anti-heroes theme at St Hilda's this year, who are you three favourite anti-heroes:
Lisbeth Salander – I love The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I really wouldn’t want Lisbeth as an enemy. Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon - I wish I could be as effortlessly cool as Humphrey Bogart in the film. Dr Hannibal Lecter - OK, so I know he occasionally murders people and eats their livers BUT… he’s witty, urbane and intelligent and only kills people who are rude, which I think is fair.
Which 3 films or television series featuring anti-heroes would you rewatch and why.
The Silence of the Lambs
A Fistful of Dollars
The Godfather
What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?
The enormous lunches at the big knob table or whatever it’s called. Oh, and attending some really great sessions at the festival, of course!
The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan (Hodder and Stoughton)
The world knows her as the girl in cell A. Convicted of murder at seventeen, infamous killer and true crime celebrity orianna negi has always maintained her innocence. But if she didn't kill Gideon Wyclerc... Orianna has a blind spot over that fateful day: she can't remember what happened. Forensic psychologist Annie Ledet is tasked with unlocking the truth. ....Then who did? Orianna grew up in eden falls, ruled by the insular Wyclerc dynasty and its ruthless patriarch , Amos. As their sessions progress, Annie reaches into Orianna's past to a shattering realisation. ... Scandal. Sex. Power. Race. And murder. Between guilt and innocence lies a fallen eden.
Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. The programme can be found here.
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