Vaseem Khan

Vaseem Khan is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency books set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay. His aim with these books is to take readers on a journey to the heart of India, showcasing both the colour and darker aspects of this incredible country. The first novel in his historical crime series set in 1950s India, MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE, features India’s first female police detective and won the CWA Historical Dagger 2021. The second is THE DYING DAY, described by M.W.Craven, CWA Gold Dagger winner, as ‘The Da Vinci Code meets post-Independence India.”

His first book THE UNEXPECTED INHERITANCE OF INSPECTOR CHOPRA was a Times Bestseller and an Amazon Best Debut, and was recently named by the Sunday Times as one of the top 40 crime novels published 2015-2020. The second in the series THE PERPLEXING THEFT OF THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN won the 2017 Shamus Award for Best Original Private Investigator Paperback. The third, THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF A BOLLYWOOD STAR focused on India’s movie industry, and the fourth, MURDER AT THE GRAND RAJ PALACE, was described by Publisher’s Weekly as “the best entry in the series to date”. The fifth is called BAD DAY AT THE VULTURE CLUB.

Vaseem was born in London in 1973, studied finance at the London School of Economics, before spending a decade on the subcontinent. He returned to the UK in 2006 and has since worked at University College London for the Department of Security and Crime Science.

For more information about the world of the series please visit vaseemkhan.com where you can also keep abreast of Vaseem’s latest goings-on, competitions, events, and extracts from upcoming books via his newsletter.

CWA Awards

CWA Historical Dagger - Shortlisted

Other Awards

Vaseem was awarded the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Award for Literature in 2018.
The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown won the 2017 Shamus Award in the US for Best Original Private Investigator Paperback.
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was named by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was selected as a Waterstones paperback of the year
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was named as a Bookmuse recommended read (Top 1% reviewer on Goodreads)
The audiobook of The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra narrated by Sartaj Garewal, was declared an Earphones Award Winner in the US.
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra selected as a Grasnet Best Christmas Read