book-reviews

The Man with the Golden Compass

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Vaseem Khan's Newsletter

The season has turned in the UK and autumn is well and truly here. It’s getting colder… but the sun is still shining!

Publication day for The Man with the Golden Compass is fast approaching (October 22 in the UK; dates for the US and other markets have not yet been set – apologies!), and one of the reasons for posting today is to see if I can encourage you to pre-order the book.

You can find some some order options here

The Man with the Golden Compass is the second in the Q series, with Q from the James Bond franchise playing amateur detective in a small English town.

Dismissed from MI6’s Q Branch, Major Boothroyd (aka ‘Q’) has found a new lease of life in his sleepy hometown of Wickstone-on-Water. Fresh from successfully solving the murder of his childhood friend, Q is now hired by the police to re-examine the unsolved killing of Lawrence Noble, a tech millionaire turned online antique dealer.
Why was Noble tortured before his death? What is the significance of the circular golden object inscribed with mysterious runes found by his body?
As Q investigates, he soon finds himself dragged into a chilling conspiracy where past and present meet in a way he could not possibly have imagined…


As you can see it really is a beautiful hardback!


Pre-orders and first week orders are important!

The most important thing over the next two weeks are hardback sales. (Though I value each and every audio and digital version reader too, so if that’s your preference, go for it!). This is because hardback sales have a genuine knock-on effect. Retailers are more likely to sell a book that has pre-orders and good first week hardback sales as it shows strong interest from readers, supermarkets are more likely to stock the paperback when it comes out … and so on! Every sale really does make a difference.

And with Christmas coming up, it would make a great gift.

You can find some some order options here

Beautiful sprayed edge indie bookshop edition

There are a couple of different independent bookshop hardback editions. Most indie bookshops in the UK have the below edition with a compass on the sprayed edge. Do go in and order from your local indie bookshop – make sure to check that they have this sprayed edge edition before ordering.

Goldsboro Books in London have their own edition, in a beautiful teal colour with a magnificent gold Q on the black board underneath the dust jacket – practically a collector’s item!

You can order from Goldsboro here

Excellent early reviews

How about this for a great early review from a national English newspaper?

And some lovely words from crime writers I admire:

‘A FIVE-STAR BONDVERSE MYSTERY’ ~ JANICE HALLETT

‘COMPELLING, TIMELY AND LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY’ ~ CLARE MACKINTOSH

‘SMART AND STYLISH … WILL DELIGHT BOND AND CHRISTIE FANS ALIKE’ ~ TOM HINDLE

’I ALWAYS WONDER IF A SECOND IN SERIES WILL BE AS GOOD AS BOOK ONE AND I CAN CONFIRM THAT FOR ME THIS ONE WAS EVEN BETTER.’~ LYNDA’S BOOK REVIEWS

And if you haven’t read the first… feel free to catch up by also ordering QUANTUM OF MENACE

After Major Boothroyd (aka Q) is unexpectedly ousted from his role with British Intelligence developing technologies for MI6’s Double O agents, he is adrift, no longer sure of his place in the world. But when he learns that his childhood friend, renowned quantum computer scientist Peter Napier, has died in mysterious circumstances, Q is drawn back to his sleepy hometown of Wickstone-on-Water. Q soon discovers that Napier’s ground-breaking work may have attracted sinister forces . . . but can he decode the truth before danger closes in?

You can order Quantum of Menace here

A pre-order giveaway…

If you do decide to pre-order The Man with the Golden Compass hardback or buy it in the first week, you can enter the following giveaway. The prize for the giveaway is a trio of Agatha Christie inspired books: THE LAST DEATH OF THE YEAR by Sophie Hannah, the latest Poirot novel; THE AGATHA CHRISTIE CURE by Cathy Rentzenbrink, a memoir of hope; and THE OFFICIAL POIROT PUZZLE BOOK. One lucky winner will be selected at random from all the entries. Deadline for entering is midnight on 31 October 2026.

To enter click here and complete your details

Once again, thank you for all your support!

Here I am taking a moment out earlier this summer in the great English countryside. The perfect place to think about books, reading and the importance of literature. Thank you for supporting me in this endeavour.

The world needs books and without readers there can be no books!

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This is crime, mystery and thriller writer Vaseem Khan’s regular newsletter about my books and writing.

A QUANTUM CHRISTMAS!

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It’s not often you have a book endorsed by Mick Herron, Ann Cleeves, Lee Child, Mark Billingham, Janice Hallett and Charlie Higson (among others) before it has even been published, but that is the (very fortunate) situation with my latest novel, Quantum of Menace, which came out in the UK on Oct 23rd. You can find buy links here: https://geni.us/quantumofmenace

The book is the first in a mystery series featuring Q from the Bond franchise. In Quantum of Menace, Q – aka Major Boothroyd – finds himself unceremoniously booted out of MI6. At odds with the future, he decides to return to his hometown to investigate the mysterious death of his childhood friend, Peter Napier, a quantum computer scientist who had been on the verge of a major breakthrough. This homecoming is fraught with tension. We get to meet Q’s estranged father – Mortimer Boothroyd – a surly, retired ancient Roman historian, and his even more estranged childhood fiancé, now the detective in charge of the original investigation into Napier’s death. 

This isn’t a Bond-style spy thriller, but a traditional mystery with the tone somewhere between Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. If you liked those books, you will like this. There’s dry humour, cryptic clues, an insight into Q’s life at – and post – MI6, and, yes, Commander Bond puts in an appearance. How could he not!

The book – written at the invitation of the Ian Fleming estate – is entirely my own creation, albeit using characters that millions will be familiar with. The (fictional) small town setting – Wickstone-on-Water – is the sort of once sleepy place that often appears in cosy crime, but with a distinctly edgy vibe: a few thousand people whose halcyon view of the world is being tested by change. 

I confess I’ve always had a soft spot for Q. He never appeared much in the books – almost everything we know about him comes from the films. But I always believed him to be a serious man, a scientist who takes himself – and his mission – helping safeguard the civilised world – as a sacred trust. That’s the Q I have brought to life. A real man with a complex back story. 

For me, the dilemma was simple: how do I combine what we love about the Bond canon – for instance, the prickly relationship between Bond and Q – with everything a sophisticated cosy audience has come to expect? i.e. wit, quirky personas and an emphasis on the puzzle rather than say rocket launchers fired from the tops of speeding trains?

The result is Quantum of Menace. The book is gathering a life of its own. I do hope you give it a go!

NOTE: The book received star reviews in most of the national newspapers in the UK and has ended up on many end-of-year best crime and thriller lists – it would make a perfect Christmas gift. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

THE GIRL IN CELL A – Out Now!

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I am incredibly excited that my first psychological thriller, The Girl in Cell A, is out today. The book releases in hardback (and e-book or audio) on 1 May 2025 in the UK, with the USA hardback to follow in July (though US e-book and audio are also out on 1 May). It is my first standalone novel, and my first thriller set in America. The story is as follows:

The book is set in the small mining town of Eden Falls, run by the Wyclerc dynasty and its ruthless patriarch Amos Wyclerc. Convicted of murdering Amos’s heir when she was just seventeen, Orianna Negi has always maintained her innocence. But there are holes in her memory, a blind spot over that fateful day. Did she really kill Gideon Wyclerc? And what happened to Gideon’s teenaged daughter, Grace, who vanished that same day, eighteen years ago? Forensic psychologist, Annie Ledet, is tasked with unlocking Orianna’s faulty memory and separating the real woman from the true crime celebrity she has become in the years since the killing. But as their sessions progress, Annie reaches into Orianna’s past to a shattering truth…

It has taken me three years to write this book. I am incredibly passionate about it and very very keen for you to read it. You can find an extract at the bottom of this newsletter. 

I would be immensely grateful if you considered ordering it. It is available from all good bookshops and online. Here are some order links: Waterstones / Foyles / Amazon / Blackwells / Bookshop.org / WHSmith  … and e-book from Apple / Barnes&Noble

Why might you enjoy reading The Girl in Cell A?

If you love a big meaty read with all the claustrophobia of a small town setting and the twists and turns of a psychological thriller then this is one for you. 

Don’t take my word for it. Here’s what some of the top thriller writers in the world are saying about the book:

Masterful. A beautifully written, twisting psychological thriller ~ CHRIS WHITAKER

A triumphantly mind-bending puzzlebox of a book that will have you questioning everything ~ RUTH WARE

A thrillingly written and carefully researched journey into the dark world of forensic psychotherapy, amnesia and murder. Complex, completely convincing characters and twist you’ll never guess. A masterful achievement ~ ALEX MICHAELIDES

Both epic family tale and riveting psychological thriller, The Girl in Cell A is an utterly absorbing story with an ending that will leave you reeling ~ SHARI LAPENA

‘A fabulous thriller where small-town America and the sins of its inhabitants make for a wonderful page-turner’ ~ STEVE CAVANAGH

A superb psychological thriller. What a mammoth task Vaseem has taken on and the fact that he pulls it off is astonishing. A terrific reading experience with a total shocker of an ending ~ LIZ NUGENT

Masterful. So clever I think it melted my brain. This clever, intense, beautifully written mystery about family, loyalty and lies had me frantically turning the pages and suspecting everyone. Impossible to put down ~ C.L. TAYLOR

An utterly captivating, multi-faceted psychological thriller that keeps you turning the pages. A real triumph! ~ B.A. PARIS

A triumph. A gripping thriller, a saga of a family and its terrifying secrets and a tale of redemption to break your heart ~ NICCI FRENCH

Vaseem Khan turns his razor sharp intellect away from the Indian subcontinent to the backroads of rural America, but the results are the same. A thrilling, thought-provoking, suspenseful novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat ~ S.A. COSBY

Epic, ingenious storytelling and a brilliantly realised small town setting where everyone is a suspect. A fantastic thriller ~ TM LOGAN

An epic crime novel with an evocative setting, a cast of characters who feel real and a multitude of twists and turns. If you liked The Silent Patient or All The Colours of the Dark, you’ll love this. ~ MARK EDWARDS

Once again, here are some order links: Waterstones / Foyles / Amazon / Blackwells / Bookshop.org / WHSmith  … and e-book from Apple/ Barnes&Noble

And don’t forget to let others know. If you wish to, do post about the book on social media, and spread the word.

Quantum of Menace: a new series with Q from Bond

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OK. The news is finally out. I am writing a series of mystery novels featuring my reimagining of Q from the James Bond franchise. Exciting and terrifying, in equal measure. First book: QUANTUM OF MENACE, out Oct 2025. You can pre-order the book here.

It’s been a year-long journey to this point, fittingly, in almost complete secrecy. Thank you to Ian Fleming Publications Limited and publisher Kelly Rose Smith at Zaffre Books (an imprint of Bonnier Books) for trusting me with this mission. I’m having a riot writing the first book. This is a Q that will be both familiar and new, a Q that will appeal to fans of the Bond franchise and to wider readers who enjoy crime fiction that challenges the intellect, served up with a dose of dry humour. As a lifelong Bond and Q fan, this is a dream gig. The Ian Fleming estate were very open to me creating the Q that I wished to, a Q that made sense for the series, a fully rounded character with a backstory. And, yes, Bond will be making guest appearances… I confess, it felt surreal writing a scene with James Bond. Could I have imagined that, all those years ago when I wrote my first (unpublished) book aged seventeen? Not in a million years!

The first book is about the death of a quantum computing scientist. If you don’t know what a quantum computer is, you soon will…And you thought AI was terrifying? Q has been forced out of MI6 and returns to his hometown of Wickstone-on-Water where his childhood friend, Pete Napier, is dead. The police think Napier killed himself, but Q isn’t so sure… I would be extremely grateful if you could pre-order a copy. Pre-orders really help to get a new series off the ground by signalling to booksellers that readers are interested. Thank you!