When Aishaβs husband vanishes in plain sight, she is pulled into a nightmare to find him in this race-against-time tech thriller…
A thought-provoking and pacy thriller’ Clare Mackintosh
‘A clever, timely and thrilling page turner’ Jo Callaghan
‘Outstanding’ Abir Mukherjee
‘A first-rate thriller’ William Shaw
‘Pulsating’ Vaseem Khan
The Koh-i-Noor diamond is about to the stolen from the Tower of London.
Detective Kamil Rahman has one night to decide what justice means
‘An absolute roller-coaster of a read’ – Liz Nugent
See Ajay’s new play at the Southwark Playhouse in October and November 2026 : Click image for info
Kamil has always wanted to be top cop. With a father who reached the position of Police Commissioner of the Calcutta police, what else could he do, other than hanker after an honourable career chasing the bad guys, just like his dad. However, the odds are stacked against him. He’s a Muslim in the Met, facing overt and covert racism and he needs to be twice as good as his colleagues to make it. All of this he could cope with, if only his personal life was humming along smoothly.
Anjoli is searching, but she doesn’t know what for. A high-minded psychologist who is super smart, always restless and naturally empathetic, she is meticulous and often finds connections Kamil has missed. She would love to get deeper into crime solving – possibly even have a go at it full-time but she can’t shake the feeling that she is an imposter in a game of let’s pretend. Kamil makes her laugh, but she doesn’t know why she can’t make the leap. Why is she so scared of surrendering her heart to him? Does she not feel deserving of love and adoration? Or does she fear a life where she’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop?”
βOutstandingβΒ Sunday Times
βHugely entertainingβΒ Ann Cleeves
βSuperlativeβ¦ Chowdhury is brilliant at incidental detail and unexpected plot twistsβΒ Sunday Times
βChowdhuryβs writing is compelling and compassionate, especially on the themes of displacement, and divided loyalties personal and political.βΒ The Guardian
βAnother fabulous outing in Chowdhuryβs high-octane series.βΒ The Express
βThe Detective has all the ingredients for a great crime seriesβΒ The Sun
β[Kamil is a] likeable inspector . . . We shall hear much more of himβΒ Daily Mail
βAn elegantly constructed thrillerβΒ The Times
βA rip-roaring mystery thatβs engrossing from start to finishβΒ Abir Mukerjee
βChowdhury brings his own expertise in modern tech to the plot, combining it with hot button history, and a biting wit. The series goes from strength to strengthβΒ Vaseem Khan
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Ajay Chowdhury is the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland crime fiction award.Β His childrenβs novel βAyesha and the Firefishβ was published in 2016.
He is the Artistic Director of the Rented Space Theatre Company that he formed in 1987 and has directed over a dozen plays in London including βThe Merchant of Vembleyβ at the Cockpit Theatre and βCymbelineβ at the Etcetera.
On the business front, Ajay has been the founder or CEO of several startups, including Shazam (sold to Apple), Seatwave (sold to Ticketmaster) and LineOne (sold to Tiscali). He has served on the boards of Lionhead, Department of Culture Media and Sport, Arts Council London, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and Historic Royal Palaces amongst others.β¨β¨ He was Managing Director and Senior Partner at BCG Digital Ventures, globally responsible for their βdeep techβ businesses, and is currently Chair of Cambridge Enterprise, Cambridge Universityβs spinout arm and sits on several other boards including Octopus Investments Future Generations venture capital trust, the renowned Cheek by Jowl Theatre Company and Enacte β a San Francisco based South Asian Theatre Company.β¨β¨
He was selected to be part of the Asian Power 100 β the 100 most influential and powerful Asians in the UK and was selected as one of 2016βs Sunday Times top 100 BAME business leaders in the UK.
Rehearsals begin today for Dog Mom... have to admit I'm nervous. This is one of the most exciting times to be a director - I have a few hunches but we'll see where the actors take us as we co-create the production... scary and exhilarating times...
Amazing event here @BloodyScotland with our immense @LiljaWriter guiding the conversation! On the panel are @CarysGAuthor @ajaychow and our fab @doug_johnstone talking about the algorithm did it! π
Oo! Thank you so much Becky and/or @laurasherlock21 for this cracking surprise #ThePatriot by @ajaychow coming from @harvillbooks in November
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/468817/the-patriot-by-chowdhury-ajay/9781787305052
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