Harvill Secker signs two more in Chowdhury’s Detective Kamil Rahman series

Harvill Secker has acquired two more thrillers in Ajay Chowdhury’s Detective Kamil Rahman series.

World all-language rights were acquired by deputy publisher Katie Ellis-Brown, from Laetitia Rutherford at Watson Little. The next book in the series is called The Spy, and will publish in April 2024. The Shadow will publish in spring 2025.

The synopsis to The Spy reads: “Kamil Rahman is working for the Metropolitan Police when he gets the call from MI5. They’ve received intelligence of a terrorist plot, and it’s Kamil they need. Posing as a disaffected cop, Kamil infiltrates the cell and is sent to Kashmir, a place he visited with his parents when he was younger. But his allegiance becomes blurred when he finds himself face to face with an old nemesis…”

The Waiter, published in 2021, is the first in the series following Kamil Rahman, an ex-policeman from Calcutta who has moved to Brick Lane in London. TV rights have been optioned by Moonage Pictures after a “heated” auction. The follow-up, The Cook, was published in May 2022 and deals with the issue of homelessness. The third book in the series — The Detective — is about the omnipresent threat of artificial intelligence and was published in April 2023 and was the Sunday Times’ Crime Book of the Month.

Ellis-Brown said: “Ajay is doing something deliciously different with his Detective Kamil Rahman series. I can’t wait for readers to discover what’s in store for the iconic duo of Kamil and Anjoli in The Spy and The Shadow.”

The synopsis of The Shadow reads: "Reeling from his infiltration of a terrorist gang, Kamil Rahman travels to Mumbai to investigate the murder of a British engineer found dead with 40 arrows in his torso. While there, he learns about a bizarre family curse affecting an old friend, causing the death of his grandfather and father on their 47th birthdays. Kamil enlists his friend Anjoli to help tackle the curse. As the two sleuths investigate, they uncover some terrifying secrets about a malevolent shadow, and inadvertently mark themselves as its next target."

Chowdhury, the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland crime fiction award, commented: "I’m delighted Harvill Secker are as enthusiastic as I am to witness the growth of Kamil and Anjoli as a sleuthing team. It’s very exciting to be taking these characters to Kashmir and Mumbai where I’ll be including more of the sights, sounds and tastes that my readers enjoy – with a few surprises along the way.”