Vaseem Khan
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Vaseem Khan (born 1973) is a British writer, author of the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency novels – a series of crime novels set in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
–featuring retired Mumbai police Inspector Ashwin Chopra and his sidekick, a baby elephant named Ganesha. Previously Khan won a
Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a sing ...
and the Eastern Eye's Arts Culture & Theatre Awards for Literature.


Biography

Khan was born in the
London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by ...
, studied at the
Coopers' Company and Coborn School The Coopers' Company and Coborn School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Upminster area of the London Borough of Havering, England. Admissions The school is (since 2005) a non-selective school described by ...
in
Upminster Upminster is a suburb of east London, England, in the London Borough of Havering, northeast of Charing Cross. Historically a rural village, it formed an ancient parish in the Chafford hundred of the county of Essex. The economic history of ...
, Havering, did A-Levels at
Newham College of Further Education Newham College is a large general further education college in the London Borough of Newham, England, established in 1985. The college's main site is in East Ham, with a further site in Stratford and six further local neighbourhood learning ce ...
, before studying accounting and finance at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
. Next he spent a decade on the subcontinent working as a management consultant to an Indian hotel group building environmentally-friendly hotels around the country, called ECOTELS. He returned to the U.K. in 2006 and has since worked at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
for the Department of Security and Crime Science. Khan was in India for a decade; the experience led to him writing ''The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra''. Khan was offered a four-book contract by Mullholland Books, an imprint of publishers
Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...
, for the first books in this series, referred to as the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series. In January 2016, ''The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra'' was selected for the
Waterstones Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...
Book Club, and later named a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. It was also named as a ''
Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
'' Pick of the Week (in conjunction with WHSmith), an Amazon Best Debut, and was a top 10 best-seller in The Times Saturday review. In 2021, Khan was awarded the Sapere Books Historical Dagger Award by the
Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...
. In May 2023, Khan was elected the chair of the Crime Writers' Association.


Works

''The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra'' is the first novel in the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series, in which newly-retired Inspector Chopra investigates the suspicious drowning of a poor local boy. At the same time he comes to grips with the surreal situation of being sent a baby elephant by his long-lost uncle. Published in August 2015, it went on to become a Times best-seller. Khan has stated that his objective with this series was to take readers to the heart of modern India to give them an idea of what India "looks like, feels like, sounds like, smells like, even tastes like". The second novel in the series is ''The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown''. The plot of the novel revolves around the theft of the world's most famous diamond–the
Koh-i-Noor The ; ), also spelled Koh-e-Noor, Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing . It is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The diamond originated in the Kollur mine in present ...
which was originally mined in India before being appropriated by the British and handed to Queen Victoria during the Raj. In the novel the Crown Jewels are brought to India for a special exhibition. The Koh-i-Noor is stolen and Chopra and Ganesha are called in to try and recover the great diamond. In the third novel in the series, ''The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star'', Chopra and Ganesha are on the trail of a kidnapped Indian film actor, and in the fourth, ''Murder at the Grand Raj Palace'',, they tackle the murder of an American billionaire at a luxury hotel. The fifth in the series, ''Bad Day at the Vulture Club'' has Chopra investigating the death of a wealthy man from the
Parsee The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, whe ...
community. The Parsees do not bury or cremate the dead. They leave their remains out in stone structures (Towers of Silence) for vultures to consume; the process is called excarnation. Khan said of his decision to include an elephant as Chopra's sidekick, "I thought it would be different and fun to cast an elephant in a crime-fighting role. On a purely practical level elephants possess all the qualities of the best detectives. They're highly intelligent, and have those amazing memories–that's not a myth. They also have a wide range of emotions, which is important to me as a writer because my novel isn't just about the crimes but about the dynamic between Inspector Chopra, this rigid, middle-aged policeman, this baby elephant who he is forced to adopt, and his irrepressible wife, Poppy." In 2020, ''Midnight at Malabar House'' was published, introducing India’s first female police detective, Persis Wadia. The story is set in Bombay, 1950. As India stands on the eve of becoming a republic, Persis is tasked to investigate the murder of senior British diplomat Sir James Herriot. Khan won the Crime Writers Association Historical Crime Dagger award for 2021 for this novel. In 2021, the second novel in the Persis Wadia series, ''Dying Day'', was published. It was also set in Bombay in 1950 and it is about the theft of a copy of the ''
Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...
''.


Bibliography


Novels

;Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series * 2015: ''The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra'' * 2016: ''The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown'' * 2017: ''The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star'' * 2018: ''Murder at the Grand Raj Palace'' * 2019: ''Bad Day at the Vulture Club'' ;Malabar House series * 2020: ''Midnight at Malabar House'' * 2021: ''The Dying Day'' * 2022: ''The Lost Man of Bombay'' * 2023: ''Death of a Lesser God'' * 2024: ''City of Destruction''


Short fiction

;Baby Ganesh Detective Agency novellas * 2018: ''Inspector Chopra & the Million Dollar Motor Car'' * 2019: ''Last Victim of the Monsoon Express''


Critical studies and reviews of Khan's work

*


References


External links


Khan's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Vaseem 1973 births Living people 21st-century British novelists 21st-century English male writers Academics of University College London Alumni of the London School of Economics British Asian writers British mystery writers English male novelists English people of Indian descent English people of Pakistani descent Writers from the London Borough of Newham