The Guardian's best crime and thriller book of 2022
'Compelling and Compassionate' Sunday Times
'Thrilling . . . a terrific series' The Times
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Kamil Rahman used to be a detective in Kolkata. Now he's a cook in London's East End.
Yet trouble still knows where to find him...
Kamil Rahman thought his crimefighting days were behind him. But when a woman he knows is murdered and the police arrest the most convenient suspect, he hangs up his apron and employs his detective skills once more to find the true killer.
Meanwhile, restaurant manager Anjoli is volunteering with a homeless charity, where she notices a sudden troubling increase in unexplained deaths among people sleeping rough in and around Brick Lane. With the council and police uninterested, she starts an investigation of her own.
Kamil and Anjoli's cases seem unrelated, but as the duo dig deeper, they discover connections that stretch from London to Lahore. Together they take on the indifference of the authorities . . . If the Met won't find the murderers, then they will.
Ajay Chowdhury is the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland crime fiction award. He is a tech entrepreneur and theatre director who was born in India and now lives in London where he builds digital businesses, cooks experimental dishes for his wife and daughters and writes through the night. His children's book, Ayesha and the Firefish, was published in 2016 and adapted into a musical.
The Waiter is the first in his adult crime series about Kamil Rahman, an ex-policeman from Calcutta who has moved to Brick Lane in London. It has been optioned by BBC Studios. Follow up, The Cook, was published in May 2022 to critical acclaim and deals with the issue of homelessness. Ajay is currently writing and cooking up a storm for the next instalment.
Title: The Cook: From the award-winning author of The Waiter (Detective Kamil Rahman, 2)
Author: Chowdhury, Ajay
ISBN: 9781529115390
Binding:
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication Date: 2023-01-19
Number of Pages: 384
Weight: 0.3051 kg
A real surprise... It is not just the descriptions of food that leave you hungry for more -- Mark Sanderson * The Times *
Thrilling... This is a terrific series, a vivid portrait of the East End where a thriving economy is overshadowed by the effects of inequality -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *
Chowdhury's portrait of multicultural London is as effective as his portrayal of the mixed feelings of his characters, who may enjoy aspects of their lives but still long for the pleasures they have left behind -- Natasha Cooper * Literary Review *
Kamil and Anjali are a terrific team. Chowdhury makes the murder mystery feel like a brand-new invention. His second thriller is chockfull of authentic flavours and tasty surprises that will leave readers wanting more. -- Christopher Fowler, author of the Bryant and May Mysteries
Marvellous! A vivid romp through the Londoner's London, seen through the sharp eyes of a recent arrival. The only thing that induced me to put it down was the fact that it made me so hungry... * Alex Marwood *