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  • Published: 5 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473599307
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download

The Cook




Ex-Kolkata detective Kamil Rahman has new murders to solve in London's Brick Lane. The gripping new novel from the award-winning author of the Sunday Times Book of the Month, THE WAITER.

The gripping new novel from the award-winning author of the Sunday Times Book of the Month, THE WAITER.

Kamil Rahman is a cook in a Brick Lane restaurant. But he used to be a detective back in Kolkata. And somehow trouble still knows how to find him.

When a young woman Kamil knows is murdered the police are convinced her boyfriend is the culprit. Kamil isn't so sure and feels he has no choice but to start his own investigation. Meanwhile, his friend and restaurant manager, Anjoli, is troubled by a rise in the number of homeless deaths in their local area.

The cases seem unrelated and as the duo dig deeper, discovering tentacles that stretch from Lahore to London, they find themselves in grave danger.

Together they take on the indifference of the authorities to the homeless and the casual racism that pervades the investigation of killings of Muslims - all while a supremely intelligent murderer is manipulating events to stay several steps ahead of them.

*AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW*

Praise for The Waiter:

'A hugely entertaining first novel, taking us from Kolkata to Brick Lane' Ann Cleeves

'An outstanding debut' Sunday Times Book of the Month

'A rip-roaring mystery that's engrossing from start to finish... a refreshing and welcome addition to the world of detective fiction. One of my favourite reads of the year' Abir Mukherjee

  • Published: 5 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473599307
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download

About the author

Ajay Chowdhury

Ajay Chowdhury, the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland prize, is a tech entrepreneur and theatre director. His children’s book – Ayesha and the Firefish, was published in 2016 and adapted into a musical which premiered in San Francisco. Eden Falls, his first standalone thriller, was published in July 2026. The Waiter (Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month), was published in 2021, and is the first in his critically-acclaimed crime series about Detective Kamil Rahman, an ex-policeman from Kolkata who has moved to Brick Lane in London. It is being adapted for television by Moonage Pictures. The Patriot is the latest book in the series.

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