The Shadow

Detective Kamil and restaurant owner Anjoli go to Mumbai to solve the ritualistic killing of a British construction worker found with eighteen arrows embedded in his body. For readers of Robert Galbraith and M. W. Craven.A ritual killing. An ancient curse. What's myth... and what's murder?After a bruising encounter with a terrorist group, Detective Kamil Rahman has decided to hand in his resignation to the Met and set up a detective agency with his friend Anjoli. But when his boss asks him to go to India to investigate the murder of a British engineer who was found with eighteen arrows stuck in his body, Kamil agrees to take the case, as long as Anjoli can accompany him.When they arrive in Mumbai, they find someone is on a gruesome killing spree, striking down those connected to the engineer in increasingly macabre ways. Meanwhile, an old friend of Kamil's gets in touch to beg for his help- he believes his family are cursed, and that he is going to die on his 47th birthday, just like his father and grandfather before him.As the body count rises, Kamil is torn between solving a very real murder case and protecting his friend from a grisly - if far-fetched - fate. Can he catch a killer and prevent an ancient curse before more people lose their lives?

A slick, masterfully plotted, white-knuckle ride of a read, packed with action, intrigue and well-drawn characters that get under your skin, and a clever twist in the tale you won’t see coming. Chowdhury’s beautiful prose and exquisite descriptions will sweep you away to Mumbai’s streets and activate all your senses, while the cleverly crafted, hugely suspenseful plotline full of red herrings, twists and turns will keep you guessing right up to the nail-biting denouement. In short, compulsive reading from start to finish. Not to be missed! -- A.A. Chaudhuri
You don't have to be a genius to follow the superbly intricate narrative of the new novel from Ajay Chowdhury, but he is brilliant to have written it -- Greg Mosse
Revenge is a dish served flaming hot in this twisted tale of betrayal, an inescapable curse, and seemingly impossible murders amongst Mumbai's elite. The Shadow is a gripping new instalment in Ajay Chowdhury's always intriguing Detective Kamil Rahman series -- Paul Waters
Ritual killings, a generational curse … This book is a riot. Chowdhury’s depiction of India is visceral and real, blending old and new. A narrative woven tightly, twisting and turning, it leaves you constantly looking behind and sideways, at what you may have missed. A highly enjoyable and hugely entertaining read. -- Nilesha Chauvet
Inventive in terms of locations and plots ... Poised brilliantly between revelations about Indian business practices and the power of ancient beliefs -- The Times
Inventive in terms of locations and plots… [The Shadow] is poised brilliantly between revelations about Indian business practices and the power of ancient beliefs Sunday Times
Another fabulous outing in Chowdhury's high octane series Daily Express

Ajay Chowdhury was 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, published in 2021, 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. Follow-up The Cook was published in May 2022 to excellent reviews and deals with the issue of homelessness. The third book in the series - The Detective - is about government surveillance and AI. The Spy is the fourth book in the Detective Kamil Rahman series.

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