The Man With the Golden Compass – Vaseem Khan
Thursday 8 October 2026
7-8pm
£8
Waterstones Maidstone
Who is Q? Before Bond, there was the ingenious inventor whose gadgets changed espionage forever. Join bestselling crime writer Vaseem Khan in conversation with Adrian Wills for a thrilling evening celebrating his acclaimed Q novels, where real history, unforgettable characters and high-stakes intrigue combine in a dazzling reimagining of the world's most famous spy universe.
The Man With the Golden Compass is the exciting new mystery featuring the former head of MI6's Q Branch, Major Boothroyd, from the James Bond universe.
Fresh from successfully reinvestigating his childhood friend's mysterious death, Q is hired as a civilian contractor by the police in his sleepy hometown to look into the unsolved murder of tech millionaire turned online antique dealer, Laurence Noble. Six months ago, Noble was tortured and killed, a circular object made of gold and inscribed with mysterious runes found in his pocket. As Q investigates, he finds himself dragged into a chilling conspiracy where past and present meet in a way he could not possibly have imagined.
VASEEM KHAN is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. His first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020, and is translated into 17 languages. The second in the series one a Shamus Award in the US. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House won the Crime Writers Association Historical Dagger and was shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Vaseem was born in England, but spent a decade working in India. In 2006, he returned to the UK and joined University College London’s Department of Security and Crime Science, where he has helped manage the Dawes Centre for Future Crime. In 2023, Vaseem was elected the first non-white Chair of the 70-year-old UK Crime Writers Association.