Big Read 2024 | 23-25 September
The North’s biggest book club returns as the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival hits the road with the Big Read 2024. These free reading group events will be led by author Luca Veste and will be discussing Ajay Chowdhury‘s The Detective.
We’re encouraging as many people as possible to read this fantastic work of fiction.
The Festival’s Reader-In-Residence, crime author Luca Veste, will be touring libraries across the North of England and opening up the discussion via social media.
How does it work?
Simply pick up a copy of Ajay Chowdhury’s The Detective – you can pick up a free copy at your local participating library – and get reading! Then either pop into your local library to register your interest for the event (we recommend doing this to make sure you get a spot) or just show up on the day. Luca Veste will lead the discussion, but we can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
To join an event, visit or get in touch with your local participating library, or just read the book and show up! No pre-booking necessary (but strongly recommended), you can sign up at your local library (details below).
And don’t forget to head to your local participating library to collect your free copy of The Detective.
The Tour:
Please note that the books will be available to be collected from Thursday 5 September.
Acomb Explore Library | Monday 23 September | 11.30am
The Harrogate Inn | Monday 23 September | 2.30pm
Bradford City Library | Monday 23 September | 6.30pm
Formby Library | Tuesday 24 September 2024 | 11.00am
Stockport Central Library | Tuesday 24 September 2024 | 6.00pm
Hexham Library | Wednesday 25 September 2024 | 12.00pm
Billingham Library | Wednesday 25 September 2024 | 3.30pm
Meet our Reader-In-Residence:
Luca Veste is a writer of Italian and Liverpudlian heritage. He is the author of eight novels, including the Murphy & Rossi series, and standalone novels The Bone Keeper and You Never Said Goodbye. He is the co-organiser of the Locked Up Festival, which raised over £25,000 for the Trussell Trust, co-host of the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast, and the bass player in the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. He studied psychology and criminology at the University of Liverpool. He is married with two daughters and lives in Merseyside.
Meet the Author:
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.
The Detective: The Plot
HAS SOMEONE GOT AWAY WITH MURDER?
Kamil has always wanted to be top cop. With a father who reached the position of Police Commissioner of the Calcutta police, what else could he do, other than hanker after an honourable career chasing the bad guys, just like his dad. However, the odds are stacked against him. He’s a Muslim in the Met, facing overt and covert racism and he needs to be twice as good as his colleagues to make it. All of this he could cope with, if only his personal life was humming along smoothly.
Anjoli is searching, but she doesn’t know what for. A high-minded psychologist who is super smart, always restless and naturally empathetic, she is meticulous and often finds connections Kamil has missed. She would love to get deeper into crime solving – possibly even have a go at it full-time but she can’t shake the feeling that she is an imposter in a game of let’s pretend. Kamil makes her laugh, but she doesn’t know why she can’t make the leap. Why is she so scared of surrendering her heart to him? Does she not feel deserving of love and adoration? Or does she fear a life where she’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop?
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