The Man With the Golden Compass – Vaseem Khan

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, and the Q Mysteries, beginning with Quantum of Menace, the first in a murder mystery series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise. His debut, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay, won the CWA Historical Dagger. Vaseem was born in England, but spent a decade working in India. Between 2023-2025, Vaseem served as the Chair of the UK Crime Writers’ Association. In 2025, his first psychological thriller, The Girl in Cell A, was published, set in small town America.