The Narrative with Ajay Chowdhury

Ajay Chowdhury is 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.

The Waiter is the first in his adult crime series about Kamil Rahman, an ex-policeman from Calcutta who has moved to Brick Lane in London. It has been optioned by BBC Studios. Follow up, The Cook, was published in May 2022 to critical acclaim and deals with the issue of homelessness. Ajay is currently writing and cooking up a storm for the next instalment.

Q: Your adult crime series revolves around Kamil Rahman, a disgraced ex-policeman from Calcutta who starts a new life working in a restaurant in London but cannot escape his past. What was your inspiration for the series?

I’d had the core idea for a long time before I finally put pen to paper. The original concept was to (believe it or not!) have him be more of a Miss Marple kind of character, solving crimes in Brick Lane based on what he knew about the psychology of similar characters that he’d met in Calcutta. But as I started writing I realised that just didn’t work and it morphed into Kamil coming to terms with his past. I also love the fact that my wonderful publishers have kindly given me a long series to play with so I can really build a character arc for him and have him grow and develop over time. I adore Phil Kerr’s Bernie Gunther books and would love to see Kamil progress over the decades as Bernie did.

Q: Both ‘The Waiter’ and ‘The Cook’ contain lots of twists and turns. Do you plan everything from the beginning or does the plot evolve as you write?

I’m afraid I am a total planner. I do map out the whole story and then fill in the blanks. Of course it changes as the story progresses but I absolutely have to know where I’m going. I am in awe of so many great writers who just start writing without any idea of their destination and manage to get there, but I find that impossible. However, lately I have been quite influenced by Breaking Bad. I love how the writers there put Walt and Jesse into impossible situations and then figure out a way to get them out. I’m trying that with my latest Kamil Rahman book – let’s see if it works.

Q: Can you tell our listeners anything about the third instalment in the series?

Well, it is called The Detective and yes, Kamil finally joins The Met! I loved writing it because he has to solve a murder in the tech community in the East End and it connected my day job as an entrepreneur to my passion as a writer! And Anjoli becomes obsessed by a hundred year old crime…

Q: Books that are adapted for the screen are always popular on xigxag, especially crime fiction. What are your hopes for the upcoming adaptation of ‘The Waiter’, and who do you think would play Kamil Rahman best?

It has been optioned for TV and I would just love to see it come to life. I’d just like to have a cameo as a diner in the restaurant! I’d have zero influence on the casting but someone like Riz Ahmed would be amazing!

Q: Mikhail Sen has narrated both of your adult fiction titles. What attributes did you look for in a narrator and what do you enjoy most about the audiobook?

I really wanted someone who could get the slightly naïve side of Kamil as well as his somewhat sardonic take on the UK. I think Mikhail as done a wonderful job and it has been great hearing Kamil and Anjoli brought to life!

Q: Can you tell us about a book that changed your life?

In India I grew up with the holy trinity of Agatha Christie, P G Wodehouse and Enid Blyton. I have to say that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd made me go, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!’ While it didn’t change my life per se, it certainly gave me a lifelong love of crime novels which, after lots of twists and turns, lead to Kamil Rahman!

Q: As a tech entrepreneur, writer and a theatre director, you must be incredibly busy. How do you balance it all and make time to write? 

I wake at 5 am most mornings and write till seven! That really works for me as it is without distraction and allows me to focus. And I get to see the most wonderful sunrises as we live on top of a hill and that is also inspirational.

Q: Have you been tempted to write a business book for entrepreneurs? If not, why not?

I’m ashamed to say that most business books bore me. I think most of them are just common sense disguised as deep insights. So, no, I wouldn’t want to inflict that on anybody!

Q: What advice would you give to a startup challenging big tech?

How many times had you heard a song and wondered, ‘That’s a good tune. What is it?’ Solving that problem helped us create Shazam. My advice would be to base everything around the customer. Really understand their pain points and focus on making them better. Do that and you’re onto a winner.

Q: What are you listening to at the moment? 

A wonderful podcast called Empire by Anita Anand and William Dalrymple. Very perceptive, funny and engrossing. It’s telling me so much I didn’t know about the history of the country I grew up in! The episodes about the deadly legacy of the Koh-i-noor diamond in particular are a hoot!