What’s brewing at the Asiatic Society?

Vaseem Khan discusses why Asiatic Society graces the jacket of his upcoming crime thriller in which detective Persis Wadia must solve the theft of one of its most valued possessions

Best known for his five-part Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series, UK-based author Vaseem Khan is ready with the second in his three-part historical crime series that follows his protagonist Persis Wadia in her exploits across vintage Bombay. The Dying Day (Hodder & Stoughton) is scheduled for a July release, but the cover design caught our eye because the iconic Asiatic Society of Mumbai for a change, graces the jacket of a fictional read; a departure since it is typically spotted on the covers of academic journals or research papers.

Pic Courtesy/Hodder & Stoughton

“The Dying Day is my second book in the series set in 1950s’ Bombay, following on from the Midnight at Malabar House. The plot of the novel centres around the theft of the 600-year-old rare copy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy that has been stored at the Asiatic Society of Mumbai for almost 200 years. When the Society’s curator, an Englishman, disappears at the same time, with only coded riddles left in his wake — inspired, I admit, by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code — bodies soon begin to pile up,” reveals Khan on why the cover bears the famous city landmark.

Vaseem Khan

This book has been over 15 years in the making. “I lived in Mumbai for a decade and still remember my first visit to the Asiatic Society. I was astonished to discover the treasures housed there — not just Dante’s masterpiece, but a Shakespeare First Folio dated 1623, and A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World by explorer James Cook. The memory of that visit stayed, even when I moved back to the UK, and eventually found its way into the plot of this book,” he adds.

With the cover design, Khan knew that he wanted bold ‘Indian’ colours and a strong visual identity. While working with his editor and marketing team, they decided early on that the Asiatic Society would be the cover’s central image, as its plot begins there. “I also wanted to convey the darker tone of the book — hence the blood red colour we applied to the Asiatic Society façade and the sinister clouds behind. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case, I’m hoping readers will love both the cover and the content,” he signs off.

Releases: July 8
Log on to: www.amazon.in to pre-order

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