Vaseem Khan’s tour of Quantum of Menace locations
The Name’s Khan, Vaseem Khan….
Your mission, should you decide to accept it….is to get a copy of the new Vaseem Khan novel…..about the James Bond Universe!
My latest novel, Quantum of Menace, is the first in a mystery series featuring Q – aka Major Boothroyd – from the James Bond universe. I was asked to write the book by the Ian Fleming estate (Fleming being Bond’s creator). It’s not spy fiction but rather a ‘clever cosy crime’ novel aimed at fans of Richard Osman, Mick Herron and Janice Hallett.
Location map of Quantum of Menace
(c) Vaseem Khan
Location map of Quantum of Menace
In the book, a fifty-year-old Q finds himself kicked out of (modern day) MI6. He returns to his hometown to investigate the mysterious death of his childhood friend, quantum computer scientist Peter Napier. Napier had been on the verge of a major – and possibly very dangerous – breakthrough. Here we get to understand Q’s backstory – filling in the blanks that Fleming’s books left to our imagination. We meet Q’s estranged father – Mortimer Boothroyd, a surly, retired Roman historian. We also meet his even more estranged former fiancé, now the detective in charge of the original investigation into the death Q is re-investigating. This book is for those who love a solid mystery, in the company of a protagonist who transcends the genre. There’s dry humour, cryptic clues, and an insight into Q’s life at – and post – MI6. And, yes, Commander James Bond puts in an appearance. How could he not!
Location map of Quantum of Menace
Coggeshall in Essex
The bulk of the action takes place between two locations: London – where Q has lived and worked for almost three decades – and a fictional town set in the Home Counties called Wickstone-on-Water. Wickstone is a mishmash of various medieval market towns that I’ve pottered around over the years such as Coggeshall in Essex and Ludlow in Shropshire. The sort of places with a small population now beginning to see change due to migration and the impact of county lines criminal operations.
Location map of Quantum of Menace
I describe the town thus:
“Once upon a time Wickstone had constituted a handful of farms and a chapel, a little blister of civilisation surrounded by deep forest. A royal charter had established an open-air market in the centre of town sometime back in the 1200s. A few hundred souls – and as many pigs – soon grew into the sort of market town enterprise England did so well, cosseted in a bubble of gentility, sheltered from the ravages of change by a timeless inertia. All gone now.”
Location map of Quantum of Menace
In London, there are three key locations that appear in the novel. The first is Q’s home in Kennington, just a stone’s throw from the Oval Cricket Ground. I’m a cricket nut, so this was a no brainer. Kennington is an expensive neighbourhood and Q is “lucky to be able to afford [his house] on a government salary, but the previous owner had been murdered by a lover in the upstairs bathroom in particularly grisly fashion, lowering the asking price.”
Location map of Quantum of Menace
The second location is University College London, where Q visits the Quantum Sciences institute and the Centre for Future Crime. Both of these research centres exist – and for the past two decades I have worked at the latter!
Location map of Quantum of Menace
The third location is the headquarters of MI6 (aka the Secret Intelligence Service) in Vauxhall, a majestic building on the Thames that resembles “a neo-Mayan temple”. The building has featured in Bond films, most notably in Skyfall – where it is spectacularly blown up.
The themes in Quantum of Menace will be familiar to many. This is a book about a man who has lost his bearings. A man contemplating a lonely future where he has become superfluous to requirements. It’s also a book about what modern Britain stands for and what fighting the good fight now means. Q has fought that fight for more years than he cares to remember. Now he must call upon his intellect to solve a more local crime. My hope is that people will enjoy both the mystery at the heart of the novel and, at long last, getting to see the man behind the Q myth.
Location map of Quantum of Menace
With advance endorsements from the likes of Mick Herron, Mark Billingham, Ann Cleeves, Lee Child, Janice Hallett and Charlie Higson, I am quietly hopeful that the book will find an audience of modern mystery lovers. The perfect travelling companion for an autumn getaway!
Thank you Vaseem! Or should I say Khan, Mr Khan
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Quantum Menace
Twitter: @VaseemKhanUK
Facebook: @VaseemKhanOfficial/
