HarperCollins Acquires Ashwin Sanghi’s Brand New Crime Thriller Series

shabnam.srivastava@harpercollins.co.in | 3 March 2023

Ashwin Sanghi takes to crime!

A brand new series of thrillers by India’s master storyteller

featuring the enigmatic ex-cop ‘Kutta’ Kadam, with Book #1 slated for release in January 2024.

HarperCollins India is delighted to announce the acquisition of a 3-book crime thriller series by master storyteller and author of the bestselling Bharat series, Ashwin Sanghi. The series introduces the flawed but brilliant ex-cop Prakash Kadam, or ‘Kutta’ Kadam, as he is known among his fellow policemen and associates, and follows his exploits as he hunts down criminals on Mumbai’s streets.

Talking about the series, Ashwin Sanghi says, ‘My readers know me for my Bharat Series in the Indic space. While new books in the Bharat Series will continue to appear at intervals of every two years as usual, I will now also give my readers a series of books in an entirely new crime thriller series every alternate year, starting 2024. As you know, I had co-written two crime thrillers along with James Patterson in 2014 and 2017. Both these titles became international bestsellers. The new series, titled “Kutta Kadam”, is my first solo outing in the crime thriller genre and I hope that these books and their future web series adaptations will keep my fans engrossed. I am truly delighted that HarperCollins India will be the publishing home for this exciting new series of books.’

Poulomi Chatterjee, Publisher at HarperCollins India, says, ‘We are delighted to announce a new series by Ashwin Sanghi, the author of the much-lauded and hugely popular Bharat series of books. When we got news of Ashwin’s plans for a set of crime novels featuring a certain “Kutta Kadam”, we knew we had yet another winner on our hands. Baffling crimes, twisted minds, cat-and-mouse games, a flawed but spike-sharp investigator, and Ashwin’s deft touch to make each book unputdownable – these thrillers promise it all! Watch this space for more!’

ABOUT THE SERIES

The series begins with a bizarre case of ritually slayed corpses piling up in Mumbai, driving law enforcers to their wits’ end, until it falls upon disgraced former cop, Prakash Kadam, aka ‘Kutta Kadam’, to stop the madness.

Assisting Kadam on these investigations are his daughter, Ketul, and his only friend in the police force, Sharad Rane. Navigating a rocky personal life, and a city rocked by crimes featuring all manner of perversions, ‘Kutta Kadam’ is the perfectly flawed yet precociously sharp investigator whose dogged pursuit of the twisted cases he encounters promises to keep readers hooked till the last page.

The series will kick off with three books – each one focused on a different case and Kadam’s investigation of it. Each book will be accompanied by a new season of a web series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ashwin Sanghi is among India’s highest-selling English fiction authors. He has written several bestsellers in the Bharat Series (The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key, The Sialkot Saga, Keepers of the Kalachakra, The Vault of Vishnu, and The Magicians of Mazda) and two New York Times bestselling crime thrillers with James Patterson, Private India (sold in the US as City on Fire) and Private Delhi (sold in the US as Count to Ten). He has also co-authored several non-fiction titles in the 13 Steps Series on Luck, Wealth, Marks, Health and Parenting. Ashwin has been included by Forbes India in their Celebrity 100 and by The New Indian Express in their Culture Power List. He is a winner of the Crossword Popular Choice Award 2012, Atta Galatta Popular Choice Award 2018, WBR Iconic Achievers Award 2018, the Lit-O-Fest Literature Legend Award 2018 and the Kalinga Popular Choice Award 2021.

He was educated at Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and St Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He holds a Master’s degree from Yale University.

For more information, please contact: Shabnam.srivastava@harpercollins.co.in