NEWS

Posted on 23 October, 2025

Quantum of Menace, the brand-new cosy mystery set in the world of James Bond, is released. Selected as Thriller of the Month by The Sunday Times, Vaseem Khan’s book is the first in a new series focusing on Q as he lives his life post MI6.

After being unexpectedly ousted from his role at the heart of the secret service, Q finds himself back in his sleepy hometown of Wickstone-on-Water. His childhood friend, renowned quantum computer scientist Peter Napier, has died in mysterious circumstances, leaving behind a cryptic note. The police seem uninterested, but Q feels compelled to investigate and soon discovers that Napier’s ground-breaking work may have attracted sinister forces. Can he decode the truth behind Napier’s death, even as danger closes in?

‘It’s not a spy novel. It sits somewhere between Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. [I’m] taking a character that we think we know, and completely reinventing him. He hardly appeared in the [Fleming] books at all… we know very little about him. I wanted a real flesh-and-blood character and I didn’t want a caricature, a bumbling boffin tripping over his own laces. My Q is a scientist, who takes himself very seriously, and he generally knows that he’s the smartest person in the room. That being said, I also wanted him to be a fish out of water – he’s a man who, in spite of all this success and things that he’s done in his life, is now at sea. He’s at loggerheads with the establishment, who don’t want him around, and he’s now having to decipher what the next phase of his life will involve.’

The plotline draws on Khan’s knowledge of emerging technologies. As well as writing books, he’s Business Development Director at the University College London Security & Crime Science Department, where he helps manage the Dawes Centre for Future Crime.

Vaseem is discussing his book, the 007 universe and Q’s new era at events across the UK – find out more here. An audiobook of Quantum of Menace, performed by Alexander Armstrong, is currently in the works and Vaseem’s follow up, The Man with the Golden Compass is set for a 2026 release.

If you’ve purchased Quantum of Menace, you will have discovered a cryptic riddle competition at the beginning of the book. Enter by 31st March 2026 here for the chance to win one of three Bond and Q prizes, picked at random. Be first to hear about new Q Mysteries releases, competitions, extracts, events and more by becoming a Fleming Insider or joining Vaseem’s email community.