Vicky Newham Books In Order

Publication Order of DI Maya Rahman Books

Vicky Newham is a reputed British psychologist, teacher, and novelist. She is well known for writing mystery, thriller, and crime novels and has successfully published the widely popular DI Maya Rahman novel series. This police procedural series is set in a multi-cultural background in East London. The East London setup depicted in Newham’s novels as well as the characters mentioned in them are the outcomes of the four years that she spent living there. She was employed in the Tower Hamlets region. Author Newham was born in Chichester and was brought up in Sussex. Before deciding to try her hand at writing novels, she used to teach Psychology in London. Newham was employed as a psychologist for several years before she moved to Kent to pursue her writing career. Currently, she lives in Kent and enjoys her time as a writer. Newham says that she is fascinated by things that make people tick and push them to commit murder and violence. She keeps thinking about such stories and sets her novels’ plots around such elements.

The place where Newham grew up is located on England’s south coast and just outside Chichester. At the age of 17, she chose to swap mud and green fields of the village for the city and moved to London to study German and French. For a brief period, she worked in sales & fundraising and also ran a series of successful businesses. Later, she earned a degree in Psychology. In 2002, Newham began teaching A-level Psychology in East London. Shortly after, she relocated to East Ham. In 2012, Newham decided to give up her career as a full-time teacher and took admission at Kingston for MA degree in Creative Writing. A year later, she shifted her residence to Whitstable and has been residing there since then. Even today, Newham teaches Psychology on a part-time basis. But mostly, she focusses on her writing & creative projects. The professional qualifications of Newham include a BA in French & German from North London’s Polytechnic, a BSc in Psychology from London University’s Birkbeck College, an MA in Effective Learning from London University’s Institute of Education, and another MA in Creative Writing from Kingston University.

Newham claims that she been writing for a long time. She used to like writing letters when she was small. Also, she had a great interest in reading stories, which later helped her in developing the habit of writing stories. Newham was actively involved in writing essays during her school, college, and university days. During her teenage years and in her early twenties, Newham took courses in feature writing and journalism, but she never let any of her work to get published. The people close to her believed that her writing always had a psychological touch to it even before she chose to study the subject in college. Newham tried writing several novels while she employed as a teacher, however, she was not confident about herself or her writing. Therefore, she used to find it difficult to come up with something exciting. Also, her full-time teaching job didn’t allow her the freedom to explore the imaginative powers of her mind.

It was only after reading Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories and Sophie Hannah’s Little Face that Newham thought of using fiction for exploring the psychology of violence. Eventually, she found her liking in the genre of crime fiction. Newham finished writing her first novel while she was pursuing Creative Writing MA in 2013 and began working on her second novel as a part of her 2014 dissertation project. The latter went on to become her first DI Maya Rahman novel, Turn a Blind Eye. Author Newham has described Maya Rahman as a British Bangladeshi. Her family came to the United Kingdom in 1982 and took shelter on Brick Lane. At the series’ start, Maya Rahman teams up with DS Dan Maguire. Together, they form a CID team to work on an important case. Dan Maguire hails from Australia. Newham has built the plot of her first book from the real-life events that read and heard about. She has modified certain events for the purpose of fictionalization. Newham’s debut book combines the investigative aspects of a traditional police procedural with mystery and explores life in London. After the successful release of the first novel, Newham wrote and published her second book in May 2019.

The DI Maya Rahman series written by author Vicky Newham is comprised of a total of 2 novels released between 2018 and 2019. Maya Rahman is mentioned as the lead character in both books. She is a detective inspector in East London. The other essential characters created by Newham for this series include Dan Maguire, Rosa Feldman, Linda Gibson, etc. The debut book is entitled ‘Turn A Blind Eye’. It was released by HQ in 2018. This book opens by depicting that a headmistress is discovered strangled in her school in East London. It is found that she was killed in a ritualistic and brutal act of violence. When Maya Rahman arrives at the crime scene, she finds a small note on which the killer has left a message for her in an ancient language. Maya realizes that the killer has challenged her to stop other murders from taking place. Shortly after, another dead body is found.

The only way to stop the serial murders and catch the killer is by untangling the cryptic messages. Maya Rahman tries everything to solve the riddles and prevent the murder of another innocent person. The second installment is entitled ‘Out of the Ashes’. It was also published by HQ in 2019. This novel opens by mentioning that a Brick Lane flash mob is interrupted by a loud explosion. Maya Rahman rushes to the incident scene and witnesses a raging fire on one of the infamous streets of the city. After the fire is put off, two fully burnt bodies are found from the building. Initially seen as an arson attack, the case turns into a murder mystery. Maya Rahman is not able to find any lead in this case. The witness accounts also prove to be no use. Later, one more case of a horrifying crime lands on Maya Rahman’s desk. She realizes that there is a lot at stake and must find the answers as soon as possible in order to prevent any further damage to life or property.