Kathmandu Killers: International Detectives Thriller Book 1

A missing woman. A deadly secret.
By Luke Richardson

£13.00

He was hired to find a missing woman. Now, they’re both running for their lives.

When a journalist searching for a politician’s daughter uncovers a human trafficking ring in Kathmandu, he and his target are pulled into a web of lies where survival is never guaranteed.

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Book themes

International thriller fiction
action thriller
missing person
conspiracy thriller
Kathmandu
Race against time

Author's notes

Uncover the truth behind the book (contains spoilers)

Description

HE WAS HIRED TO FIND HER, NOW THEY’RE BOTH RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES…

In Kathmandu’s backpacker district, young travelers are disappearing. When journalist Leo Keane arrives to find one missing woman, he uncovers something far more sinister than he ever imagined.

Jobless, anxious, and still haunted by a woman who vanished two years ago, Leo is desperate for a break. So when he’s offered good money to track down a politician’s missing daughter, he doesn’t ask too many questions.

That’s his first mistake.

Allissa runs a hidden hostel for victims of human trafficking—and she knows exactly how dangerous Kathmandu really is. When Leo finds her sanctuary, they’re pulled into a web of lies, violence, and secrets powerful people will kill to protect.
As the city tightens its grip, Leo and Allissa must uncover the truth before the hunter becomes the hunted.

KATHMANDU KILLERS launches Luke Richardson’s international detective series—a dark, fast-paced thriller set far from home, where survival is never guaranteed.

Please note: this book was previously published as ‘Kathmandu’ – don’t buy it again if you’ve already read it!

Additional information

Weight 0.271 kg
Dimensions 20.3 × 12.7 × 1.6 cm

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FAQ

What is Kathmandu Killers about?

Kathmandu Killers is a fast-paced missing person thriller set in Kathmandu, Nepal. It brings together a nervous unemployed journalist, a missing woman, and a backstreet restaurant in Kathmandu that nobody can find twice. When Leo Keane is hired to track down a young woman who has vanished somewhere in Nepal, he finds himself drawn into a far darker world than he expected — one that reaches from the chaotic streets of Kathmandu back to the corridors of power in England.


It is a travel mystery, an international thriller, and an amateur detective novel with a mystery at its heart that cuts much closer to home than Leo could ever have imagined.

Kathmandu Killers sits at the intersection of an international thriller, a missing person mystery, and an amateur detective novel.

Leo Keane is not an experienced detective or a seasoned traveller. He is an ordinary man thrown into an unfamiliar world, forced to investigate a disappearance in a city he barely understands. The book is an adventure story with a mystery driving it forward, where Kathmandu itself plays as much of a role as any of the characters. It is tense, atmospheric, and designed to feel like exploring the backstreets of an unknown city.

Kathmandu Killers is primarily set in Kathmandu, Nepal — one of the most extraordinary cities in the world. I visited Kathmandu in 2016 and knew almost immediately that I needed to set a book there. I had been thinking about turning my travels into a story for a long time, but it was visiting Kathmandu that truly made it happen. I loved the chaos of the place: ancient temples beside crowded backstreets, the Himalayas looming on the horizon, and travellers from every corner of the world arriving for reasons they can’t always explain.

Kathmandu Killers was inspired by a visit to Nepal in 2016 and by the feeling that Kathmandu is unlike anywhere else on earth — a city people do not always plan to visit so much as somehow end up in. The idea of the backstreet restaurant had been rattling around for years before that trip. It was inspired by a nightclub in Bangkok that a friend and I could never find again the morning after. A guidebook described it as a place that “only exists during the hours of darkness,” and that detail stayed with me. That idea, combined with what I learned in Kathmandu about the reality facing many local women and girls, gave the story its shape.

The book also touches on Kathmandu’s extraordinary history as the end of the Hippy Trail — the overland route from Europe through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan that thousands of travellers followed in the 1960s and 70s in search of adventure, escape, or spiritual awakening. Kathmandu was the final stop, and you can still feel that strange, restless energy in its streets today.

Readers often say my books feel like a trip to the place where they are set. That is because, especially in the International Detectives series, I start with the location, and the story grows from there. Each book takes Leo Keane and Allissa Stockwell somewhere new, and the place shapes the investigation as much as any clue or character. These books are not about police procedures, forensics, or formal interrogations. They are about two people out of their depth, up against the odds, and trying to solve dangerous mysteries in places most detective novels never visit.

If you enjoy travel mysteries, international detective fiction, or mystery thrillers with a strong sense of place, the International Detectives series should feel like your kind of adventure.

Kathmandu Killers is for readers who love travel and want their fiction to take them somewhere genuinely new. It should appeal to fans of fast-paced mystery thrillers, international crime fiction, amateur detective stories, and travel-based thrillers. It is also a good fit for readers who enjoy books with a vivid sense of place — the kind of story where the location feels alive, dangerous, and full of secrets.

Rather than being a hard-edged action thriller, Kathmandu Killers is more of an atmospheric missing person mystery with danger, heart, and a strong travel-adventure feel. Readers who have been to Kathmandu, dreamed of visiting Nepal, or ever felt out of their depth in a new place should find plenty to enjoy.

Kathmandu Killers deals with some serious themes, including human trafficking and exploitation, but these are handled with care rather than gratuitousness. There is tension, danger, and suspense throughout, but the book contains no swearing, no sex, and no gory violence. For readers looking for a clean mystery thriller, a clean international thriller, or a travel thriller without graphic content, Kathmandu Killers should be a comfortable read for older teenagers and adults.

Kathmandu Killers and the Eden Black books both share a love of travel, vivid locations, and fast-moving adventure, but they feel quite different in tone. Eden Black is a globe-trotting archaeological adventure series full of ancient mysteries, secret societies, hidden relics, and world-changing discoveries.

The International Detectives series is closer to the ground. It is grittier, more personal, and more rooted in the real world. Where Eden might be trying to save civilisation, Leo Keane is trying to find one missing person and survive long enough to understand what is really going on. Many readers enjoy both series because they scratch different itches: Eden Black delivers archaeological adventure, while Kathmandu Killers offers a travel mystery with crime, danger, and a strong emotional core.

Kathmandu Killers is book one in the International Detectives series and the best place to start. It introduces Leo Keane and Allissa, along with the relationship and dynamic that drive the series forward. Each book features a self-contained investigation in a new international location, so the books can be read independently. However, reading the series in order gives the most satisfying experience as the characters develop across the books.

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