Asif Sardar
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Asif M Sardar was born in the Punjab in Pakistan, emigrated to England as a small child and grew up in the Midlands in Birmingham. He originally worked as a Medical Research Scientist before cross-training to work as an IT Consultant, initially with the British Ministry of Defence and then with a variety of IT companies; Fujitsu & Capita.
He enjoys reading a wide range of contemporary literature, is a keen student of cinema and his favourite directors are Howard Hawks, David Lean and Stanley Kubrick and his favourite actor is Clint Eastwood. Asif enjoys a range of music, both Western & Asian, especially Mohammed Rafi, Mansoor Malangi, Mehdi Hassan, Meatloaf and Paul Simon. An avid football fan, he has supported and followed Leeds United Football Club all his life. His comic heroes are the Marx brothers, especially Groucho, the late Irish comic writer & performer Spike Milligan, and the British comedy group Monty Python. In addition he is also an avid comic book reader and collector with a deep and trivial knowledge of the Marvel universe; he has referenced these influences and interests in his writings. His first book "Colin Thorson Teenage Superhero" was published in April 2012 and he has continued to write books in a variety of genres, usually with a humorous flavour.
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A Christmas in Calcutta
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Historical Crime Fiction
A re-imagining of the Great Detective and his partner as Charlotte Holmes, a traumatized woman, and her companion Dr Watan, an Indian doctor, as they investigate nefarious activities. Devious plots are hatched, ancient rituals revived and evil machinations unleashed to secure the prized Ruby Throne; but will our heroes survive to reach Calcutta to unveil the conspiracy? The Viceroy's Christmas ball becomes the focus of the conspiracy as all the principle actors converge for a final showdown that will decide the fate of the British Raj. 
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A Passover in Peshawar
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Historical Crime Fiction
Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant polymath, and her companion Dr Watan, an Indian doctor, continue their adventures as they attempt to foil a Jihad to drive the British out of India. Dr Watan accepts a proposal of marriage from a lonely widow, with a grossly deformed child; much to the annoyance of Charlotte. She must also negotiate with the as they threaten to charge her husband with treason and confiscate his estates. Charlotte is charged by Viceroy's office with thwarting a rebellion in the Northern Territories, else her husband would be charged with treason and his estates confiscated. Charlotte & Watan find the Russians are in league with the Warlord and plan to invade British India from the North. An epic, perilous journey to the Khyber Pass to thwart foreign agents, foil a blood-thirsty Warlord and determine the provenance of a miracle child, prophesied to herald the End of the World. 
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Sin & the Single Hijabi
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Modern Comedy
The trial and tribulations of a group of pious Hijab-wearing students as they navigate the social norms of University life whilst trying to be good Muslims. Noorie, aka Dr No, the headstrong medical student notorious for rejecting marriage proposals, juggles demanding studies with potential boyfriends and a far too pretty younger sister on the brink of becoming engaged. Her friends, the loud-mouthed aggressive Shazia, the designer-obsessed Furhat, the meek and giggly Rahat, and the strident Shagufta, try their best to help but things just keep getting worse. A chick-lit with a difference; not an expose but more of a cover-up. 
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A Murder in Multan
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Murder Mystery
An ex-pat forensics scientist, Dr Shujaat Khan, visits Pakistan after many years to attend a family wedding and becomes unwittingly embroiled in an honour killing. Complications arise when he pursues the enticing Henna and a clandestine romance develops which is strictly prohibited by a bitter family feud. He learns the honour killing is a merely pretence, for the murder hides a dark secret which must be maintained at all costs. When Henna becomes implicated in the killing Shujaat's loyalties are torn between his love for her and his fiancee. He pursues an obsessive quest over decades to unravel a secret which could destroy a community. A migrant's compelling search for identity in rootless times. 
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Cowboys & Indians
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Social Satire
A cross-culture clash of the most extreme kind when a Texan Construction company is hired by Indian tycoon, Moti Lal, to build the first Western theme-park in Mumbai. Dallas Jones and his American team must co-ordinate multiple antagonistic nationalities in an unfamiliar land to achieve the demanding deadlines. Someone is trying to kill Moti Lal; family, friends and enemies become increasingly difficult to identify as the project nears completion. Can Dallas Jones avoid the flirtatious Mrs Lalita Lal? Family members plot and plan to take over the ever-burgeoning Lal empire and dark family secrets start to unravel as personal aspirations collide with greed and betrayal. Destitute slumdog orphans, enticing 'Nauch [Dancing]' Girls, menacing 'Goondas [Gangsters]', mysterious terrorists, opportunistic politicians, belligerent bribe-seeking policemen, and the ever-present dangers of another Indian-Pakistan War add up to an explosive climax. 
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Santa Clown
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Fantasy Comedy
Santa Clown delivered his gifts with a joke and a laugh until one Christmas Eve he disappeared into the night and was replaced by his brother Santa Claus. Santa Clown was forgotten, lost in the mists of old Christmas's. Now there is trouble in Santa's Workshop! Saboteurs are wrecking the production lines and demanding the return of the Forgotten One; "Shoot Santa Claus down, Bring back the Santa Clown". Mr Drole, the long suffering Head Troll, is trying desperately to meet the Christmas Eve deadline whilst hunting the trouble-makers and sorting out his messed up love life; can the gifts be delivered as usual or is this the Christmas when it all falls part? Whatever happens, Christmas will never be the same again. A searing Christian-Marxist fantasy analysing rampant Christmas commercialism, a critique of unsustainable models of growth and delivery and a warning against intra-species relations or just a very silly story about Elves? 
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Santa Down
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Fantasy Comedy
Once Upon a Christmas Eve there was a riot in Santa Land caused by severe industrial unrest. All the little Elves, all the large Globs and all the other various enchanted creatures, gathered together and tried to burn down the workshop. Voices were raised, fingers were pointed, and, on occasion, violent harm was done to both persons and property. The Council of Santas passes judgement on the guilty; Campion the instigator, his fellow mischief-maker Elfe Elsie and various other enchanted disenchanted troublemakers. But peace in Santa Land is illusory; Mr Drole is troubled by the erratic behaviour of his new wife Spenser and Campion is cast out from his luxurious apartment into an inhospitable environment where everyone ignores him. Santa Clown, the adventurous Elf Khushlo and the eccentric Mr Munga embark on a perilous mission to find the missing Mrs Santa Clown; is she real or just another bad joke? The continuing adventures of Santas Claus and Clown and the troublesome inhabitants of Santa Land as they venture out into the world, will our festive-heroes survive their encounters? 
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Santa Flown
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Fantasy Comedy
Global warming has reached Santa's Workshop, the Arctic ice sheet is melting and our gift-givers must relocate. Mr Drole, the troubled Head of Production, must juggle childcare duties and work with his idiosyncratic Enchanters, Chaucer & Saucer, to find them a new home. The course of Elf Kushloo's love runs less than smoothly when he becomes involved in a love triangle with Santa Clown's daughter Kin and his best friend Mr Munga. The vexatious Enchanters are charged with identifying a suitable site and procure the services of three little Elves to find the best site. The first little Elfe has a wonderful time but fails miserably in the task, the second little Elf uncovers a conspiracy but also fails and the third little Elf has a miserable time but manages to make a Glob fly. As the deadline for evacuating the North Pole approaches misery is heaped upon misery as the evil plans of the dastardly Australian Toy Tycoon are revealed. Friendships are renewed whilst others are curtailed, motherhood is celebrated, painful memories revisited and rivals and friends part ways in the action-packed, heart-pounding, foot-warming conclusion to the Santa trilogy as the Old Man flies off for the last time. 
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A Berth to Bombay
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Historical Crime Fiction
Charlotte decides to undertake her confinement at Redoubt, her matrimonial home, but the pregnancy becomes dangerous for both mother and child when she is haunted by the ghost of her dead child. Her In-Laws are less than welcoming and she suspects they are plotting against her, so she enlists the assistance of Dr Watan to investigate the haunting. The unresolved paternity of Charlotte's child, between a married spymaster, a treasonous husband and a dead Warlord, proves problematic. Meanwhile Branwell acquires a guide, the dacoit Durga, who becomes infatuated with him, and resents his rapprochement with his bitter ex-fiancee Rebecca. Complications arise when the Widow Hansen, Rebecca's mother, attempts to seduce Branwell, and Watan is drawn into an affair with a Memsaab whilst dealing with an awkward junior doctor. Maldehyde compels Branwell to apprehend the traitor Charles de Beque and he undertakes the quest with the aid of his guide Durga. Their perilous search leads them to a Chinese brothel, the murderous Wu Tu clan and a showdown with Charles de Beque over a gorge. Matters come to ahead when her husband and lover fight to be recognised as the father and they try to resolve the fallout from the Christmas Coup. A haunting defies rational explanation as Charlotte struggles with a difficult pregnancy whilst her brother pursues her treacherous husband & the paternity of the child proves problematic. 
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The Whore of Lahore
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Historical Crime Fiction
Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant polymath, and her companion Dr Watan, an Indian doctor, investigate a new courtesan who may be a Maharaja's illegitimate daughter and discover the terrible secret of the Graveyard of Girls. Meanwhile Watan decides to relocate to Bombay after his father's deathbed confession, about the Bibighar massacre, fuels his anti-British feelings. Branwell, Charlotte’s younger brother, decides to settle down with his current fiancée Rebecca but the proposal encounters unexpected obstacles when she insists Durga the Dacoit must be married off first. Branwell tries to meet the conditions attached to his proposal and, whilst hunting Durga's sister Madhubala, he stumbles upon a plot to assassinate the new King. Watan unwittingly falls prey to a nefarious scheme by the Nationalists to entrap him and his circumstances start to spiral out of control as his enemies close in on him. All our characters gather for the final showdown at the Delhi Durbar as the Nationalists make their move to seize control of India from the British authorities. Old adversaries make an unwelcome return, as the personal clashes with the political, loyalties are tested and friendships shattered in the conclusion of the Calcutta Quartet. 
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A Wedding in Winchester
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Historical Fiction
The Kensington Quartet; Four Charlotte Holmes mysteries set in Europe during the Great War. LONDON, 1912. Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant polymath, and her former companion Dr Watan, an Indian doctor, have been estranged for nearly a decade, but a chance encounter leads to a ill-tempered meeting. Annabelle Holmes, elder sister of Charlotte, is getting married but the bridegroom is missing and our heroes must solve the mystery to ensure the wedding goes ahead. Meanwhile Watan is hired by Baron Zorkin, the Russian agent, to retrieve some valuable items but the investigation repeatedly collides with the priorities of the Holmes siblings. Charlotte and Branwell must confront dark secrets, their mother's affair with their servant leads to unexpected revelations and the family must re-assess their perceptions of the past. Durga is feeling restless and is demanding that Branwell, her secret lover, must provide her with a baby. However, his wife Rebecca, is profoundly against the notion, thus Branwell attempts to satisfy all parties by suggesting Watan oblige Durga. Dark family secrets are revealed and brutal truths confronted in the opening book of the new arc. 
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