A A Dhand

A A Dhand (Amit Dhand) is a British-Asian crime-writer. His recent books are set in the West Yorkshire city of Bradford, a former industrial city very much a shadow of its former self and rife with social deprivation, crime and complex inter-communal challenges.

Background
Raised in Bradford and the son of an immigrant corner shop owner. He attended the prestigious Fulneck Boarding School in Leeds (of which features in his novels). He originally trained as a pharmacist and worked in London, but returned to his home town to start a pharmacy business and write books.

He is now a regular contributor to a number of British Asian and crime writers' fora.

Writing
Dhand's first novel featured a character Ranjit Singh and is set against the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947; but it has been his more recent novels that have won him critical acclaim. These have featured the Bradford-based police detective Harry Virdee, a progressive British Sikh who struggles with his cultural identity and family loyalties. Race, violence and exploitation are on the agenda in the Virdee novels, and Dhand has not shied away from controversial issues of tension between British Asian communities and the controversy over such issues as the 'grooming' of vulnerable females by organised gangs of men. Dhand is fairly unique as he sets his protagonists (who are shaped by Asian culture) in a British setting.

His novel Streets of Darkness is being developed as a TV drama. In August 2023, the BBC announced that the Harry Virdee books would be adapted into a six episode series entitled Virdee, with Sacha Dhawan starring in the title role.