This is the third novel in the author’s series of Bradford set crime thrillers, and once more we’re in the company of Detective Inspector Harry Virdee. Harry is a Sikh officer married to a Muslim; a love match that has led both to be estranged from their respective families. He has a complicated relationship with his brother, a crime lord who controls much of the city’s narcotics trade. He’s not averse to bending the rules when a case calls for it.

All of these ingredients come into play in the plot of City of Sinners which opens with Harry being called to the scene of a murder where a young woman has been suspended by a noose fashioned from barbed wire. Cutting her down, it’s discovered in autopsy that in fact she died from massive anaphylactic shock. Worse still, it soon transpires that the killer meant this murder for Harry himself, that he or she is taunting Harry and meant it as a message. It isn’t long before there are further killings and the ensures that Harry knows that he himself is being targeted.

City of Sinners is a departure of sorts for the author and his protagonist. The crimes at the centre of the previous two Harry Virdee novels have included homicides, but they’ve been much more political, much more linked to organised crime. This third outing is Harry’s first brush with a serial killer, and this gives the book a different feel. Similarly, a strong element of Dhand’s writing style has been the sense of place, the sense that his stories couldn’t be told anywhere but Bradford. While this book is geographically very Bradford - for example, that first murder is set in the city’s Waterstones bookstore, which is sited in a converted gothic wool exchange - the sociological aspect is missing in that strip away the landmarks and this tale could be set elsewhere. This isn’t a criticism, City of Sinners is still an extremely good book, and if anything demonstrates the author’s versatility.

There are wider political elements to the story, one’s that are clearly set to reappear in future Harry Virdee novels. The Home Secretary, Tariq Islam, and his dubious past in an off-the-books special forces outfit is one. As is Harry’s brother’s continuing relationship with the narcotics trade. While the convoluted relationship Harry and his wife Saima have with their respective families has a large impact on the plot.

Overall, City of Sinners is yet another brilliant crime novel in A A Dhand’s Harry Virdee crime thrillers, and is with the others, I can’t recommend this book enough.

This is the third instalment of the series but can be read as a stand alone. I have not been following this series and did not get the feeling I missed important things that would be of influence on this book.
I enjoyed the political and religious aspects in this book. There are a lot of interesting details about the habits of the Indian Sikh and Paki Muslim's. The tension between these two groups were very obvious on paper.
What I had a harder time believing was the things Harry got away with in his job. I cannot imagine that a detective can still work the case when he is so obviously a target. It did cause a lot of excitement for the story.
It is possible to puzzle along with this book and there are a lot of possibilities. I did come up with the endgame but it was surely not the only option until the true outcome was revealed. Do keep in mind that this book is not really for the faint hearted. Some of the crime scenes are very visual in description.

AA Dhand’s Bradford-set crime novels get better and better. Sikh policeman Harry Virdee is a compelling character and the supporting cast, including the city that forms the backdrop to the action, is well-drawn and believable. Much more ‘hard-boiled’ than many British detective novels, City of Sinners is satisfyingly addictive and very enjoyable. I loved it.

For Detective Harry Virdee life is just getting more and more complicated. His estranged father is ill and may not survive but this has meant that his wife and mother have finally met. His brother Ronnie is still mired in the drugs trade and mourning the loss of his daughter. Meanwhile three women have been killed in Bradford with the killer implying that they are sinners and that there is a link to Harry. However when the killer kidnaps the daughter of the Home Secretary, a whole other level of attention is about to focus on Harry and he'll need to cross lines irrevocably.
AA Dhand has written a series of books about Harry Verde and set in Bradford. Each gets better than the last and this latest is brilliant. Living close to Bradford I know the city and I know the delicate relationships between the different cultures which Dhand understands and uses for his plots. Here there is racism and concerns about immigration but with gentle twists and nothing is laboured, just appears subtly and is manipulated beautifully. Just to top it off, there is a really exciting link into the next in the series.

A brilliant crime thriller with a dark, unique setting and engaging characters

Detective Inspector Hardeep ‘Harry’ Virdee is used to dealing with lowlife criminals, having worked on the streets of Bradford as a homicide detective for several years. However, when he is called to a murder scene one morning, the painstaking positioning of the body to send a brutal message and the subsequent chilling autopsy findings are enough to shock even the hardest of police officers. With ongoing struggles in his personal life – mainly his Sikh family’s rejection of his Muslim wife Saima and their three-year-old son Aaron – Harry must use all his skills to try and find the killer. But when another girl is found dead, and a message is found referencing Harry directly, the police realise that what they’re dealing with may be more dangerous than they first thought – a manipulative serial killer, with a personal vendetta against Harry and his family.

From the first few chapters, this story draws the reader into the dark, gritty underworld of Bradford and simultaneously shocks you with the brutality of the murder and emotionally affects you with the sorrow that Harry feels being estranged from his family. Harry himself is a unique and likeable character who never once feels like a stereotypical ‘rebel cop’, and the other characters in the story feel fleshed out and real as well. The setting of Bradford is an unusual one for crime novels, but it works exceptionally well; the author creates a bleak and sadly probably accurate portrayal of both the criminal underworld of the city and the unfortunate attitudes held by many Asians and British people living there. The killer has a very dark and threatening presence throughout the novel, and the ending is dramatic and unexpected, providing a satisfying conclusion to the story.

As with his previous novel, the author touches heavily on issues of race relations and integration of Asian families into British communities, something which is an unusual topic to encounter in crime novels but also extremely interesting and thought-provoking. The author further develops the characters of Saima and of Harry’s father, and the rift between Harry and his family is explored in a way that is hugely emotive and believable. While this is the third book in the DCI Harry Virdee series (of which I have only read the previous instalment) it includes enough backstory that it can be enjoyed as a standalone.

In conclusion, this was an excellent and atmospheric crime thriller that has made me keen to get my hands on both the first DCI Virdee novel and any subsequent instalments. I would recommend this series to fans of crime thrillers and look forward to reading more by this author.

Daenerys

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

Review published on Crime Review website:

It’s taken long enough, but at last more BAME writers are moving into the crime fiction genre and shining an uncompromising light on race and cultural issues in the UK.

City of Sinners, the third in AA Dhand’s Bradford series, puts the n into noir. I can imagine it as a TV drama, with harshly-lit interiors and bleak winter scenes outside. You won’t be particularly set on visiting the city once you’ve finished the book – I suspect Dhand won’t be getting the freedom of Bradford just yet!

DCI Harry Virdee gets results. But he has baggage. And he breaks (bends, if you’re being charitable) the rules. And whatever case he’s involved in always seems to be personal. This time, a killer is taunting Harry. The body of a young Asian woman is found strung up in a bookshop with a very gruesome added element. As the murder count climbs, Harry has to work out what links the victims and why the murderer is so focused on leaving him messages and repeating a mantra about sinners.

If you like the noir end of things and serial killer mysteries, then City of Sinners has an unusual plot and motivation for the murderer that you probably won’t guess. But I couldn’t help thinking that the crime element is often the less interesting angle in the book. And there’s probably one plot twist too far at the end. What makes the book so readable, though, is Dhand’s portrayal of the city’s first, second and third generation Asian families. And he’s particularly focused on what a character calls brown on brown racism.

Harry and his wife Saima are in a mixed marriage – he’s a Sikh and she’s Muslim. Both are ostracised from their families, and both faced violence when they made their decision. Their marriage is solid, and they have a three-year-old son, Aaron. But when Harry’s father suffers a heart attack at the start of the book and Saima, a nurse, saves his life, his mother Jyoti is determined to rebuild the relationship and to see her grandchild grow up.

There’s also the presence of Harry’s brother Ronnie, who is backed up by some scary ex-military men in his bid to control the drug trade in the area. Naturally there’s plenty of angst between the estranged brothers as their paths inevitably cross.

A couple of odd expressions knocked me off my stride. The police-speak often sounds American, with references to police badges, autopsies and homicides. I remember wondering in the first book why Harry was flashing his badge at people instead of showing them a warrant card. And he wouldn’t have been looking for a form tutor in a university – you find them in schools! It’s a personal tutor he was in search of.

Occasionally the family angst does threaten to unbalance the plot, but otherwise City of Sinners is a hard-edged and unflinching read. This series has TV adaptation written all over it. And I think it would transfer well to the small screen, although I bet Virdee gets a more rounded sidekick written in by scriptwriters, given his work colleagues in the book are all pretty anonymous. But I’m already giving due thought to who could play Harry, Saima and Ronnie!

I actually discovered A. A. Dhand whilst in a bookshop scouring the shelves for more books to purchase to add to my frankly ridiculous library. I am just as bad as one of those you see on a programme such as Hoarders From Hell! But like many of you bibliophiles out there and on this site, I can't help myself. I live by the mantra that you can never have too many novels, never. The A. A. Dhand I came across in the shop was "Streets of Darkness", the first in the Harry Virdee series which I bought and swiftly read. Superb and exactly what I look for from the crime genre - gritty and gripping. However, I have not had the chance to turn my attention to the second - "Girl Zero". I did in fact naively assume that this was the sequel to SoD.

I don't feel that having not read the second in the series made me any worse off or made any difference to my level of enjoyment. That said, although the story is wholly contained within this book and could easily pass as a standalone, I think it is best to have read the first two in chronological order. I say this because I particularly appreciate how the characters develop through the series and also hearing their background. I may have missed some of that information that was set out in "Girl Zero". So although not essential I would say it is preferable as it would be with regards to other series too.

The plot is action packed from beginning to end which holds your attention very well. There are a couple of threads to the story, one of the issues the book raises is just how prevalent rascism is and how bad it can get for some people who are victims of it. This was an eye-opener to say the least - I cannot stand any form of discrimination and am an opened-minded person about a lot of things so this upset me a little. Unfortunately, this is our reality right now and it may get progressively worse with the likes of Trump in power. I also appreciated that Harry's family also have quite a significant role in the plot.

All in all, this is an exhilarating and exciting series that I will definitely continue with. I can't wait to immerse myself once more in the murky world that Harry Virdee has to deal with. There aren't many thrillers I can think of who use the setting of Yorkshire to explore and investigate crime. Dhand is another writer who illustrates exactly why British crime fiction is some of the best in the world.

Many thanks to Bantam Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

As I've come to expect from Dhand, this book is action packed from it's explosive start to it's explosive end. City of Sinners also explores Bradford's diverse society, family relationships and respect. Well worth a read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wowwwww What a damn good read that was. I have loved these books, this one the third in the series.
Here we are back in Bradford with DCI Harry Virdee. Harry is a superb character and one I really enjoy reading about. Not just his cases, but his personal life. Infact for me his personal life in this book was just as good as the actual story. It's fantastic when you are getting to know characters so well. I think Dhand has worked wonders creating the character of Harry Virdee.
It seems there is a killer on the streets of Bradford, and it's down to Harry to find out who it is and why they are doing it.
This is killer is really out of control, he's a sick individual killing the way he does. When another body turns up it soon becomes clear that this is linked to the first one. What have they got in common, just what is that connection.
This is easily a book that you could devour in a day long binge, but as I'd really been looking forward to this one, I took my time reading it. I actually surprised myself with my will power to read it over a few nights. It's hard going as the book is so damn good and you are dragged into each and every page, getting lost in the story.
Superbly written, Dhand has pulled out all the stops on this one, and it's easily his best one yet. If each book just gets better like they seem to be doing so far then I for one cannot wait to read the next installment. It is going to be such a damn good read, I just know it.
From the opening pages right up until the very end, it's easy to get lost in this book, it's just a superb read and my words would never do it the justice it deserves.
It's worth all 5 of the big fat 5 stars I give this book.
Outstanding, first class read.

This book has gone onto my 2018 MUST READ LIST.

Two brothers, one a cop, one a criminal, from a Sikh family in Bradford. The cop is married to Samia, a nurse, and a Muslim, which makes family life for both husband and wife difficult and painful, though in a previous novel it looked as if his mother and sister-in-law might rethink their misery in a broken family. Quite coincidentally, Harry's father, suffering from a dangerously weak heart, meets Samia when he's taken to hospital on death's door. Samia can't tell him who she is, because the shock might kill him. Nor does she tell Harry, but and certainly doesn't tell him just how bigoted his father is--no need, since he knows. Harry (or Hardeep) Virdee is a skilled detective confronted with a bizarre run of murders by a killer who leaves messages for him, so Samia copes and supports her husband and their toddler.

The novel thus becomes a study of mixed-religion marriage and its echoing reverberations, but it is more than that: Dhand is using crime fiction to do what it does so well: give a picture of a place and its residents, now. Harry has to go to his older brother for help, of a kind he really doesn't want to do, which puts him deeply in his brother's dept. So the book finishes with deaths here and cliff-hangers there, which I am not going to reveal. Readers won't need a glossary, and they will learn about the complex cultures of Britain's biggest city of immigrants and how change can come. Unfortunately, we don't get the tea recipe that Harry's mother teaches her daughter-in-law to prepare. The women are moving faster than their men.

Thank you Net Galley. I enjoyed this book. It is my first book by the author and i am hooked. A taut, engrossing police procedural. A wonderful read anytime with well developed characters.

First time of reading this author and I was hooked from the beginning. The writing style was very easy to read and the plot was well very thought out. The story flowed and it felt like I was on roller coaster at full speed at times! Very descriptive and insightful.

I will be reading more from this author.

I am a huge fan of the DI Harry Virdee series and I definitely believe this to be the best yet! It has something unique this time round, with added creepy moments. With all honesty, there were moments I had twitchy restless legs and actually hide my head inside my hoodie!!!! Be warned, this case is seriously creepy!!!
The novels are best read in order so that you grasp the full background of Harry’s marriage, family and family feud. The backstory adds co much depth to the series and is a fascinating insight into multicultural Britain and the issues it faces.

Straight of the first page of the prologue you are aware of the killer’s hatred for Harry. He has a female victim present and promises
‘The start of Bradford’s darkest week begins’.

When Harry arrives at the crime scene of murder victim Usma Khan, he is horrified. The body has been posed theatrically within Bradford’s Waterstones. I don’t want to spoil the scene as it is the authors finest scenes to date. But it is worthy in a comparison of the writing of Thomas Harris and his Hannibal Lector series! Dhand has really gone for the gritty shocking crime scene and it terrified this reader!

Across Bradford at the city hospital, Saima (Harry’s wife) is in the middle of her nursing shift. When her father-in-law Ranjit Virdee, is rushed into A&E. This is far from any form of happy reunion. But this is best left explored within the novel. Especially if you are new to the series. Saima continues to be quite a big character within the series and it really works. I love to see Harry’s happy home life with Saima and their son, in comparison to the crime scene’s he witnesses.
It also adds a sense of realism to the novels too.

At the autopsy of Usma Khan, a note is discovered on the body with the inscription ‘This is only the beginning Harry’. This is the first time the police discover there maybe a connection to Harry and Harry is desperate to uncover what links him to the death of Usma Khan. Then the daughter of a prominent Bradford figure goes missing and hell breaks loose…..

The novel explores Harry’s enemies and the cases that caused the individuals to despise Harry so much. This offers an interesting insight into Harry’s background and we learn things we never knew before. Harry also ponders if this could have any relation to his brother Ronnie criminal enterprise. Harry is the only police officer to know of Ronnie’s history with alcohol and life of crime. There are some interesting passages on racism and the challenges faced in various communities. Dhand shows us that Bradford can be both a cultural minefield, and a community that has worked hard; to heal from the previous race riots of the past.

‘In his opinion, brown-on-brown racism was as toxic as it got’ – Harry Virdee

The killer begins to taunt Harry personally and publicly.
‘Do you see the sinner, Harry?’
‘I see you Harry Virdee. . . I see all the sinners’

This is an intense read from start to finish. The last 25% I was having heart palpitations! This novel has it all a dark and sinister killer, grotesque crime scenes whilst also offering a unique perspective on racial prejudice.
Don’t miss A.A. Dhand’s phenomenal series!

Harry Virdee #3

A body has been found, elaborately and painstakingly positioned to send a message, But what message? And to who? it's DI Virdee's job to find out.

A young Asian woman is found hanging for the rafters in the beautiful Waterstones, in Bradford. The ritualistic nature of her death, Harry knows they are hunting for someone on a mission. The note that was left with the body tells them that Harry is involved somehow. Meanwhile Harry's wife, Saima, is leaving her work at the hospital, she sees a wallet drop,from the stretcher from a man being rushed into A&E. The man turns out to be Harry's father who is having a heart attack and Saima helps to save his life even though they are estranged from him.

Well I'm quite happy to say I've Ben totally lost this afternoon in this book. I love this series and for me, this is the best one in the series so far. As always, there is plenty going on but not so much that it gets confusing. I don't want to say to much about the plot as I would just give far too much away. In fact I would probably tell you the full story. The main characters are all back from the last two books, and I love them all for different reasons. The book is fast paced, thrilling, tense and very very creepy. The plot line has been well researched. Although this book could be read as a standalone, don't miss out, start with book 1, otherwise you will miss out on a brilliant series!!

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishiers and the author A. A. Dhand for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

AA Dhand takes us back to Bradford, to the cop who makes a habit of crossing lines, DCI Harry Virdee, a Sikh, ostracised from his family when he married Saima, a Muslim nurse, blessed by a 3 year old son, Aaron. There is a serial killer roaming the city, killing young Asian women deemed to be sinners, involved with white partners, refusing to stick to prescribed cultural norms. The first grisly horrifying murder has the young Usma Khan strung up and publicly displayed in a bookstore with her eyes sewn up. Harry, a member of the Homicide Major Inquiry Team, is sickened by the act, especially when a message is found referencing him, he begins to understand this is personal, but who could the killer possibly be? A trawl through his history of arrests, looking for likely suspects, leads to one likely candidate, a man hard to locate. Harry is to be tested to his very limits, pushed every which way by a manipulative killer, keen to break him.

Saima plays the good Samaritan when she saves the life of Harry's father, a man who despises Muslims, and her in particular. This leads to her becoming closer to Jyoti, Harry's beloved mother, a woman who becomes besotted with Aaron, her grandson, the spitting image of Harry. Jyoti can no longer tolerate being separated from Harry and his family, wanting to see normal family relations begin. There is only one problem, her husband's resolute intransigence, fuelled by malice and hate. Ronnie, Harry's brother, has had no contact with Harry for a while, has plans for the future of Bradford's drug trade, a plan for which Harry is instrumental. The abduction of the Asian Home Secretary's daughter raises the stakes and tensions sky high for the police and a stressed pressured Harry. As Harry begins to get an inkling as to the identity of the killer, danger inexorably comes closer to him and his family. There are no rules Harry will not break to keep his family safe.

In the city of sinners, the only real sinners are the likes of the serial killer, and the parallels to be found with Harry's father, another sinner, hypocrites consumed by hate, peddling religion, culture and tradition, found wanting when it comes to humanity, real love, destroying families and futures with impunity. Dhand lays bare the fractures within the Asian community with an authenticity I can attest to, with elements that struggle to adapt when it comes to the position of women, promoting unacceptable religious divisions, implementing criminal notions of 'honour' that are anything but honourable. This is a brutal but compelling addition to the series, to be applauded in presenting social and political issues relevant to modern Britain and the Asian Community. Many thanks to Random House Transworld for an ARC.

I normally start my review of a series book by saying that they are better when you start from book one and read in order. For most books this is desirable but not necessary. For this series, I would definitely recommend you do just this as, although the main story is wholly contained within this volume, Harry and his family have a bit of a backstory which although explained satisfactorily here, is best read in entirety through the first two books.
So, we start with a body in a bookshop. One of the sales team has been hung from the rafters in what looks like a ritualistic way. To add to the intrigue there is a note hinting that Harry himself is involved. Things take a bit of a turn after what is discovered at the autopsy and it becomes a frenetic cat and mouse game for Harry and his team to get to the killer.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Harry's wife Saima has a bit of a tricky patient to deal with; her estranged father-in-law. With Harry's marriage to her being the cause of the estrangement, can she chip away at the wall around the family and unite them?
Well, this book hit the ground running and didn't let up right until the end. The killer had the police running round in circles chasing their tails, keeping a step ahead for the majority of the book. With Harry's family once again in the thick of things, the dark side of their culture rears its ugly head once again in both the storylines here. The book definitely opened my eyes about some of the levels of racism suffered by all walks of life, even between those you wouldn't expect. It mad the book feel very real indeed and, quite often, quite scary.
I'm not usually a big fan of the Detectives' families being embroiled in the crimes being committed, and in this series it happens quite a lot, but the way the personal has been integrated into the professional for Harry, for some reason, just works for me. Maybe because I am actually interested in the cultural differences which are described. I'm not sure and to be honest, it's not worth over analysing, I'm just going to accept it! I especially liked Saima's hospital story and how that developed; at times a bit emotionally.
All in all, this is another great addition to an already impressive series, I really can't wait to see what the author serves me up next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow! What an opening chapter - utterly chilling!


Bradford in the North of England is the setting, once one of the richest cities in Europe due to its textile production during the industrial revolution- but today ( like many cities) it is plagued by drugs and criminal gangs fighting for supremacy.

It's here that DCI Harry Virdee is about to face the mother of all serial killers. The M.O that the killer uses is unlike any that Harry will have faced before. When Usma Khan is found murdered in the shop where she works, it's clear that this was no spur of the moment killing, on the contrary it was methodically planned and the victim was carefully chosen. Her murder comes with a message, and it's a message that will affect Harry personally, in what will be his biggest challenge ever.

The subsequent autopsy on Usma Khan reveals even more shocks, when we discover in detail exactly how invasive this killing was, and what the perpetrator left behind!

This is the third in the DCI Harry Virdee series, ( incidentally it can be read as a standalone, as there is sufficient backstory for those of you who haven't read the previous two) and I've enjoyed them all, but with 'City of Sinners' A.A. Dhand has truly excelled himself. The character development has continued, and it was great to see Harry's wife Saima featuring even more prominently this time around. The plot was exceptionally good, with the narrative alternating between Harry and the killer. The tension is real, demanding that you turn the pages ever more quickly, as the killer leaps from said pages as a dark and threatening presence that will stay with you long after you put the book down. Exceptionally good and worth every one of those 5 stars!

*Thank you to Random House UK, and Transworld Publishers for my ARC. I have reviewed this honestly and voluntarily in exchange*

A book which opens with a dead body in the actual shop I work in? One where I am actually name-checked as a character? Of course I loved it! The fact that it also has a killer sting in its tail and is twistier than barbed wire helps too...

I would like to thank Netgalley and Randon House UK, Transworld Publishers for an advance copy of City of Sinners, the third police procedural to feature Bradford based DCI Harry Virdee.

When the body of Usma Khan is found hanging from the rafters of the bookshop where she worked the ritualistic nature of her murder tell Harry and the team that they are hunting a planner with a mission. The note left with the body tells them Harry is somehow involved.

Wow, what a read. This novel held me gripped from start to finish and I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down. It is a potent mixture of thrills, action and the personal with never a dull moment. In fact, it is one of the best books I have read this year.

The killer is smart, resourceful and audacious with all the angles covered and able to outsmart Harry and the team at every turn. This is where the thrills and action come in as Harry and the team are pushed from pillar to post with no time to breathe. It's high octane and compulsive and I felt as if I was constantly holding my breath. The reasoning behind it all is clever and says so much about Bradford culture. I was blown away by the elegant symmetry of it and would love to be able to discuss it more and at great length but, hey, no spoilers.

In the meantime Harry's wife, Saima, gets an unexpected jolt when Harry's estranged father is rushed into A&E with a heart attack and she has to help save his life. Ranjit has refused to speak to Harry since he married Saima as she's Muslim and not Sikh. The ramifications of "brown on brown" racism are well explained and explored in this plot strand. At points it's difficult and heartbreaking to read but again compulsive as the reader hopes for some kind of détente.

City of Sinners is an excellent read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Harry Virdee is back saving Bradford in City of Sinners which is the third book in the series by A A Dhand.

As before the action is fast and furious and kept me hooked throughout.

The author pulls no punches as Harry faces his most personal challenge to date one that impacts both him and his family.

In amongst the mayhem of the main story the author nicely interweaves a secondary storyline about Harry's wife that definitely adds to the overall story.

This book can be read either as a standalone or after reading the previous 2 books as there is sufficient backstory for a new reader.

Overall I would thoroughly recommend this book and look forward to more stories about Harry and Bradford