by Andy Maslen
home counties – the counties surrounding London: Surrey, Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Sussex; as an adjective applied to accent, it means upscale/privileged
IPCC – Independent Police Complaints Commission, body responsible for overseeing the police complaints system in England and Wales
J20 – a fruit-flavoured, juice and water soft drink available in British pubs and bars
kit – equipment, to provide equipment e.g. “kit you out”
kosher – trustworthy
lairy – loud, aggressive, excitable
loadout – a soldier’s personal array of weapons and equipment
M&S – Marks & Spencer, British department store
Met – The Metropolitan Police Service
muppet – stupid or dimwitted person
nicked – stolen
numpty – stupid or dimwitted person
occie health – Occupational Health, police department responsible for monitoring, protecting health of officers
PACE – Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, legislation governing conduct of police officers in England and Wales
pissed – drunk
plods – uniformed police officers
Portakabins – brand name for portable or mobile buildings
posh – upscale (in case of newspapers, “serious” broadsheets as opposed to tabloids)
ructions – trouble, complaints, shit hitting fan
SC&O – Specialist Crime & Operations, unit within the Metropolitan Police Service responsible for dealing with all serious crime in London
SC&O19 – specialist firearms command
screw – prison officer
SIO – senior investigating officer
Special Brew – super-strength lager (9% alcohol by volume) brewed by Carlsberg, AKA “tramp juice”
tags – simple graffiti, usually a set of initials or a nickname
toe-rag – despicable or worthless person
topped – killed
tweaking – obsessive repetition of simple act like scratching face, common to methamphetamine addicts
UDT – unarmed defence (or defensive) tactics
villains – criminals
witness nobbling – threatening or blackmailing witnesses of crimes into not testifying
WPC – woman police constable
Also By Andy Maslen
The Gabriel Wolfe series
Trigger Point
Reversal of Fortune (short story)
Blind Impact
Condor
First Casualty
Fury
Rattlesnake
Minefield (novella)
The DI Stella Cole series
Hit and Run
Hit Back Harder
Hit and Done
Blood Loss: A Vampire Story
Non-fiction
Write to Sell
100 Great Copywriting Ideas
The Copywriting Sourcebook
Write Copy, Make Money
Persuasive Copywriting
About the Author
Andy Maslen was born in Nottingham, in the UK, home of legendary bowman Robin Hood. Andy once won a medal for archery, although he has never been locked up by the sheriff.
He has worked in a record shop, as a barman, as a door-to-door DIY products salesman and a cook in an Italian restaurant. He eventually landed a job in marketing, writing mailshots to sell business management reports. He spent ten years in the corporate world before launching a business-writing agency, Sunfish, where he writes for clients including The Economist, Christie’s and World Vision.
As well as the Stella Cole and Gabriel Wolfe thrillers, Andy has published five works of non-fiction on copywriting and freelancing with Marshall Cavendish and Kogan Page. They are all available online and in bookshops.
He lives in Wiltshire with his wife, two sons and a whippet named Merlin.
Afterword
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