by JANICE FROST
Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)
Cling film: plastic wrap for food
Clock: punch
Cock and bull: made up/ nonsense
Cock up: mess up, make a mistake
Common: an area of park land/ or lower class
Comprehensive School (Comp.): High school
Cop hold of: grab
Copper: police officer
Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward
Childminder: someone who looks after children for money
Council: local government
Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
Deck: hit (verb)
Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character
DI: detective inspector
Digestive biscuit: plain cookie
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole
Donkey’s years: long time
DS: detective sergeant
ED: accident and emergency department of hospital
Eagle: boys’ comic
Early dart: to leave work early
Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg
Enforcer: police battering ram
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor (US)
Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982
Fag: cigarette
Filth: police (insulting)
Forces: army, navy, and air force
FMO: force medical officer
Fried slice: fried bread
Fuzz: police
Garda: Irish police
Geordie: from Newcastle
Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Gob: mouth/ can also mean phlegm or spit
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Gran: grandmother
Granny flat: self-contained part of house used as accommodation for elderly relative
Habdabs: extreme anxiety
Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s
Hard nut: tough person
Hare coursing: illegal (in the UK) country sport involving the pursuit of hares by greyhounds or other dogs
HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Inne: isn’t he
Interpol: international police organisation
Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services
Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman
ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital
JCB: a mechanical excavator
Jerry-built: badly made
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lift: elevator
Lord Lucan: famous aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974. Has never been found.
Lorry: a truck
Luftwaffe: German air force
Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie
MOD: ministry of defence
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
Naff: lame, not good
National Service: compulsory UK military service, ended in 60s
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
Nowt: nothing
Nutter: insane person
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
Old bag: old woman (insulting)
Old Bill: police
Owt: anything
Pants: noun: underwear adjective: bad/rubbish/terrible
Para: paratrooper
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
PC: police constable
Petrol: gasoline
Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence
Pillock: fool
Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.
Pissing down: raining
Playing field: sports field
Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)
Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.
Post: mail
Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property
PNC: police national computer
PSNI: police service of Northern Ireland
Prat: silly idiot
Premier League: top English soccer division
Public Analyst: scientists who perform chemical analysis for public protection purposes
RAF: Royal Air Force
Rag: newspaper
Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window
Randy: horny
Recce: reconnaissance
Red Adair: famous oil well firefighter
Resus: resuscitation room
Right state: messy
Ring: telephone (verb)
Roadworks: repairs done to roads
Roofie: A Rohypnol tablet, used to knock people ou
RSPB: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
RTC: road traffic collision
RV: rendezvous point
Royal Engineers: British army corps dealing with military engineering etc.
Rugger: rugby (posh American football)
Sarge: sergeant
SCO19: Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command
Scrote: low life
Semi: Semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only
Shedload: a large amount
Shout the odds: talk in a loud bossy way
Sixth-form college: school for high school students in final two years.
SIO: senior investigating officer
Skip: a large open container used for building waste
Slapper: slag
Smackhead: heroin addict
Snout: police informer
SOCO: scene-of-crime officer
Sod: an annoying person
Sort: to do or make
Solicitor: lawyer
Sparky: electrician
Spook: spy
Squaddie: a soldier of low rank
Stunner: beautiful woman
Super: superintendent (police rank)
Surveyor: someone who examines land and buildings professionally
Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart
Tabloid: newspaper
Tea: Dinner (Northern English)
Tea towel: drying cloth
Till: cash register
Tip: a mess
Tipsy: a bit drunk
Top himself: commit suicide
Torch: flashlight
Totty: attractive woman
Trumpton: derogatory name for the fire service, often used by police
Tutor: university teacher
Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)
Upmarket: affluent or fancy
Wacky baccy: cannabis
Wally: silly person
War Cry: Salvation Army magazine
Wash: the washing machine
Water board: company supplying water to an area
White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck
Widow’s weeds: black clothes worn by a widow in mourning
Wilco: will comply i.e. yes
Wool-gathering: daydreaming<
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Yob: a rude or aggressive youth or person
CHARACTER LIST
Detective Inspector Jim Neal
Detective Inspector Jim Neal is a single dad who juggles his devotion to his job with caring for his son, Archie. Intellectual, Neal once considered studying law, but chose to become a police officer instead, in order to support his son.
Neal is sometimes seen as overly-serious, dour and unapproachable by his colleagues, but his personality has been shaped by being forced to grow up fast (he was barely twenty when Archie was born). A more relaxed, caring and sensitive side to his nature is revealed when he is with the people he cares deeply about. These include his son, his sister Maggie, and his best friend and soon-to-be brother-in-law, Jock Dodds. Neal is also becoming increasingly fond of the members of his team, particularly Ava Merry, for whom he has feelings that he is reluctant to acknowledge.
Neal is a keen walker and enjoys ‘Munro bagging’ (the Munros are mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet) with Jock, and perhaps one day, Archie too.
Detective Sergeant Ava Merry
Ava Merry is a driven and dedicated DS who is ambitious and cares passionately about her job. Ava’s strong personality can sometimes appear brash. She is impulsive, occasionally reckless, and is learning to reign in these instincts to function as part of a team.
Ava dropped out of university following the tragic suicide of her friend, a victim of sexual abuse. Ava confronted her friend’s abuser, almost losing her life. The incident spurred her to join the police force, and to take up martial arts.
Ava’s best friend is fellow team member, PJ Jenkins, but she is becoming close to Jim Neal’s sister Maggie. She is aware that this friendship is a source of worry for Neal whom she knows likes to keep his personal and home life private.
Ava lives in an isolated rented cottage, three miles from Stromford. She shares her home with her younger brother, Ollie, and her tortoiseshell cat, Camden.
Ava is currently single after breaking up with her boyfriend, Joel Agard. She is attracted to Jim Neal but feels that a relationship between them would be complicated because they work together and Neal is her boss.
Detective Constable Polly-Jane Jenkins (PJ)
PJ has recently become a detective constable and is eager to prove her worth. She has a warm, bubbly personality. Sometimes, she worries that people may not take her seriously because of her short stature and cherubic looks. PJ has lived in Stromford all her life and seems to know or be related to just about everyone in the county. Her local knowledge often proves useful in the team’s investigations.
Neal values PJ’s natural empathy, which complements and balances the various other skills of the rest of his team.
Detective Sergeant Tom Knight
Tom is a Londoner of mixed race who joined the Stromfordshire force after a short stint in Hertfordshire. His first boss in Stromfordshire, DI Reg Saunders, turned out to be crooked, and Tom was transferred to Neal’s team. He is still finding his feet with his new colleagues. Tom enjoys sparring with PJ.
Maggie Neal
Maggie is Jim Neal’s younger sister. Aged only sixteen, she took up with a much older man and the relationship ended badly. Afterwards, Maggie moved in with her brother. She helps look after Archie.
At the end of Dark Secret, Maggie was held at knifepoint by a deranged killer, an experience which led to her and Jock Dodds acknowledging their love for each other. They have recently become engaged.
Maggie is aware of Neal and Ava’s feelings for each other and subtly tries to nudge the pair of them together.
Jock Dodds
Jock is Jim Neal’s childhood friend. They are as close as brothers, and will be brothers-in-law soon, as Jock and Neal’s sister have just become engaged.
Jock works as a consultant at an Edinburgh hospital. A recent injury has caused him to rethink his career as a surgeon and he is considering retraining as a psychiatrist.
Archie Neal
Jim Neal’s son, who is in his last year at primary school.
Ollie Merry
Ava Merry’s younger brother. Ava and Ollie’s parents are divorced. Their father now lives in the US and their mother has had a succession of relationships. Recognising that Ollie, who may be borderline Asperger’s, (he is undiagnosed) needs a stable home life, Ava has invited him to live with her.
