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BOOKS BY GERALDINE EVANS
Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries
Kith and Kill No 15
Deadly Reunion No 14
Death Dance No 13
All the Lonely People No 12
Death Dues No 11
A Thrust to the Vitals No 10
Blood on the Bones No 9
Love Lies Bleeding No 8
Bad Blood No 7
Dying for You No 6
Absolute Poison No 5
The Hanging Tree No 4
Death Line No 3
Down Among the Dead Men No 2
Dead Before Morning No 1
Casey & Catt British Detective Series
A Killing Karma No 2
Up in Flames No 1
Biographical Historical Fiction
Reluctant Queen: The Story of Mary Rose Tudor, the Little Sister of Infamous English king, Henry VIII
Romantic Suspense/Thriller
The Egg Factory
Romantic Novels
Land of Dreams (Not yet in digital)
The Wishing Fountain
(Writing as Maria Meredith)
Short Stories
A Mix of Six: Six Short-Short Stories
Non-Fiction
How to eFormat Your Novel for Amazon’s Kindle
How NOT To Pick a Loser: Dating Advice for the Second Time Around (New Age: palmistry)
(Writing as Gennifer Dooley-Hart)
Writing Woes: How to Avoid them and Get it Right Next Time! (New Age: Palmistry)
WEBSITE/BLOG: https://geraldineevansbooks.com
BRITISH ENGLISH USAGE AND SPELLING
This novel uses British English spellings and slang, some of which I’ve listed below so you can check any with which you are unfamiliar.
LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES
BRITISH SLANG: MEANING
A
Autumn: Fall
B
Bike: Woman of Loose Morals
Bollocking: Stern reprimand
Born the wrong side of the blanket: Illegitimate child
Brief: A suspect’s lawyer
Bright spark: Clever person
Builder’s bum: Bottom cleavage
Buttie: Sandwich
By-blow: Illegitimate child
C
Chippie: Carpenter / Fish and Chip Shop / A person inclined to be snappish (Chippy)
Come clean: Tell the truth
Cracking up: Having a nervous breakdown
Cup of builder’s: Strong tea
Cup of Rosie Lee (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Tea
D
Divvy up: Share out
Do a (moonlight) flit: Disappear (suspiciously suddenly)
Dodgy: Illegal
Dodgy person: A person of suspect morals (in a legal sense)
Do/Doing a Bunk: Disappear (usually before the law or creditors catch up with you)
Done a bunk: Ditto
EF
Easy: Morally lax (in a sexual sense)
‘I’m easy’: Happy to go along with everyone else
Flabbergasted: Astonished
Full wack: Full price
G
Get your marching orders: To be sacked, dismissed
Give someone a bell: Telephone someone
Give something the once-over: Check something out
Gnashers: Teeth
Gobsmacked: Astonished, shocked
(Got) Form: Got a criminal record
Grass up: Inform on someone to the police
Grotty: Horrible
HI
Half-inch=Pinch (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Steal
Have it out: Brisk exchange of views
High-falluting: Fancy, posh
Iffy Whistle (Whistle and Flute=Suit (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Stolen suit of male clothing
In a jiff/jiffy: Quickly / Soon
JKL
Jiffy bag: Padded envelope
‘Let’s get cracking: ‘Let’s get on with it’
M
Measly: Very Little
Moolah: Money
More front than Brighton / ‘You’ve Got Some Front: Plenty of chutzpah
NO
Old lags: Prison inmates (usually recidivist (repeat offender)
On someone’s watch: While responsible for
Pikey: Traveller, Gypsy
Pillock: Idiot
Porkie pie (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Lie
Rat-arsed/pissed: Drunk
Right Pillock: Total Idiot
Right plonker: Total idiot
S
Scrote: Insult, short for ‘scrotum’
Scumbag=Slag (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Insult (low-life male character)
Short and curlies: Pubic hair
Shtum: Don’t Tell Anyone, keep quiet
Slag: Toe-rag=Slag (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Insult (Low-life male character)
Slag: Insult (Female character of low morals)
Skedaddle: Make oneself scarce / Escape
Snout: Police informer
Sparks: Electrician
Sparks’ll fly: A situation will become inflamed
Sticky Situation: Difficult
T
Tea-leaf (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Thief
Tetchy: Irritable, touchy, snappish
Toe-Rag=Slag (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Insult (Low-Life male character)
Tosser: Insult (male given to personal sexual abuse)
Trouble and strife (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Wife
Turn a girl’s head: Make her smitten/keen on someone
UV
Up to one’s eyeballs: Very busy
WXYZ
Wasted: Very Drunk
Whistle and flute (Cockney Rhyming Slang): Suit of male clothing
Wuss: Weakling
‘You make me crack up’: ‘You make me laugh’ (sometimes used in a sarcastic manner)
‘You’ve Got Some Front’: Plenty of chutzpah
BRITISH SPELLING v US SPELLING
Alternative-v-Alternate
Colour-v-Color
Grey-v-Gray
Labour-v-Labor
Neighbour-v-Neighbor
Organise-v-Organize
Practice (Doctor’s Practice)-v-Practice
Practise (as in to practise doing something)-v-Practice
Queue-v-Qu (?) Line of people
Rationalise-v-Rationalize
Realise-v-Realize
Recognise: Recognize
There are lots more, I’ll add them to my list as I think of them.
Dead Before Morning
Detective Inspector Joseph Rafferty is investigating his first murder since his promotion. What a shame the victim is a girl with no name, no face, and no ID, found in a place she had no business being—a private psychiatric hospital. With everyone denying knowing anything about the victim, Rafferty has his work cut out, so he could do without his Ma setting him another little problem: that of getting his cousin ‘Jailhouse Jack’ out of the cells. Although he has no shortage of suspects, proof is not so plentiful. It is only when he remembers his forgotten promise to get his cousin sprung that Rafferty gets the first glimmer that leads to the solution to the case.
Reviews
‘Evans’ humour seriously added to my enjoyment of her book. This, her first, as well as the rest in the series, are well written with standout central characters and clever plots.’ AUNT AGATHA’S BOOKSHOP, ANN ARBOUR, USA ON DEAD BEFORE MORNING
‘This often comic tale sharpens the appetite for more.’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
‘Classic crime. I was definitely hooked into this story and needed to know who had committed the crime and why. It was very well written and flowed nicely from scene to scene.’ ALEXIS LENO, AUTHOR OF SHI
FTING FATE, A FANTASY NOVEL
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EPILOGUE
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AUTHOR BIO/CONTACT DETAILS
BOOKS BY GERALDINE EVANS
BRITISH ENGLISH USAGE AND SPELLING
Dead Before Morning
Reviews
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright Page
Copyright Page
Dead Before Morning
Geraldine Evans
Published by Geraldine Evans
Copyright 1993 (hardback) and 2011 (digital) Geraldine Evans
Discover other books by Geraldine Evans at: https://geraldineevansbooks.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual people, locations or events is coincidental or fictionalised
Except for text references by reviewers the reproduction of this work in any form is forbidden without permission from the author
License Note: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy of each recipient Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The author has asserted her moral rights
Cover art by: www.covershotcreations/Nicole
All Rights Reserved