Ruth caught him up and grabbed his arm. “I understand. But you scared me. I can cope with the Tom Calladine I work with, but nothing more.”
He looked at her and gave a sad smile. “I’m sorry.”
“What I’m saying, Tom, is don’t ruin what we’ve got. You are a good friend. I love you as a friend. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Love me, do you? And I had no idea.” He tried to make a joke of it but his words died away. Calladine saw Julian, weeping on his own.
Ruth continued. “Don’t push it. We’re none of us in a good place right now. We have to keep it together for the others. You, especially.”
“I’ll try. Will you help me?”
“Yes, but no more hugging, alright?”
“OK.”
THE END
AVAILABLE NOW BY HELEN H. DURRANT
THE CALLADINE AND BAYLISS MYSTERIES (book 3 features DI GRECO)
BOOK 1 DEAD WRONG:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/WRONG-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B010Y7641M/
http://www.amazon.com/WRONG-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B010Y7641M/
First a shooting, then a grisly discovery on the common . . .
Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss race against time to track down a killer before the whole area erupts in violence. Their boss thinks it’s all down to drug lord Ray Fallon, but Calladine’s instincts say something far nastier is happening on the Hobfield housing estate.
Can this duo track down the murderer before anyone else dies and before the press publicize the gruesome crimes? Detectives Calladine and Bayliss are led on a trail which gets dangerously close to home. In a thrilling finale they race against time to rescue someone very close to Calladine’s heart.
BOOK 2: DEAD SILENT
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SILENT-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01185U8NE/
http://www.amazon.com/SILENT-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01185U8NE/
A body is found in a car crash, but the victim was already dead . . .
BOOK 3: DEAD LIST
This book is the first to feature D.I Greco
http://www.amazon.co.uk/DEAD-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B013J9BUAW
http://www.amazon.com/DEAD-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B013J9BUAW
An unlikely serial killer with a bucket list of victims . . .
BOOK 4: DEAD LOST
http://www.amazon.co.uk/DEAD-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B018W6EANQ/
http://www.amazon.com/DEAD-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B018W6EANQ/
An abandoned cotton mill holds horrific secrets
Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss face one of their toughest challenges yet. A group of homeless people have set up camp in the grounds of a disused cotton mill belonging to local businessman Damien Chase.
BOOK 5: DEAD & BURIED
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BURIED-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01HXXTWKA/
https://www.amazon.com/BURIED-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01HXXTWKA/
Annie Naden and her husband buy a remote country cottage at auction. It’s the home of their own that they always wanted, but as they begin renovations, Annie discovers a satchel in a dusty old hidden cupboard. Inside are the usual schoolbooks, now over 40 years old, and a girl’s diary. Among the record of day-to-day crushes and pop concerts, is a secret whose terrible consequences are still resonating to this day
THE DI GRECO MYSTERIES
DI GRECO BOOK 1: DARK MURDER
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MURDER-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B0163DVHC2/
http://www.amazon.com/MURDER-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B0163DVHC2/
A woman is found dead by a canal . . . why have her eyes have been viciously poked out?
Detective Stephen Greco has just started a new job at Oldston CID and now he faces a series of murders with seemingly no connection but the brutal disfigurement of the victims. Greco’s team is falling apart under the pressure and he doesn't know who he can trust. Then they discover a link to a local drug dealer, but maybe it’s not all that it seems.
Can Greco get control of his chaotic team and stop the murders?
DI GRECO BOOK 2: DARK HOUSES
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HOUSES-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01CGR9KEQ
http://www.amazon.com/HOUSES-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01CGR9KEQ
A young woman is found brutally murdered in an empty house
Detective Stephen Greco and his team must piece together her life as quickly as possible. Within twenty-four hours there is another killing using the same method. The detectives realise that the victims are random but the locations are not. The killer is more concerned with finding the right house – somewhere he won’t be disturbed.
Glossary of English Slang for US readers
A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: Violent behaviour, aggression
A level: exams taken between 16 and 18
Barm: bread roll
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Betting shop: a place where you can place bets on horses and other sports
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Bloke: guy
Bob: money
Bookies: a place where you can place bets on horses and other sports
Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant
Buy-to-let: Buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit
Charity Shop: thrift store
Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket
Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for
Car park: parking lot
Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments
Chemist: pharmacy
Chinwag: conversation
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
Clock: punch
Cock up: mess up, make a mistake
Common: an area of park land/ or lower class
Common or garden: ordinary
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
Crown Jewels: the Queen’s jewels and crown worn on state occasions (can also be an expression for anything valuable)
DCI: Detective Chief Inspector
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
DI: Detective Inspector
DS: Detective Sergeant
Do a bunk: disappear
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole
DS: detective sergeant
ED: accident and emergency department of hospital
Early dart: to leave work early
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor (US)
Fag: cigarette
Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Get rid: dispose of
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Hard nut: tough person
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Inne: isn’t he
Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services
Kark: die
Kneecapping: punish by sh
ooting in the kneecap
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lecky: electricity
Lift: elevator
Lippy: lipstick — can also mean loquacious
Lorry: a truck
Mare: derogatory term for woman, or can mean having a bad day (nightmare)
Missus: wife
MIT: Major Investigation Team
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
Naff: lame, not good
Narky: bad-tempered
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
No-mark: loser
Nowt: nothing
NQT: Newly qualified teacher
Nutter: insane person
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
Owt: anything
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
PC: police constable
Pear-shaped: go wrong
Petrol: gasoline
Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.
Pissing down: raining
Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)
Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.
Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property
Premier League: top English soccer division
Prom: a classical music concert where some of the audience stands
Punter: someone who gambles in a betting shop
Querent: person for whom the tarot card reading is done
Rag: newspaper
Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window
Randy: horny
Right state: messy
Ring: telephone (verb)
Roadworks: repairs done to roads
Scally: scallywag
Scroat: 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
SOCO: scenes of crime officer, police officer who gathers forensic evidence
Sod: an annoying person
Sort: to do or make
Solicitor: lawyer
Stunner: beautiful woman
Super: superintendent (police rank)
Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart
Tabloid: newspaper
Tea: Dinner (Northern English)
Till: cash register
Tipsy: a bit drunk
Toerag: a bad person
Ton: a hundred pounds
Torch: flashlight
Tutor: university teacher
Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)
Undertaker: mortician
Upmarket: affluent or fancy
Wash: the washing machine
Water board: company supplying water to an area
Wheelie bin: a large refuse bin on wheels
White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck
CHARACTER LIST
Detective Inspector Tom Calladine
He is single, just past fifty. He is tall, his hair used to be dark but is now greying and is cut close to his head. He has been on a health kick and lost weight, and improved his fitness. His daughter is called Zoe, she resulted from his short-lived marriage and he only found out about her recently. He has had a chequered love life. Currently the woman in his life is Shelley Mortimer.
Detective Sergeant Ruth Bayliss
She is single in Dead Wrong but meets someone — teacher Jake Ireson, in Dead Silent. She’s in her mid-thirties, likes birdwatching. Works with Calladine at Leesdon police station. She has been on maternity leave but is about to return to work. Her baby son, Harry, is six months old.
Detective Constable Simon Rockliffe — Rocco
A solid team member. He works hard and gets results. He is tipped to go far. He was attacked on the Hobfield in Dead Wrong. He has hinted that he might have a girlfriend but is giving nothing away.
Detective Constable Imogen Goode
She is the IT expert of the team. She is intense — very keen on her work — a bit of a nerd. Imogen has long, blonde wavy hair, a buxom figure, and is keen to advance. She is going steady with Julian Batho — the forensics expert. They have recently bought a house together on the same development as Zoe Calladine and her partner live.
Detective Chief Inspector Rhona Birch
Rhona has the reputation of being a ‘hatchet queen.’ It is rumoured that she hasn’t more than two years at any station. Much to Calladine’s surprise, it turns out that she has a son and an ex-husband. Calladine sees a new, emotional side to the woman when her son goes missing in Australia.
Detective Inspector Stephen Greco
Detective at nearby Oldston police station. Ambitious.
Doctor Sebastian Hoyle
Pathologist — now retired but working as a locum at Leesdon Health Centre. Often referred to as the doc.
Forensic scientist Batho
Unmarried, but in a long-term relationship with Imogen Goode. He is hardworking and passionate about his work. Not particularly good-looking. He is now working at the Duggan Centre and has been elevated to Professor Batho.
Monika Smith
Care-home manager and former girlfriend of Calladine.
Freda Calladine
Tom’s late adopted mother — was resident in the care home run by Monika.
Eve Buckley – nee Walker
Eve is Calladine’s biological mother. They met for the first time in Dead List. He learned the truth about his birth from a letter his mother left for him to open after her death. Eve wants to try and put things right, to bring Calladine into her family.
Samantha Hurst
Eve’s daughter and therefore Calladine’s half-sister. She is a doctor at a hospital in Manchester. They met during Dead List but though he knew who she was, Samantha had no idea about him.
Shelley Mortimer — known as ‘Shez’
Calladine’s latest girlfriend. She is ten years his junior. Very attractive with chin-length, black hair. She is rarely seen without make-up, particular her signature red lipstick. Shez runs a model and escort agency on the outskirts of Manchester.
PC Nigel Hallam
Young, curly blonde hair and tipped to go far. He is keen to progress to CID.
DI Alan Reynolds
Now retired. Still lives in Leesdon with his daughter Kate, who works for Shez. He was Calladine’s DI when he was a DS.
ACC Pat Kennet
Now the Assistant Chief Commissioner, he was Reynolds’ DCI when he was in the force.
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/SECRET-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B00XYMC5GI/
http://www.amazon.com/SECRET-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B00XYMC5GI/
Shocking family secrets come to light when a young woman is murdered
Amy Hill, a nineteen-year-old student, is strangled and her body dumped on open ground in the city. New police partners, D.I. Jim Neal and D.S. Ava Merry are called in to investigate this brutal crime. The last person to see Amy alive was Simon, the son of a family friend, but before he can be properly questioned he disappears.
Detectives Neal and Merry are led on a trail of shocking family secrets and crimes. Can this duo track down the murderer before anyone else dies? Stopping this tragic cycle of violence will put D.S. Merry’s life at risk in a thrilling and heart-stopping finale.
If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, Ruth Rendell, or Mark Billingham you will be gripped by this exciting new crime fiction writer.
DEAD SECRET is the first in a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ava Merry and D.I. Jim Neal. Ava Merry is a young policewoman, recently promoted to detective sergeant. She is a fitness fanatic with a taste for dangerous relationships. Jim Neal is a single dad who juggles his devotion to his job with caring for his son.
Set in the fictional Northern city of Stromford, this detective mystery will have you gripped from start to shocking conclusion.