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
Blow: cocaine
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 floors 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
Hairslide: barrette
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 shooting 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)
Tenner: ten-pound note
Till: cash register
Tipsy: a bit drunk
Toerag: a bad person
Ton: a hundred pounds
Torch: flashlight
Tutor: university teacher
Tower block: tall building/ high rise 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
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CHARACTER LIST (contains spoilers if you haven’t read previous books in the series)
Detective Inspector Tom Calladine
Calladine, the main character in the series, had just turned fifty and is putting on weight. His hair used to be dark but is now greying and he wears it cut close to his head. He is tall and not bad looking — women like him. He is single and has a daughter, Zoe — the result of his short-lived marriage. He only found out about her recently. He lives alone in a terraced house in the backstreets of Leesdon, a few doors up from where he was born and raised.
Detective Sergeant Ruth Bayliss
She lives with Jake Ireson, a local schoolteacher, but they aren’t married. She’s in her mid-thirties, and a keen birdwatcher. She has been Calladine’s partner at Leesdon for a number of years. Ruth and Jake have a son, Harry, who is eighteen months old. Ruth is very bright and often sees things that Calladine’s missed. She is fiercely loyal to him, and wouldn't want to work with anyone else.
Detective Constable Simon Rockliffe — Rocco
Rocco is in his mid-twenties, and is tall and good looking with black hair. He is a solid team member, who 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 Inspector Brad Long
The other team leader in the police station. Overweight and generally lazy.
Detective Chief Inspector Rhona Birch
She has a reputation for being a ‘hatchet queen.’ It is rumoured that she hasn’t spent more than two years at any station.
DC Alice Bolshaw
Alice is the new girl. She helped the team out on a case when she was a student at university (Dead Silent). She is hard-working and keen to succeed. She is no longer as nerdy as she was back in her student days.. The team are still getting to know her.
Dr Sebastian Hoyle
Former senior pathologist — now retired, but working as a locum at Leesdon Health Centre. Often referred to as ‘the doc.’
Forensic scientist — Dr Julian Batho.
Unmarried and dedicated. He was going steady with DC Imogen Goode until she was murdered in Dead Nasty. He is the senior forensic scientist at the Duggan Centre. He is finding it difficult to get over his grief at Imogen’s death.
Pathologist Natasha Barrington
Natasha works at the Duggan Centre with Julian. She has a reputation as something of a man-eater.
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 parentage from a letter his mother left for him to open after her death. Eve wants to try and put things right, and bring Calladine into her family. Calladine isn’t yet sure how he feels about her.